Why Bumblebee Was A Box Office Success (And The Last Knight Wasn't)

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Bumblebee ended its box office run as the lowest-grossing Transformers film, so why was it considered a modest success when The Last Knight wasn't? For a long stretch, Transformers was one of Paramount's go-to cash cows. Though Michael Bay's installments were usually critically panned, they drew in large crowds eager to see the spectacle on the big screen. Two of those movies earned more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office, leading many people to believe the series was review-proof. No matter how negative word-of-mouth was, Transformers still found a way to make money.

That all changed with The Last Knight, which seemed to be the point audiences started to tire of Bay's schtick. At the time of its release in summer 2017, Last Knight had the lowest opening weekend in the franchise by far ($44.6 million domestically) and grossed "only" $605.4 million worldwide. It made enough to turn a profit, but the numbers paled in comparison to earlier films. Transformers' downward trajectory continued this past December, when Bumblebee had a soft opening of $21.6 million and finished with $459.3 million globally. And yet, Paramount considers Bumblebee "solidly profitable." So what's the difference?

One only has to look at the production budgets for the two projects to understand why the studio views Bumblebee in a more positive light. The franchise reboot cost $135 million to make, which is considerably less than The Last Knight's $217 million. This is actually a fairly common practice in big Hollywood properties; mainline installments are more expensive endeavors than offshoots or spinoffs. It's why Avengers: Infinity War is the second-most costly movie ever made and Ant-Man and the Wasp has a $162 million budget. Paramount was always planning for Bumblebee to make less than the typical Transformers film and smartly managed their money. If it broke out and got close to $1 billion, that would have been icing on the cake, but $459.3 million is a healthy haul. Bumblebee's break even point was around $270 million, a figure it definitely cleared. From the box office profits (about $189.3 million), Paramount could make another Bumblebee and have a little extra cash to spare.

There's also the matter of the two film's wildly contrasting receptions. Bumblebee was a critical darling, becoming the franchise's first Certified Fresh installment on Rotten Tomatoes. Viewers were highly impressed with the film's sense of heart and fun, which took Transformers back to its roots and was a far cry from the Bayhem that permeated through the previous movies. With Bumblebee about to hit home media, there's a considerable chance its word-of-mouth encourages those who didn't catch it in theaters to watch it now. Plus, those that are already fans of the movie will want to pick up a copy of their own. Revenue added by Digital and Blu-ray sales (not to mention merchandise) will only push Bumblebee further into the black. And with people expressing interest in a sequel given how good Bumblebee was, it isn't surprising tentpole-starved Paramount is developing a followup.

Bumblebee likely would have made more money if it had a better release date. Looking to capitalize on the lucrative holiday moviegoing season, Paramount premiered it over Christmas, where it was battling against other beloved titles like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Aquaman. The DCEU blockbuster was definitely a thorn in Bumblebee's side, as it opened considerably higher and cruised to $1 billion globally. Bumblebee and Aquaman were competing for largely the same demographic, and Arthur Curry won out. Paramount needs to do a better job at finding a stronger window for the Bumblebee sequel so that one can be a bona fide (and not just a small) box office success.