The live-action "Transformers" franchise has had a rough couple of years. At first, after director Michael Bay's first entry exploded onto the scene in 2007, it spawned blockbuster after blockbuster. The first three sequels each grossed over $1 billion at the box office, but after that, audiences' appetite for Autobot action took a nosedive. The death knell came with Bay's 2023 "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts," a $200 million venture that remains the live-action franchise's lowest-grossing movie to date at $441 million. For context, that's around $25 million less than the "Bumblebee" spin-off.
"Rise of the Beasts" was such a box office flop that Paramount Pictures all but shelved the live-action "Transformers" series (though over the summer, Bay announced he's finally returning for an eighth movie). However, it's since found new life on streaming, and shot to the No. 1 spot on Netflix's top 10 movies list after arriving on August 25. Audiences seem to love it too. On Rotten Tomatoes, "Rise of the Beasts" has the highest Popcorn meter score of the franchise at 91% (compared to the lukewarm 51% critics' score).
