MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR “TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS”
Paramount Pictures has unleashed “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” in cinemas today, the film marking the seventh overall title in the franchise based on the famed Hasbro toy line.
The film ends with Anthony Ramos’ Noah returning to Brooklyn in search of a job where he interviews for a security position for a mysterious government company run by Agent Burke (Michael Kelly).
Burke thanks Noah for his service and promises medicine for his younger brother. He gives Noah a business card and a job offer – the card branded with the G.I. Joe logo.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura has served as producer on all the “Transformers” and “G.I. Joe” films. Speaking with Variety, he says it felt very natural to put this in there at this time:
“It really felt organic to put it in here because you could relate it to the story. It didn’t feel like we were being cynical and like, ‘Good news, we could just jam G.I. Joes in here.’ The fans want a lot of things; if we do it and we don’t figure it out well, they’re going to be disappointed. It took us a while to figure out the Maximals, and now we have the hint of how to begin the Joes story.”
The world-class commandos that are the G.I. Joes have been adapted to the big screen three times with a film in 2009 starring Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a sequel to that in 2013 starring Dwayne Johnson, and more recently the Henry Golding-led spin-off “Snake Eyes” in 2021.
‘Rise of the Beasts’ is said to mark the start of a new era for the franchise, one which sounds like it will incorporate a larger Hasbro cinematic universe – an idea that has been floating around for a few years.
di Bonaventura adds that Kelly’s Agent Burke has “got to be in it” in terms of any future entries involving the G.I. Joes. The film’s director Steven Caple Jr. says a potential crossover may go beyond Earth and introduce new Joes:
“I was behind the directing chair, and the kid in me was like, ‘What do I want to see next? How could we have a sense of direction as to what’s going to happen?’ As the battle gets bigger, we can expand the universe and we might need other entities and groups.
The Joes are just really cool and I would love to see what I could do with them. There are sections of the Joes that haven’t been utilized and characters that have never been touched, and I’m excited about that. I will say this about what’s next: We have spent a lot of time on Earth and I’m curious as to what else is out there.”
di Bonaventura adds that it’s early days yet and they haven’t locked down any plans for now:
“We don’t know, that is the truth. What we expect is there’s going to be some allegiance and they’re going to go on some kind of mission together. We have to figure both those things out.”
Though it hasn’t happened on screen as yet, the Transformers and Joes have teamed up in the comics world as they take on a joint Decepticon and Cobra Commando threat.
Before all that comes “Transformers: One,” the animated prequel film set entirely on Cybertron and opening next year. It stars Chris Hemsworth as Optimus, Brian Tyree Henry as Megatron, Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime, Scarlett Johansson as Elita, Keegan-Michael Key as Bumblebee and Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion.
