Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ runtime has now been revealed, and it marks a change from the Michael Bay movies in the franchise’s past. Directed by Steven Caple Jr., Transformers: Rise of the Beasts serves as a loose sequel to 2018’s Bumblebee and a prequel of sorts to the 2007 original movie. The upcoming film is based on the Beast Wars spinoff franchise and will introduce Maximals and Predacons in addition to bringing back Autobots and Decepticons.
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Ahead of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ release date next month, Collider reveals that the film will have a runtime of 1 hour and 57 minutes, not including the credits. This puts the upcoming sequel in line with Bumblebee’s 1-hour and 54-minute runtime. The sub-2-hour runtime is a significant departure from the Bay entries in the franchise, which all came in at around 2.5 hours, with Transformers: Age of Extinction the longest entry at 2 hours and 45 minutes.

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Bay’s first Transformers movie in 2007 is still widely considered one of the best (if not the best) entries in the franchise. The film, which is 2 hours and 24 minutes long, accomplished the difficult task of introducing the titular living mechanical beasts and the conflict between the Autobots and the Decepticons while also establishing a number of compelling human characters to root for. Bay’s subsequent sequels only grow in scope and scale, expanding the conflict and making the story more epic in nature.

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As the franchise progresses, however, the films’ quality arguably starts to decrease, with Transformers: The Last Knight (2 hours and 28 minutes) sitting at a dismal 16% on Rotten Tomatoes. Bumblebee was a major breath of fresh air in 2018, introducing a new take on the franchise from director Travis Knight. The film was a hit critically and commercially, proving that telling a succinct and focused story in the franchise is more than possible.

Although Transformers: Rise of the Beasts seems more epic in nature and is tasked with establishing more franchise lore, audiences are now well-versed in the ancient Autobots vs. Decepticon feud. Hopefully, this assumed pre-existing franchise knowledge means the upcoming entry can dive right into its new cast of human characters led by Anthony Ramos, getting right into the meat of the story. If Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is a hit, maybe subsequent sequels will earn longer runtimes as the stakes and audience investment with the new characters grows.

Source: Collider

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