Love it or hate it, Michael Bay’s first Transformers movie was a hugely promising start to one of cinema’s most surprisingly profitable franchises. But after a decade of Bayhem generated over $5 billion at the box office, Paramount Pictures decided to shift gears with the charming, scaled-down Bumblebee in 2018. It still feels fresh today, but it’s also become clear that its much-needed pivot came a little too late.
