There's a lot to like about how "Transformers" has been produced and made.
When Paramount Pictures (VIA-B) bought up Dreamworks SKG last year, the company was a disaster as it was run by creatives like creatives would. The result was the business was in big trouble. As a matter of fact, even Paramount wasn't in a great place.
It seems with Paramount as their parent, there's been some financial responsibility now part of studio, even though they have fought to keep themselves independent creatively from them.
Even though the integration of Dreamworks into Paramount hasn't been easy by any stretch of the imagination, the company has produced some winners this year like "Norbit" and "Blades of Glory." In a relatively short time, Dreamworks has become the driver of Paramount's success.
That's good news for the investment but bad news for Paramount core label which has struggled year-to-date.
Concerning "Transformers," they've made the film while keeping restraints upon their budget, making it for $145 million, very cheap for its genre. Most big special effects films are costing around $300 million to make today.
This is really great from a business standpoint, as reviews seem to show that nothing of quality has been left out. That doesn't guarantee a huge success, as this year has already proven. They do have strong competition which seems to be cannabalizing one another this summer.
They did make a smart move in releasing the movie a couple of days earlier so it didn't get eaten into too much by "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." They will have some formidable competition from "Ratatouille" and "Live Free and Die Hard."
Paramount Chief Executive Brad Grey says that he believes Transformers has within it the possibilities of becoming a franchise similar to Spider Man or Harry Potter.
It won't be known until it's seen, but to become a franchise it will have to have characters within it that people care about. Those movie franchises today didn't get that way from special effects alone. If Paramount and Dreamworks have produced a movie with such great characters, it just could be the franchise the studio so desperately needs.
With Steven Spielberg producing and Michael Bay directing, it definitely has a good chance of succeeding.
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