Paramount Pictures has released the above still from the upcoming Transformers spin-off, which focuses on fan favorite Bumblebee. The picture features star Hailee Steinfeld standing next to Bumblebee in his classic 80’s cartoon-era Volkswagen Beetle form. They also released the following synopsis:
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.
There’s no word yet as to how the film fits into the larger Transformers film universe (though we tend to believe it won’t really matter). Fans should just be happy that the Autobot will be in his original automobile form instead of the various Camaro incarnations we’ve recently seen him in. Unfortunately it doesn’t look as though we’ll ever see Bumblebee’s friendship with human Spike portrayed onscreen as we saw in the original series (and 1986’s Transformers: The Movie), instead having to settle for Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky (Hey, remember when movie studios wee trying to cram Shia into everything we cherished from our childhoods?). Hopefully his relationship with Steinfeld’s character will be more satisfying.
Director Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings) had this to say about the film:
“I wanted to approach this massive, expansive franchise and really focus in on a tiny corner of the canvas. Everything I’ve tried to do at Laika, searching for an artful blend of darkness and light, intensity and warmth, humor and heart, I wanted to bring to the Transformers franchise. At its core it’s just a beautiful love story between two broken souls who find each other and heal each other…I grew up loving those classic Spielbergian Amblin films. And we’re trying to evoke that kind of emotion in this movie, fusing a rich coming-of-age story with some sci-fi insanity.”
Bumblebee: The Movie opens December 21, 2018.