Paramount is currently hosting a panel at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, and the studio's highly anticipated animated Transformers prequel now has a title, voice cast, and release date.
Transformers One will explore the epic rivalry between the Autobots and the Decepticons, with Thor: Love and Thunder star Chris Hemsworth tapped to play Optimus Prime. Eternals star Brian Tyree Henry, meanwhile, will lend his voice to the young Megatron in a story that will reveal how they went from friends to enemies.
Similar to how The Super Mario Bros. Movie swapped out longtime cast members for Hollywood A-Listers, Transformers One will also feature Scarlett Johansson as Elita, Keegan-Michael Key as Bumblebee, Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime, and Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion.
"I’m so excited and proud to be working with Hasbro and eOne to bring the first animated Transformers movie to theaters for a never-before-told story," says Ramsey Naito, president of Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation. "I’m honored to have such incredible talents come together to portray these well-known and much-loved characters in an origin story at the heart of the franchise."
Toy Story 4's Josh Cooley is directing the film from a screenplay by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari. Legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg is executive producing Transformers One alongside Brian Goldner, Brian Oliver, Bradley J. Fischer, and Valerii An.
Producers include Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Tom DeSanto, Don Murphy, Michael Bay, Mark Vahradian and Aaron Dem.
Fans of Peter Cullen will be understandably disappointed to learn that he's been swapped out for the MCU's God of Thunder, but a cast like this will almost certainly increase interest in the project and help it become a box office hit. We don't have a first look quite yet, but between this and June's Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, it's going to be an exciting couple of years for fans of the franchise.
As for Transformers One's release date, it's officially heading to theaters on July 19, 2024.