Paramount Pictures has rolled out a new Bumblebee poster for the upcoming Transformers spinoff. The film is set in the 1980s and effectively serves as a prequel to Michael Bay’s pentalogy of Transformers movies that grew bigger and louder (and dumber) with each successive entry. Bumblebee goes the other direction, as LAIKA president and CEO and Kubo and the Two Strings filmmaker Travis Knight makes his live-action directorial debut on the film, which boasts a smaller budget and more intimate storyline.
Indeed, as the title suggests this film focuses just on Bumblebee, as the character befriends a teenager (Hailee Steinfeld). As tends to happen when you befriend alien robots, the government catches wind and Bumblebee and the girl are then forced to go on the run. Complicating matters is the revelation that evil Transformers—called Decepticons—are also on Earth and don’t take too kindly to Bumblebee’s existence.
The 1987-set film has been marketed as a throwback to the Amblin era of films, so this poster is actually pretty swell when viewed through that lens—it’s a bit of a throwback. As for the movie itself, while it’s nice to see someone other than Michael Bay making one of these films, the “metal crushing metal in a hodgepodge of action” just isn’t for me. Though it’ll be interesting to see how audiences respond, as Bay’s The Last Knight was the lowest grossing installment of the franchise by far, pulling in a whopping $500 million less than its predecessor. This series certainly needed a reboot of sorts, so maybe Bumblebee will do the trick.
Check out the new Bumblebee poster below. The film also stars John Cena, Jorge Lendenborg Jr., John Ortiz, Jason Drucker, and Pamela Adlon and features the voices of Angela Bassett and Justin Theroux. Bumblebee hits theaters on December 21st.
Here’s the official synopsis for Bumblebee:
On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns this is no ordinary, yellow VW bug.
