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Transformers: Dark of the Moon

January 10, 2023

This article is about the film. For other uses, see Transformers: Dark of the Moon (disambiguation).
"The Dark of the Moon" redirects here. For other uses, see Dark of the Moon (disambiguation).

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a 2011 American science fiction action film based on Hasbro's Transformers toy line. The film is the third installment in the Transformers film series and the sequel to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). The film is directed by Michael Bay and written by Ehren Kruger. It stars Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, John Malkovich, and Frances McDormand. Set two years after Revenge of the Fallen, it shows the final days of the war between Autobots and Decepticons as they battle to possess powerful technology abandoned on the Moon, in order to restore Cybertron on Earth.

Transformers:
Dark of the Moon
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMichael Bay
Written byEhren Kruger
Based onTransformers
by Hasbro
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAmir Mokri
Edited by
Music bySteve Jablonsky
Production
companies
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
Running time
154 minutes[4]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$195 million[5][6]
Box office$1.124 billion[6]

The film employed both regular 35 mm film cameras and specially-developed 3D cameras, with filming locations in Chicago, Florida, Indiana, Milwaukee, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. The film was 3D rendered specifically for 3D, and the visual effects involved more complex robots which took longer to render. Dark of the Moon's release date was moved from July 1 to June 29, in order to monitor an early response to footage.

Exclusive early premieres in both RealD 3D and IMAX 3D theaters took place on June 28, 2011, one night before worldwide release in 2-D and 3D (including IMAX 3D) formats each featuring Dolby Surround 7.1 surround sound. The film received mixed reviews, with critics praising the film's visuals, action sequences and the use of 3D, while criticizing the length, performances and writing.[7] Dark of the Moon grossed $1.124 billion worldwide, and it was the fifth highest-grossing film of all time and the second highest-grossing film of 2011. Like the first film, it was nominated for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects at the 84th Academy Awards. It was followed by Transformers: Age of Extinction in 2014.

Plot

In 1961, the Ark, a Cybertronian spacecraft carries an invention capable of ending the war between Autobots and Decepticons, crash lands on the dark side of Earth's Moon and is detected by NASA. President John F. Kennedy authorizes a mission to put a man on the Moon as a cover for investigating the spacecraft. In 1969, the crew of Apollo 11 lands on the Moon and secretly inspect the Ark before heading home. Their orders are to keep the details of this mission secret.

In the present day, two years after Egypt,[N 1] the Autobots assist humanity in preventing major conflicts. During a mission to the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine to investigate suspected alien technology, the Autobots are attacked by Decepticon scientist Shockwave and his giant worm Driller. After the two escape, Optimus Prime discovers that the technology is a fuel cell from the Ark, thought to have been lost after escaping Cybertron. The Autobots travel to the Moon and discover Sentinel Prime—the Autobots' leader before Optimus—in a comatose state. Beside him are five Pillars he created as a means of establishing a "Space Bridge", a wormhole able to teleport matter between two points. On Earth, Optimus uses the energy of the Matrix of Leadership to revive Sentinel Prime.

Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky lives with his new girlfriend, Carly Spencer but is unable to work with the Autobots. At his new job, co-worker Jerry Wang gives him information about the Ark, before being assassinated by the Decepticon Laserbeak. It turns out that the Decepticons are murdering people connected to the American and Soviet space missions to the Ark. Sam contacts Seymour Simmons, and they locate two surviving cosmonauts, who reveal photos of hundreds of Pillars being stockpiled on the Moon. Apparently, the Decepticons raided the Ark long before the Apollo 11 mission and intentionally left Sentinel and the five Pillars for the Autobots to find, knowing that Sentinel is the key to activating the Pillars. Meanwhile, the Autobots return Sentinel to their base. However, he betrays them, kills Ironhide and reveals to have made a deal with Megatron to ensure Cybertron's survival.

Sentinel uses the Pillars to transport hundreds of concealed Decepticons from the Moon to Earth. Dylan Gould, Carly's boss, is revealed to be working with them. With the help of Soundwave, he captures Carly. At the demand of the Decepticons, the Autobots are exiled from Earth. However, as their ship leaves Earth, it is destroyed by Starscream, seemingly killing them. The Decepticons invade Chicago while placing Pillars around the world to begin transporting their homeworld Cybertron to the Solar System. They want to use Earth's resources to rebuild their world, enslaving humanity in the process. Sam teams up with former soldier Robert Epps to go into Chicago to save Carly and arrest Dylan. However, they are nearly killed by the Decepticons before the Autobots intervene. It turns out that the Autobots faked their death to gain an advantage over the Decepticons.

The Autobots, along with NEST teams and Navy SEALs, rescue Carly and begin fighting off the Decepticons. During the battle, Que dies, and Bumblebee kills Soundwave. Many other Decepticons, including Laserbeak, the Driller, Starscream, and Shockwave, are among the casualties.

Sam fights Dylan and knocks him into the Pillar, electrocuting and killing him. Bumblebee and Ratchet destroy the Control Pillar, permanently disabling the Bridge and causing the partially transported Cybertron to implode. Meanwhile, Carly convinces Megatron that he will be replaced by Sentinel as the leader of the Decepticons. While fighting, Sentinel is about to kill Optimus but is incapacitated by Megatron, who is determined to regain his leadership. Megatron then falsely offers a truce, but Optimus refuses to accept his surrender and decapitates him. Optimus then executes Sentinel with Megatron's shotgun for betraying his own teachings. Carly and Sam are reunited, and the Autobots remain on Earth as their permanent home.

Cast

Main article: List of Transformers film series cast and characters

Humans

Transformers

 
A Peterbilt 379 used for the alternate mode of Optimus Prime
 
The Bumblebee Camaro from Transformers 3 at BotCon in 2011.

Non-speaking characters

Production

Development

You just learn a lot more about the hierarchy, and there's more about the history of what they had in Cybertron. Leonard Nimoy plays a great role.

— Michael Bay, on developing Sentinel Prime's character[9]

As a preemptive measure before the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Michael Lucchi and Paramount Pictures announced on March 16, 2009, that a third film would be released in IMAX 3D on July 1, 2011, which earned a surprised response from director Michael Bay: "I said I was taking off a year from Transformers. Paramount made a mistake in dating Transformers 3—they asked me on the phone—I said yes to July 1—but for 2012—whoops! Not 2011! That would mean I would have to start prep in September. No way. My brain needs a break from fighting robots."[10] Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who had worked on the two previous Transformers films, declined to return for the third film, with Kurtzman declaring that "the franchise is so wonderful that it deserves to be fresh, all the time. We just felt like we'd given it a lot and didn't have an insight for where to go with it next".[11] Revenge of the Fallen's co-writer Ehren Kruger became the sole screenwriter for Dark of the Moon. Kruger had frequent meetings with Industrial Light & Magic's (ILM) visual effects producers, who suggested plot points such as the scenes in Chernobyl.[12]

On October 1, 2009, Bay revealed that Transformers: Dark of the Moon had already gone into pre-production, and its planned release was back to its originally intended date of July 1, 2011, rather than 2012.[13] Due to the revived interest in 3-D filming technology brought on by the success of Avatar,[14] talks between Paramount, ILM, and Bay had considered the possibility of the next Transformers film being filmed in 3-D, and testing was performed to bring the technology into Bay's work.[15] Bay originally was not much interested in the format as he felt it did not fit his "aggressive style" of filmmaking, but he was convinced after talks with Avatar director James Cameron,[16] who even offered the technical crew from that film. Cameron reportedly told Bay about 3-D, "You gotta look at it as a toy, it's another fun tool to help get emotion and character and create an experience."[17] Bay was reluctant to film with 3-D cameras since in test he found them to be too cumbersome for his filming style, but he did not want to implement the technology in post-production either since he was not pleased with the results.[18] In addition to using the 3-D Fusion camera rigs developed by Cameron's team,[17] Bay and the team spent nine months developing a more portable 3-D camera that could be brought into location.[16]

In a hidden extra for the Blu-ray version of Revenge of the Fallen, Bay expressed his intention to make Transformers 3 not necessarily larger than Revenge of the Fallen, but instead deeper into the mythology, to give it more character development, and to make it darker and more emotional. Unicron is briefly shown in a secret Transformers 3 preview feature in the Revenge of the Fallen Blu-ray disc. Ultimately, the producers decided to forgo a plot involving the planet-eating Transformer, and no further comments were ever made on the subject.[19] Having been called Transformers 3 up to that point, the film's final title was revealed to be Dark of the Moon in October 2010.[20] After Revenge of the Fallen was almost universally panned by critics and audiences despite being a box office success, Bay acknowledged the general flaws of the script, having blamed the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike prior to the film for many problems. Bay also promised the film to not have the "dorky comedy" from the last film.[21] On March 19, 2010, the script was said to be finished.[22]

Casting

 
Dempsey on the set of Transformers: Dark of the Moon in 2010

Megan Fox was originally attached to the film, and Patrick Dempsey's role as Dylan Gould was to be the employer of Fox's character, Mikaela Banes.[23] According to various published sources, Fox's absence from the film was due to Bay ultimately choosing not to renew her role in light of her comparing him and his work ethic to Adolf Hitler,[24][25] although representatives for the actress said that it was her decision to leave the film franchise.[26] Bay later claimed that executive producer Steven Spielberg told him to fire Fox,[27] a claim that Spielberg denied.[28] "I wasn't hurt", Bay stated, "because I know that's just Megan. Megan loves to get a response. And she does it in kind of the wrong way. I'm sorry, Megan. I'm sorry I made you work twelve hours. I'm sorry that I'm making you show up on time. Movies are not always warm and fuzzy."[27]

With Fox not reprising her role, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was chosen to play Sam's new love interest.[29] Ramón Rodríguez was initially planned to be in the film, in a role bigger than the one he had in Revenge of the Fallen, but he was dropped during early production.[30] It was confirmed that Bay would return as director in the fourth film.[31] A few well-known actors such as John Malkovich and Frances McDormand also gained selected roles for the film. Malkovich explains: "I play a guy called Bruce Brazos, who's just a loudmouth, kind of business man who's Shia's character's boss. Who's just a jerk, and a kind of a loud one. But a fun character. Nice. It was fun. Very, very enjoyable, just with Shia, Rosie a little bit, and with John Turturro. So, for me, it was a blast."[32] Another well-known actor, Ken Jeong, was cast as an eccentric co-worker and stalker. Jeong described the film, "Yeah, it's a small role in Transformers, but yeah. I had an out-of-body experience working on that one because I just couldn't believe I was there. Still, that was not a thing where oh, I'm going to be a part of a blockbuster franchise like Transformers 3 or even now Hangover 2 for that matter. So I can't believe I'm a part of these franchises in any way. It was amazing. Michael Bay is brilliant and it'll blow your mind."[33]

For the role of Decepticon scientist Shockwave, veteran Transformers voice actor Corey Burton was originally approached to voice the character after previously doing so in the original television series and Transformers: Animated. Burton declined the offer, citing his work schedule and disinterest in being involved in a blockbuster franchise. David Warner (Burton's influence on his Shockwave voice) was briefly considered, but the role was ultimately given to Frank Welker, adding to his already long list of Transformers characters.[34][35]

Themes and inspirations

Due to the critically panned Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Bay decided to remove the characters called the Twins entirely from Dark of the Moon: "This one really builds to a final crescendo. It's not three multiple endings. One thing we're getting rid of is what I call the dorky comedy. [The twins are] basically gone."[36] Due to fan rumors that the Twins would actually be in the film, the director made a public $25,000 "bet" that the Twins would not be seen in Dark of the Moon.[36] They were briefly shown in the N.E.S.T headquarters in their vehicle modes in the film.

Bay acknowledged that Revenge of the Fallen was "disappointing to the fans" and stated that he "doesn't want the third one to suck".[37] Bay stated that he wanted Dark of the Moon's final battle to be more geographic and feature a "small group of heroes" like Ridley Scott's war–drama Black Hawk Down, Joe Dante's science fiction Small Soldiers and Hasbro's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.[37] Bay also decided to include Shockwave because he considers the character "bad" and "He's got a much bigger gun [than Megatron and is] a little bit more vicious."[37] According to The A.V. Club, the film had several minor story inspirations from the 1980s cartoon The Transformers, including the usage of a Space Bridge, and the "kicking the Autobots out".[38][better source needed]

Similar to the previous two installments, the film was told in the human point-of-view to engage the audience. Bay wanted Sam to have a girlfriend like in the first two films. Actor Shia LaBeouf said that Sam and Mikaela had become "one character" and, although he would "miss" Megan Fox, with this change "you have discovery again from a new perspective."[39] LaBeouf also stated that the additions of Huntington-Whiteley and new characters allows Dark of the Moon to keep the "magic" of the first film.[40]

Dark of the Moon also had numerous Star Trek references, partly because scriptwriter Ehren Kruger was a "big Star Trek geek",[41] but also as a nod to the fact that new character Sentinel Prime was voiced by Leonard Nimoy, who originated the iconic role of Spock on Star Trek and voiced Galvatron in The Transformers: The Movie. The first Star Trek reference is when refugee robots Brains and Wheelie, who live in Sam and Carly's apartment complex, are watching TOS episode "Amok Time"; Wheelie comments "I've seen this one. It's the one where Spock goes nuts."[41] The second reference is when Sam meets his girlfriend, Carly Spencer at work, and is being introduced to Carly's employer, Dylan Gould, Sam marvels at their workplace: "It's a beautiful building you guys have. Like the Starship Enterprise in here."[41] The third reference is when Bumblebee says goodbye to Sam at Cape Canaveral: the words "my friend" are sampled from Spock in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan ("You are ... my friend. I am and always shall be yours.").[41] The fourth and final reference is when Sentinel Prime activates the Control Pillar, quoting Spock's maxim in Star Trek II and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few".[41]

Filming

Explosions on Wacker Drive in Chicago for Transformers: Dark of the Moon filming on location
 
The shooting of Transformers   3 in Chicago in July 2010, in the foreground the Autobot wrecker Topspin as a heavily armed Chevrolet Impala.
 
Vehicles used on the set of Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Transformers: Dark of the Moon's production cost was reported $195 million, with the cost of the 3-D filming accounting at $30 million of the budget.[5] Preparation for filming began on April 7, 2010, in Northwest Indiana, specifically around Gary, which portrayed Ukraine in the film.[42][43][44] Principal photography commenced on May 18, 2010, with shooting locations including Chicago, Florida, and Moscow.[45][46] The first six weeks were spent in Los Angeles: locations included Sherman Oaks, Fourth Avenue, and 5. Main. The next four weeks were spent in Chicago. Locations filmed in Chicago included LaSalle Street, Michigan Avenue, Bacino's of Lincoln Park at 2204 North Lincoln Avenue, and areas surrounding the Willis Tower.[47] The scenes set in Michigan Ave featured a substantial amount of pyrotechnics and stunt work.[48] Filming in Detroit was planned to take place in August but the Chicago shoot was extended until September 1.[49] In late September, the production moved to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, just before the launch of Space Shuttle mission STS-133.[50] Scenes were filmed at Launch Pad 39A, the Vehicle Assembly Building and the Orbiter Processing Facility.[51]

 
Actors on a Transformers: Dark of the Moon set in July 2010

While filming in Washington, D.C., the crew shot on the National Mall, and Bay stated that there would be a car race on the location. Two further locations announced were the Milwaukee Art Museum and the former Tower Automotive complex on Milwaukee's north side, then under redevelopment for mixed use as well as the city's equipment yard. Filming was scheduled to take place there after work was done in Chicago.[52] On September 23, scenes were filmed at the former city hall in Detroit. On October 16, a flashback scene that takes place in the later 1960s was shot at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, using extras with period fashion and hairstyles.[53] One day of shooting was also spent at the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia.[54] Other planned filming locations included Africa and China.[55] Though about 70% of the film's live action footage was shot in 3-D [56] using Arri Alexa and Sony F35 cameras,[57] more than half of the film still had to be converted into 3-D in post production to fix technical flaws that 3-D filming produces.[58] Other footage that needed to be converted into 3-D in post production was either entirely computer generated or shot in the anamorphic format on 35 mm film.[56] 35 mm film was used for scenes filmed in slow motion and scenes such as closeups of faces or shots of the sky that required higher image quality than the HD digital 3-D cameras could provide.[56] 35 mm cameras were also used for scenes where the 3-D cameras proved to be too heavy, or were subject to strobing or electrical damage from dust.[56] Principal photography officially concluded on November 9, 2010.[59]

Dark of the Moon has been found to contain recycled footage from an earlier film directed by Michael Bay—The Island (2005).[60] Bay similarly recycled footage from his film Pearl Harbor (2001) in the 2007 film Transformers.[61]

Accidents

 
Shooting of the duel between Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and Dylan Gould (Patrick Dempsey) in Chicago.

Filming was temporarily delayed on September 2, 2010, when an extra was seriously injured during a stunt in Hammond, Indiana. Due to a failed weld, a steel cable snapped from a car being towed and hit the extra's car, damaging her skull. The extra, identified as Gabriela Cedillo, had to undergo brain surgery.[62] The injury has left her permanently brain-damaged, paralyzed on her left side and her left eye stitched shut.[63][64] Paramount admitted responsibility for the accident and covered all of Cedillo's medical costs.[65] Nevertheless, Cedillo's family filed a lawsuit on October 5, citing seven counts of negligence against Paramount, and several other defendants (not including Bay), with total damages sought in excess of $350,000.[66] Cedillo's attorney, Todd Smith, said, "This was an attractive 24-year-old girl who had dreams and aspirations involving acting, and this kind of injury may well have a serious impact on her dreams."[67] The filed complaint reads that "Cedillo has endured and will in the future endure pain and suffering; has become disfigured and disabled; has suffered a loss of the enjoyment of a normal life; has been damaged in her capacity to earn a living; has incurred and will in the future incur expenses for medical services, all of which are permanent in nature."[67] In response to the suit, Paramount released the following statement: "We are all terribly sorry that this accident occurred. Our thoughts, prayers and best wishes are with Gabriela, her family and loved ones. The production will continue to provide all the help we can to Gabriela and her family during this difficult time."[67] In May 2012, it was revealed that an $18 million settlement had been reached between Paramount and the Cedillo family.[68]

A second accident occurred on October 11, 2010, in Washington, D.C. While filming a chase scene at 3rd Street and Maryland Avenue, SW, a Metropolitan Police K9 Unit SUV accidentally rammed the Camaro that portrays Bumblebee in the film. The area had been closed off by the Washington, D.C., police, and it is unclear why the SUV was there. Both drivers were uninjured,[69] but the Camaro was severely damaged.[70] Reports indicate that the K9 Unit was heading to a report of a bomb threat as part of a Bomb Squad response, but was not using the same radio frequency as the units guarding the filming and did not realize it had gone the wrong way until it collided with the Bumblebee Camaro. Many fans who witnessed the crash were horrified at the damage the Bumblebee Camaro suffered, and cast and crew members reacted quickly to cover up the damaged Camaro and secure the scene.[71]

Effects

As with the previous Transformers installments, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) was the main CGI visual effects company for Dark of the Moon. ILM had been working on the pre-visualization for six months before principal photography started, resulting in 20 minutes' worth of footage.[72] Digital Domain also rendered 350 CGI shots, including the characters Laserbeak, Brains, Wheelie, and the Decepticon protoforms concealed on the moon, the space bridge, and a skydiving sequence.[73][74]

External audio
Industrial Light & Magic's interview for the effects of the film.
  Listen to the Interview

ILM's visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar said that "not only were the film's effects ambitious, they also had to be designed for 3-D", and explained the company's solutions for the new perspective: "We did make sure things are as bright as possible; Michael called up theatre owners to make sure they keep the lamps bright in the theatres ... make everything a little sharper, because we know that through the steps, no matter what, when you get to the final screening things tend to go less sharp."[75] On the last weekend of ILM's work on Dark of the Moon, the company's entire render farm was being used for the film, giving ILM more than 200,000 hours of rendering power a day—or equivalent to 22.8 years of rendering time in a 24-hour period.[12] Farrar embraced the detail in creating giant robots for 3-D, making sure that in close-ups of the Transformers' faces "you see all the details in the nooks and crannies of these pieces. It's totally unlike a plain surface subject like a human head or an animated head." The supervisor said that Bay's style of cinematography helped integrate the robots into the scenes, as "Michael is keen on having foreground/midground/background depth in his shots, even in normal live-action shots. He'll say, 'Put some stuff hanging here!' It could be women's stockings or forks and knives dangling from a string out of focus—it doesn't matter, but it gives you depth, and focus depth, and makes it more interesting."[76]

 
Considerable digital animation was required for the elaborate Driller as it comprised over 70,000 parts, significantly more than Optimus Prime's 10,000 parts.

The most complicated effects involved the "Driller", a giant snake-like creature with an eel-like body and spinning rotator blades, knives and teeth. In Revenge of the Fallen, it took 72 hours per frame to fully render Devastator for the IMAX format, which is approximately a frame amount of 4,000. For the Driller, which required the entire render farm, it was up to 122 hours per frame.[72] The most complex scene involved the Driller destroying a computer-generated skyscraper, which took 288 hours per frame.[75] For said sequence, ILM relied on its internal proprietary physics simulation engine to depict the destruction of the building, which included breaking concrete floors and walls, windows, columns and pieces of office furnishings. ILM digital production supervisor Nigel Sumner explained: "We did a lot of tests early on to figure out how to break the building apart, exploring a lot of the procedural options. A building that's 70 feet tall—to go in and hand-score the geometry so when it fractures or falls apart—would be a time-consuming, laborious process. The floor of a building may be made of concrete. How does concrete fracture when it tears apart? The pillars would be made of a similar material but made of rebar or other engineering components. We'd look at how a building would blow apart and then choose the best tool to help achieve the properties of that during a simulation."[76]

 
 
Sentinel Prime (left) was modeled after actor Sean Connery (right).[12]

The scenes in Chicago were mostly shot on location, as Bay believed the plates had to really be shot in the actual city. Farrar was always fascinated with the idea of shooting on location and then blending the film with Computer-generated imagery. He said: "We try and shoot everything real. You may have seen some films recently where the entire city has been destroyed and it's entirely CGI. Well, for a Transformers film, it's different because we actually went to Chicago. If you start with the real thing, you have a lot more to work with to make it look real. So for a couple of months there, I was in a helicopter shooting aerial plates of the real buildings. And we'd add destruction to all the backgrounds – smoke, fire, debris, fighter planes, war, battles, torn up streets – to real cityscapes."[76] Four ILM employees also traveled to Chicago and photographed buildings from top to bottom at six different times of the day in order to create a digital model of the city to be used in certain scenes.[12] ILM's crew designed many major action scenes,[12] with many of the Chicago battle concepts coming from the helicopter shooting of the aerial plates.[72]

Animator Scott Benza said Sentinel Prime had a face "more human-like than any of the other robots", with a more complex frame and "a greater number of plates" so it could be more expressive.[12] ILM had based most of Sentinel Prime's features on Sean Connery, and after Leonard Nimoy was cast to voice the role, the effects were altered to incorporate Nimoy's acting as well. Every robot would take approximately 30 weeks to build visually. Originally, the fight between Sentinel Prime, Optimus Prime, and Megatron was considered to be on water in the Chicago River, but the budget was cut and ILM realized that they would not want to present that version of the final battle to Bay, so they decided to have the battle take place on the bridge over the river.[72] For a sequence where Bumblebee catches Sam and Lennox while transforming in mid-air, a digital double of Shia LaBeouf was combined with footage of the actor in high speed so that the effects team could time it for slow-motion.[76]

Since Bay shoots all his films in anamorphic format, Dark of the Moon's representation would be "squeezed in" to distort the image, and ILM would add in the robots and "un-distort" the image.[72] The ample variety of filming formats used—single camera, 3-D stereo rigs with two cameras, anamorphic and spherical lenses—proved a challenge, especially as ILM had a deadline to deliver the 3-D plates to the companies responsible for the 3-D conversion.[12] ILM made 600 3-D shots, and Digital Domain had under 200,[72] while Legend3-D, the lead 3-D conversion company of the film, completed 78 minutes of work on the film and finalized the work of approximately 40 minutes of challenging non-visual effects and 38 minutes of visual effects shots.[77]

Music

See also: Transformers: Dark of the Moon – The Album and Transformers: Dark of the Moon – The Score
 
Steve Jablonsky – "It's Our Fight"
A 27 second sample of Steve Jablonsky's "It's Our Fight". The climax is played, and a unique bass drum is used in the process.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Composer Steve Jablonsky, who had before collaborated with Bay on The Island and the first two Transformers films, returned to compose the Dark of the Moon score. Jablonsky's musical score was lauded by critics and fans. The score was released on June 24, 2011, five days before the actual release of the film.[78]

Although a bit more score-heavy this time around, the soundtrack is certainly featured and we not only rejoin characters we have come to know, but some familiar artists who are back again as well.

— Allison Loring, reviewing the film's soundtrack[79]

The album was originally set for release on June 28, 2011, but Amazon.com listed the album as unavailable while the album was still being listed for release during the week of the film's global release.[80] It was available for download on Amazon on June 30, 2011,[80] and the score currently features 17 pre-recorded tracks that are featured in the final film. The score's length is approximately 59:47.[81] The album for the film was released on June 14, 2011. It consists of singles produced by different artists and bands, and rock tracks. American rock band Linkin Park composed the lead single for the film, "Iridescent", as they did with the first two films: "What I've Done" was used in the 2007 film and "New Divide" for the 2009 film. The sound effects for the Transformers and foley was synthesized and developed by electronic music producer Christian Valentin Brunn (born July 20, 1994), better known by his stage name Virtual Riot. The music video for "Iridescent" was directed by Joe Hahn.[82] Two other singles were released specifically for the soundtrack, "Monster" by Paramore[citation needed] and "All That You Are" by the Goo Goo Dolls. Several other unreleased songs make their debut on the album, including "The Pessimist" by Stone Sour and "The Bottom" by Staind. My Chemical Romance's song "The Only Hope for Me Is You" also appeared and can also be found on their fourth studio album Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys and on the soundtrack. The song was not exclusively for the movie and was featured in the credits.[83] The Black Veil Brides' song "Set the World on Fire" is also included.[citation needed]

Marketing

 
An advertisement for the film on a bus in Hong Kong

Most of the characters returned for Hasbro's new toyline, which was released on May 16, 2011.[84] In October 2010, Entertainment Tonight previewed the behind-the-scenes filming in Chicago.[85][86] A two-minute teaser trailer was announced on November 27,[87] and was posted to the Internet on December 9, 2010.[88] A 30-second television advertisement for the film aired during Super Bowl XLV on Fox on February 6, 2011.[89] The first full theatrical trailer was released on April 28, 2011.[90] The very first video clip was released on May 18.[91] A second clip was released the next day on May 19.[92] The North American promotional costs came to approximately $75 million.[5][93]

Novelizations

In May 2011, the novelization, junior novel, and graphic novel of Transformers: Dark of the Moon were released. Both the novel and the graphic novel featured Skids and Mudflap as supporting characters, but the characters were missing from the junior novel. The graphic novel made reference to several Autobots from the IDW Publishing tie-in comics who died in the stories between Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon.[94] Another novel, written by Peter David, was published on May 24, 2011, and was released only paperback. Though it is slightly different from the film, the novel still pertains to the topic and synopsis of the film it is based on in the outcome of the final battle. The novel features about 400 pages and is published by Del Rey Books. Its synopsis is:

All humankind was watching that day in 1969. And yet only a handful knew the real mission behind America's triumph in the space race: to explore the alien ship that has crashed on the far side of the moon. Decades later, scientists are still struggling to understand the technology found on board—though with the treacherous Decepticons after it, a powerful force must be at stake. The only hope of averting a crisis is to reawaken Sentinel Prime, the long-lost leader of the Autobots—but who knows what else remains in the shadows, hidden from man and machine?[95]

Video game

Main article: Transformers: Dark of the Moon (video game)

On June 14, 2011, Activision published a video game based on the film for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS. The versions for Nintendo's consoles were developed by Behaviour Interactive,[96] while the versions for the rest of the consoles were developed by High Moon Studios, who had previously developed Transformers: War for Cybertron. Electronic Arts released the game Transformers: Dark of the Moon on June 28, 2011, for Nokia Symbian smartphones, Apple products iPod Touch, iPhones, and iPad[97][98] and Research In Motion's BlackBerry devices.[99]

Release

 
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley at the film's premiere

Theatrical

Transformers: Dark of the Moon first premiered at the Moscow International Film Festival on June 23, 2011. Linkin Park performed a special outdoor concert in Red Square in Moscow on the same night in celebration of the event.[1] Initially scheduled to be released on July 1, 2011, the release was brought forward to June 29, 2011.[3] It was announced in November 2010 that unlike Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, no scenes in the film were shot with IMAX 3-D cameras.[100]

Home media

During Hasbro Investor Day, it was announced that the DVD and Blu-ray Disc would be released in the fourth quarter of 2011.[101] The NTSC home release for the film was released on September 30, 2011,[102] with a Blu-ray 3D version of the film slated for release in "the coming months".[103][104] However, the first home release was criticized for the lack of bonus features.[105]

A Walmart exclusive edition of Transformers: Dark of the Moon also was released on September 30, 2011.[106] The PAL DVD and Blu-ray Discs of Transformers: Dark of the Moon was released on November 28, 2011.[107]

In North America, it sold 716,218 DVD units (equivalent of $13,565,169) in its first week, topping the weekly DVD chart.[108] As of February 26, 2012, it has sold 2,829,285 DVD units (equivalent of $48,058,979).[109] It also topped the Blu-ray charts on the same week and it has sold 2,381,657 Blu-ray units (earning $50,934,911) by October 23, 2011.[110] The Blu-ray 3D release of the film was released on January 31, 2012, in NTSC regions and on February 13, 2012, in PAL regions.[111]

Transformers: Dark of the Moon was released on 4K UHD Blu-ray on October 30, 2017, in PAL regions and December 5, 2017, in NTSC regions.[112]

Reception

Box office

Worldwide

Transformers: Dark of the Moon had grossed $352.3 million in North America, and $771.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $1.123 billion.[113] It was the fifth highest-grossing film of all time and the second highest-grossing film of 2011. On August 3, 2011, the film crossed the $1 billion mark,[114] making it the second Paramount Pictures film to do so, along with Titanic. Its worldwide opening weekend ($382.4 million) is the fourth-largest ever and the largest for Paramount[115] It set an IMAX worldwide opening-weekend record with $23.1 million (first surpassed by Deathly Hallows – Part 2).[116] It reached $400 million (6 days), $500 million (9 days), $600 million (12 days) and $700 million (16 days) in record time, but lost all records to Deathly Hallows – Part 2.[117]

North America

The film opened in 4,088 theaters including a then-record total of 2,789 3-D locations. It made $5.5 million during Tuesday 9 p.m. showings, $8 million during midnight showings[118] and $37.7 million on its opening day (Wednesday)—including Tuesday showings. This was the sixth-best opening Wednesday.[119] However, all these figures were lower than Revenge of the Fallen.[120] On Thursday, it earned $21.5 million, falling 43%, an improvement from its predecessor's Wednesday-to-Thursday decline. It grossed $33.0 million on Friday totaling $97.8 million. Its 3-D share accounted for 60% of its gross, which was atypical due to the downturn in 3D attendance in North America. For its three-day opening weekend (Friday-to-Sunday), it grossed $97.9 million, topping the box office ahead of Cars 2.[121] It achieved the third-largest opening weekend of 2011,[122] the fourth-largest opening weekend in July,[123] the fifth-largest opening weekend for a film not released on Friday[124] and the second-largest five-day gross for a film opening on Wednesday.[113] It set records for the 3-day ($97.9 million)[125] and 4-day ($115.9 million) Independence Day weekend, surpassing Spider-Man 2's record in both cases ($88.2 million and $115.8 million, respectively) until both records were broken with the release of Minions: The Rise of Gru in 2022.[126] It retained first place on its second weekend, dropping 52% to $47.1 million.[127] Closing on October 13, 2011, with $352.4 million, it is the second-highest-grossing film of 2011[128] and the second-highest-grossing film in the franchise.[129][130]

Outside North America

The film grossed $32.5 million on its opening day, pacing 38% ahead of its predecessor. Including some early Tuesday previews, it earned $36.6 million in one-and-a-half days,[131] and by Thursday its international total reached $66 million.[132] By the end of its first weekend, it had earned $219.8 million, which stands as the fifth-largest opening weekend of all time overseas and the largest for Paramount.[133] Its foreign launch was 57% ahead of that of Revenge of the Fallen ($139.6 million). 70% of its grosses came from 3-D (a higher 3-D share than Pirates 4's 66%).[134] Don Harris, general manager of distribution for Paramount, commented on the results of Dark of the Moon: "If we hadn't chosen to debut the movie later in Japan and China, we probably would have had the all-time record."[135] The film topped the box office outside North America for two weekends in a row.[136]

In China, its highest-grossing market after North America, the film set records for an opening day with $15.9 million, a single day with $17.4 million (overtaken by Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons)[137] and an opening weekend with $46.8 million ($62.7 million with previews).[138] The latter was taken from Avatar ($42.0 million).[139] The opening weekend record, when including previews, was surpassed by Titanic 3D ($74.2 million).[140] Dark of the Moon ended its run with $167.95 million, marking the second-highest-grossing film of 2011 (after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2).[141] Besides China, it broke the opening-day record in Russia and South Korea;[131] the single-day record in Hong Kong;[142] and the opening-weekend record in South Korea,[143] Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, the UAE, the Philippines and Peru (the last three records were surpassed by The Avengers).[134][144][145] Following China in total earnings were South Korea ($69.1 million) and Japan ($54.2 million).[146]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 35% based on reviews from 263 critics, with an average rating of 5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Its special effects—and 3D shots—are undeniably impressive, but they aren't enough to fill up its loud, bloated running time, or mask its thin, indifferent script."[7] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 42 out of 100 based on 37 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[147] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[148][149]

Roger Ebert gave the film one out of four stars, criticizing its visuals, plot, characters, and dialogue.[150] Richard Roeper likewise panned the film, giving it a D and responded that "rarely has a movie had less of a soul and less interesting characters."[151] A.O. Scott in The New York Times wrote "I can't decide if this movie is so spectacularly, breathtakingly dumb as to induce stupidity in anyone who watches, or so brutally brilliant that it disarms all reason. What's the difference?"[152]

Several critics felt that Shia LaBeouf and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's performances were ineffective. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film 0 stars, the same rating that he had given to Revenge of the Fallen, and stated the two actors "couldn't be duller".[153] Tirdad Derakhshani of The Philadelphia Inquirer stated that LaBeouf "plays Witwicky as if he had a ferocious case of attention deficit disorder. After two films, his fidgeting isn't cute anymore."[154] James Berardinelli of ReelViews wrote that LaBeouf "has sunk to greater levels of incompetence here. It's hard to call his posturing and screaming 'acting'."[155] Jason Solomons of The Observer wrote "[W]e're first introduced to [Huntington-Whiteley] via a close-up of her bum, segueing straight from the film's opening sequence and titles on to the pert buttocks and underwear of our heroine", and that her English posh girl accent "renders her practically unintelligible when surrounded by American accents and falling masonry."[156] Much of the criticism towards Rosie Huntington-Whiteley compared her in an unfavorable light to Megan Fox. Lou Lumenick of the New York Post wrote that her "'acting' makes ... Megan Fox look like Meryl Streep in comparison."[157] Huntington-Whitely was later nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress for her performance, but lost to David Spade for Jack and Jill.[158]

For good or ill, Bay is the soul of a new machine, the poet of post-human cinema, the CEO of Hollywood's military-entertainment complex.

— Richard Corliss, in his review of the film for Time magazine[159]

Steve Prokopy of Ain't It Cool News found the film to be better than the first two.[160] Jim Vejvoda of IGN gave the film a score of seven out of ten, also stating that it was the best of the franchise.[161] E! Online graded the film a B+ while noting if this film is truly the end of a trilogy, its main antagonists should have played more of a part.[162] Website Daily Bhaskar also praised the film, rating it three and a half out of five stars, citing it as an improvement on the previous film, and writing that it "gives fans something to cheer about."[163]

Many reviews praised the film's special effects and aggressive use of 3-D. After previewing a partial, unfinished cut of the film, Kofi Outlaw of Screen Rant declared that Bay had created the best 3-D experience since James Cameron's Avatar.[164] Neil Schneider of Meant to be Seen, a website focused on stereoscopic 3-D gaming and entertainment, remarked that "while Transformers: Dark of the Moon had the scrapings of a really good story, this 3-D movie was shot with a 2-D script." On the topic of 3-D, Schneider said "Transformers 3 was a mix of native stereoscopic 3-D camera capturing and 2-D/3-D conversion (as a 3-D tool), and most was done very well." He added, "At a minimum, Transformers 3 demonstrates that fast cutting sequences are indeed possible and practical in stereoscopic 3-D. More than that, it was a comfortable experience and helped exemplify great use of stereoscopic 3-D with CGI live-action and CGI digital characters. That said, I think they still could have taken it much further."[165]

Charlie Jane Anders of Jezebel believed that some elements of the film were deliberate self-references to Michael Bay's own sense of under-appreciation after the backlash to the second film: "After a few hours of seeing Shia get dissed, overlooked and mistreated, the message becomes clear: Shia, as always, is a stand-in for Michael Bay. And Bay is showing us just what it felt like to deal with the ocean of Haterade—the snarking, the Razzie Award, the mean reviews—that Revenge of the Fallen unleashed." She went on to say that the film's frequent, often jarring shifts in tone were an intentional endorsement of Michael Bay's own filmmaking style. "Tone is for single-purpose machines. Consistency is for Decepticons. Michael Bay's ideal movie shifts from action movie to teen comedy to political drama with the same well-lubricated ease that his cars become men. By the time you've finished watching, you will speak Michael Bay's cinematic language."[166]

Accolades

Award Category Recipients Result Ref.
2011 Teen Choice Awards Choice Summer Movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon Nominated [167]
Choice Summer Movie Actor Shia LaBeouf Nominated
Choice Summer Movie Actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Nominated
2011 Scream Awards Best Science Fiction Movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon Nominated [168]
Best Cameo Buzz Aldrin Nominated
Holy Sh*t Scene of the Year (Escape From Collapsing Building) Transformers: Dark of the Moon Nominated
Best 3D Movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon Won
Best F/X Transformers: Dark of the Moon Nominated
2012 People's Choice Awards
Favorite Movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon Nominated [169]
Favorite Action Movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon Nominated
Favorite Action Movie Star Shia LaBeouf Nominated
2011 Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Awards Obviously Worst Film Transformers: Dark of the Moon Won [170]
2011 Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards Sequel or Remake That Shouldn't Have Been Made Transformers: Dark of the Moon Nominated [171]
2012 Annie Awards
Animated Effects in a Live Action Production Florent Andarra Won [citation needed]
2012 Golden Reel Awards Music in a Feature Film Transformers: Dark of the Moon Nominated [172]
Sound Effects and Foley in a Feature Film Transformers: Dark of the Moon Nominated
2012 Screen Actors Guild Awards
Outstanding Performance By a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture Transformers: Dark of the Moon Nominated [citation needed]
2012 Visual Effects Society Awards Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture Scott Benza, Wayne Billheimer, Matthew E. Butler, Scott Farrar Nominated [173]
Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture Chris Balog, Ben O'Brien, Amy Shepard, Jeff Sutherland Nominated
Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture Giles Hancock, John Hansen, Tom Martinek, Scott Younkin for "155 Wacker Drive" Won
Outstanding Models in a Feature Motion Picture Tim Brakensiek, Kelvin Chu, David Fogler, Rene Garcia for "Driller" Won
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture Michael Balog, Richard Bluff, Shawn Kelly, Jeff White Nominated
2012 Academy Awards
Best Sound Editing Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl Nominated [174]
Best Sound Mixing Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin Nominated
Best Visual Effects Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier Nominated
2012 Golden Raspberry Awards
Worst Picture Transformers: Dark of the Moon Nominated [175]
Worst Director Michael Bay Nominated
Worst Supporting Actor Patrick Dempsey Nominated
Worst Supporting Actor Ken Jeong Nominated
Worst Supporting Actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Nominated
Worst Screenplay Ehren Kruger Nominated
Worst Screen Couple Shia LaBeouf and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Nominated
Worst Screen Ensemble Transformers: Dark of the Moon Nominated
2012 Saturn Awards
Best Special Effects Scott Benza, John Frazier, Matthew Butler, and Scott Farar Nominated [176]
2012 Empire Awards
The Art of 3D Presented by RealD Transformers: Dark of the Moon Nominated [177]

Sequels

See also: Transformers: Age of Extinction, Transformers: The Last Knight, Bumblebee (film), and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

The fourth film in the Transformers film series, Age of Extinction, was released June 27, 2014. A fifth film, The Last Knight, was released on June 21, 2017, followed by a spin-off titled Bumblebee, released on December 21, 2018. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is scheduled to be released June 9, 2023.

See also

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Notes

  1. ^ As depicted in the 2009 film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

External links

 
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January 10, 2023
transformers, dark, moon, this, article, about, film, other, uses, disambiguation, dark, moon, redirects, here, other, uses, dark, moon, disambiguation, 2011, american, science, fiction, action, film, based, hasbro, transformers, line, film, third, installment. This article is about the film For other uses see Transformers Dark of the Moon disambiguation The Dark of the Moon redirects here For other uses see Dark of the Moon disambiguation Transformers Dark of the Moon is a 2011 American science fiction action film based on Hasbro s Transformers toy line The film is the third installment in the Transformers film series and the sequel to Transformers Revenge of the Fallen 2009 The film is directed by Michael Bay and written by Ehren Kruger It stars Shia LaBeouf Josh Duhamel John Turturro Tyrese Gibson Rosie Huntington Whiteley Patrick Dempsey Kevin Dunn Julie White John Malkovich and Frances McDormand Set two years after Revenge of the Fallen it shows the final days of the war between Autobots and Decepticons as they battle to possess powerful technology abandoned on the Moon in order to restore Cybertron on Earth Transformers Dark of the MoonTheatrical release posterDirected byMichael BayWritten byEhren KrugerBased onTransformersby HasbroProduced byLorenzo di Bonaventura Tom DeSanto Don Murphy Ian BryceStarringShia LaBeouf Josh Duhamel John Turturro Tyrese Gibson Rosie Huntington Whiteley Patrick Dempsey Kevin Dunn Julie White John Malkovich Frances McDormandCinematographyAmir MokriEdited byRoger Barton William Goldenberg Joel NegronMusic bySteve JablonskyProductioncompaniesHasbro Di Bonaventura PicturesDistributed byParamount PicturesRelease datesJune 23 2011 2011 06 23 Moscow International Film Festival 1 June 29 2011 2011 06 29 United States 2 3 Running time154 minutes 4 CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget 195 million 5 6 Box office 1 124 billion 6 The film employed both regular 35 mm film cameras and specially developed 3D cameras with filming locations in Chicago Florida Indiana Milwaukee Moscow and Washington D C The film was 3D rendered specifically for 3D and the visual effects involved more complex robots which took longer to render Dark of the Moon s release date was moved from July 1 to June 29 in order to monitor an early response to footage Exclusive early premieres in both RealD 3D and IMAX 3D theaters took place on June 28 2011 one night before worldwide release in 2 D and 3D including IMAX 3D formats each featuring Dolby Surround 7 1 surround sound The film received mixed reviews with critics praising the film s visuals action sequences and the use of 3D while criticizing the length performances and writing 7 Dark of the Moon grossed 1 124 billion worldwide and it was the fifth highest grossing film of all time and the second highest grossing film of 2011 Like the first film it was nominated for Best Sound Editing Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects at the 84th Academy Awards It was followed by Transformers Age of Extinction in 2014 Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 2 1 Humans 2 2 Transformers 2 3 Non speaking characters 3 Production 3 1 Development 3 2 Casting 3 3 Themes and inspirations 3 4 Filming 3 5 Accidents 3 6 Effects 4 Music 5 Marketing 5 1 Novelizations 5 2 Video game 6 Release 6 1 Theatrical 6 2 Home media 7 Reception 7 1 Box office 7 1 1 Worldwide 7 1 2 North America 7 1 3 Outside North America 7 2 Critical response 7 3 Accolades 8 Sequels 9 See also 10 References 11 Notes 12 External linksPlot EditIn 1961 the Ark a Cybertronian spacecraft carries an invention capable of ending the war between Autobots and Decepticons crash lands on the dark side of Earth s Moon and is detected by NASA President John F Kennedy authorizes a mission to put a man on the Moon as a cover for investigating the spacecraft In 1969 the crew of Apollo 11 lands on the Moon and secretly inspect the Ark before heading home Their orders are to keep the details of this mission secret In the present day two years after Egypt N 1 the Autobots assist humanity in preventing major conflicts During a mission to the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine to investigate suspected alien technology the Autobots are attacked by Decepticon scientist Shockwave and his giant worm Driller After the two escape Optimus Prime discovers that the technology is a fuel cell from the Ark thought to have been lost after escaping Cybertron The Autobots travel to the Moon and discover Sentinel Prime the Autobots leader before Optimus in a comatose state Beside him are five Pillars he created as a means of establishing a Space Bridge a wormhole able to teleport matter between two points On Earth Optimus uses the energy of the Matrix of Leadership to revive Sentinel Prime Meanwhile Sam Witwicky lives with his new girlfriend Carly Spencer but is unable to work with the Autobots At his new job co worker Jerry Wang gives him information about the Ark before being assassinated by the Decepticon Laserbeak It turns out that the Decepticons are murdering people connected to the American and Soviet space missions to the Ark Sam contacts Seymour Simmons and they locate two surviving cosmonauts who reveal photos of hundreds of Pillars being stockpiled on the Moon Apparently the Decepticons raided the Ark long before the Apollo 11 mission and intentionally left Sentinel and the five Pillars for the Autobots to find knowing that Sentinel is the key to activating the Pillars Meanwhile the Autobots return Sentinel to their base However he betrays them kills Ironhide and reveals to have made a deal with Megatron to ensure Cybertron s survival Sentinel uses the Pillars to transport hundreds of concealed Decepticons from the Moon to Earth Dylan Gould Carly s boss is revealed to be working with them With the help of Soundwave he captures Carly At the demand of the Decepticons the Autobots are exiled from Earth However as their ship leaves Earth it is destroyed by Starscream seemingly killing them The Decepticons invade Chicago while placing Pillars around the world to begin transporting their homeworld Cybertron to the Solar System They want to use Earth s resources to rebuild their world enslaving humanity in the process Sam teams up with former soldier Robert Epps to go into Chicago to save Carly and arrest Dylan However they are nearly killed by the Decepticons before the Autobots intervene It turns out that the Autobots faked their death to gain an advantage over the Decepticons The Autobots along with NEST teams and Navy SEALs rescue Carly and begin fighting off the Decepticons During the battle Que dies and Bumblebee kills Soundwave Many other Decepticons including Laserbeak the Driller Starscream and Shockwave are among the casualties Sam fights Dylan and knocks him into the Pillar electrocuting and killing him Bumblebee and Ratchet destroy the Control Pillar permanently disabling the Bridge and causing the partially transported Cybertron to implode Meanwhile Carly convinces Megatron that he will be replaced by Sentinel as the leader of the Decepticons While fighting Sentinel is about to kill Optimus but is incapacitated by Megatron who is determined to regain his leadership Megatron then falsely offers a truce but Optimus refuses to accept his surrender and decapitates him Optimus then executes Sentinel with Megatron s shotgun for betraying his own teachings Carly and Sam are reunited and the Autobots remain on Earth as their permanent home Cast EditMain article List of Transformers film series cast and characters Humans Edit Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky A recent college graduate who is once again tied to the fate of Earth s survival Josh Duhamel as Colonel William Lennox A U S Army Special Forces officer who commands the classified strike team NEST an international joint task force battling Decepticons with the Autobots John Turturro as Seymour Simmons Former agent in charge of the terminated Sector 7 unit and now a successful professional writer Tyrese Gibson as Retired U S Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Robert Epps The former NCO in Charge of the NEST strike team who now works at Kennedy Space Center Rosie Huntington Whiteley as Carly Spencer Sam s new girlfriend Patrick Dempsey as Dylan Gould A wealthy car collector and Carly s employer who is secretly working with the Decepticons Kevin Dunn as Ron Witwicky Sam s father Julie White as Judy Witwicky Sam s mother John Malkovich as Bruce Brazos Sam s employer and boss at Accuretta Systems Frances McDormand as Charlotte Mearing The Director of National Intelligence Keiko Agena as the aide and assistant of Charlotte Mearing Lester Speight as Hardcore Eddie A former member of NEST Josh Kelly as Stone a former member of NEST Alan Tudyk as Dutch Gerhardt Simmons personal assistant Tudyk said he played the role as the same character from the film 28 Days 8 Ken Jeong as Jerry Deep Wang Paranoid software programmer at Sam s work Glenn Morshower as General Sharp Morshower The director of NEST who communicates with the squad from the Pentagon Buzz Aldrin as himself Meeting Optimus Prime at the NEST headquarters Bill O Reilly as himself Interviewing Simmons through his television program The O Reilly Factor Elya Baskin as Cosmonaut Dimitri One of the two surviving Russian cosmonauts who gives Sam information on the Moon missions Andy Daly as Donnie A mailroom worker who loathes Wang Iqbal Theba as UN Secretary General Sammy Sheik as Faraj Mindy Sterling as Martha An insurance agent Chris Sheffield as Pimply Corporate KidTransformers Edit A Peterbilt 379 used for the alternate mode of Optimus Prime The Bumblebee Camaro from Transformers 3 at BotCon in 2011 Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime The leader of the Autobots and ruler of the Matrix of Leadership who transforms into a red yellow orange and blue 1994 Peterbilt 379 semi trailer truck Hugo Weaving as Megatron The leader of the Decepticons who is still badly wounded from the battle in Egypt and transforms into a rusty 10 wheeler 2011 Mack Titan tank truck Leonard Nimoy as Sentinel Prime Optimus s predecessor as the leader of the Autobots and later a Decepticon double agent who transforms into a red and black Rosenbauer Panther Fire Truck Nimoy previously voiced Galvatron in the 1986 Transformers animated picture Mark Ryan as Bumblebee The Autobot scout and Sam Witwicky s guardian who transforms into a yellow and black 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Jess Harnell as Ironhide The Autobot weapons specialist and Optimus Prime s second in command who transforms into a black 2009 GMC Topkick C4500 Charlie Adler as Starscream Megatron s second in command who transforms into a Lockheed Martin F 22 Raptor Robert Foxworth as Ratchet The Autobot medical officer who transforms into a white and green 2009 search and rescue Hummer H2 ambulance James Remar as Sideswipe The Autobot combat instructor from Revenge of the Fallen who transforms into a silver 2011 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible who was previously voiced by Andre Sogliuzzo Francesco Quinn as Dino Mirage The Autobot spy who transforms into a red 2011 Ferrari 458 Italia This was Quinn s final role before his death shortly after the film s release George Coe as Que Wheeljack the Autobot engineer who invents gadgets equipment and weapons and transforms into a blue 2009 Mercedes Benz E550 Tom Kenny as Wheelie A former Decepticon drone turned Autobot from Revenge of the Fallen who transforms into a blue radio controlled toy monster truck Reno Wilson as Brains Wheelie s partner and a fellow former Decepticon drone who transforms into a Lenovo ThinkPad Edge laptop computer Frank Welker as Shockwave The Decepticon scientist and assassin Soundwave The Decepticon communications officer who transforms into a silver 2011 Mercedes Benz SLS AMG Barricade uncredited A Decepticon scout who mysteriously disappeared after the final battle in the first film Ron Bottitta as Roadbuster also credited as Amp An Autobot Wrecker who transforms into Dale Earnhardt Jr s Hendrick Motorsports No 88 AMP Energy National Guard 2011 Chevrolet Impala John DiMaggio as Leadfoot also credited as Target The leader of the Autobot Wreckers who transforms into Juan Pablo Montoya s Earnhardt Ganassi Racing No 42 Target 2011 Chevrolet Impala Keith Szarabajka as Laserbeak A condor like Decepticon who is fiercely loyal to Soundwave and frequently changes transformation modes Greg Berg as Igor A deformed Decepticon who serves as a personal servant to Megatron in his exile Non speaking characters Edit Bumblebee The Autobot scout and Sam Witwicky s guardian who transforms into a yellow and black 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Crowbar The Leader of the Dreads who transforms into a black Police 2011 Chevrolet Suburban Crankcase A Decepticon Dread who transforms into a black Police 2011 Chevrolet Suburban Hatchet A quadruped Decepticon Dread who transforms into a black Police 2011 Chevrolet Suburban Driller A giant worm like tentacled Decepticon and Shockwave s pet Devcon A quadruped Decepticon who participates in the Battle of Chicago and transforms into a MAZ 543P 8x8 Soviet missile launcher Topspin An Autobot Wrecker who transforms into Jimmie Johnson s Hendrick Motorsports No 48 Lowe s Kobalt 2011 Chevrolet Impala Production EditDevelopment Edit You just learn a lot more about the hierarchy and there s more about the history of what they had in Cybertron Leonard Nimoy plays a great role Michael Bay on developing Sentinel Prime s character 9 As a preemptive measure before the release of Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Michael Lucchi and Paramount Pictures announced on March 16 2009 that a third film would be released in IMAX 3D on July 1 2011 which earned a surprised response from director Michael Bay I said I was taking off a year from Transformers Paramount made a mistake in dating Transformers 3 they asked me on the phone I said yes to July 1 but for 2012 whoops Not 2011 That would mean I would have to start prep in September No way My brain needs a break from fighting robots 10 Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman who had worked on the two previous Transformers films declined to return for the third film with Kurtzman declaring that the franchise is so wonderful that it deserves to be fresh all the time We just felt like we d given it a lot and didn t have an insight for where to go with it next 11 Revenge of the Fallen s co writer Ehren Kruger became the sole screenwriter for Dark of the Moon Kruger had frequent meetings with Industrial Light amp Magic s ILM visual effects producers who suggested plot points such as the scenes in Chernobyl 12 On October 1 2009 Bay revealed that Transformers Dark of the Moon had already gone into pre production and its planned release was back to its originally intended date of July 1 2011 rather than 2012 13 Due to the revived interest in 3 D filming technology brought on by the success of Avatar 14 talks between Paramount ILM and Bay had considered the possibility of the next Transformers film being filmed in 3 D and testing was performed to bring the technology into Bay s work 15 Bay originally was not much interested in the format as he felt it did not fit his aggressive style of filmmaking but he was convinced after talks with Avatar director James Cameron 16 who even offered the technical crew from that film Cameron reportedly told Bay about 3 D You gotta look at it as a toy it s another fun tool to help get emotion and character and create an experience 17 Bay was reluctant to film with 3 D cameras since in test he found them to be too cumbersome for his filming style but he did not want to implement the technology in post production either since he was not pleased with the results 18 In addition to using the 3 D Fusion camera rigs developed by Cameron s team 17 Bay and the team spent nine months developing a more portable 3 D camera that could be brought into location 16 In a hidden extra for the Blu ray version of Revenge of the Fallen Bay expressed his intention to make Transformers 3 not necessarily larger than Revenge of the Fallen but instead deeper into the mythology to give it more character development and to make it darker and more emotional Unicron is briefly shown in a secret Transformers 3 preview feature in the Revenge of the Fallen Blu ray disc Ultimately the producers decided to forgo a plot involving the planet eating Transformer and no further comments were ever made on the subject 19 Having been called Transformers 3 up to that point the film s final title was revealed to be Dark of the Moon in October 2010 20 After Revenge of the Fallen was almost universally panned by critics and audiences despite being a box office success Bay acknowledged the general flaws of the script having blamed the 2007 2008 Writers Guild of America strike prior to the film for many problems Bay also promised the film to not have the dorky comedy from the last film 21 On March 19 2010 the script was said to be finished 22 Casting Edit Dempsey on the set of Transformers Dark of the Moon in 2010 Megan Fox was originally attached to the film and Patrick Dempsey s role as Dylan Gould was to be the employer of Fox s character Mikaela Banes 23 According to various published sources Fox s absence from the film was due to Bay ultimately choosing not to renew her role in light of her comparing him and his work ethic to Adolf Hitler 24 25 although representatives for the actress said that it was her decision to leave the film franchise 26 Bay later claimed that executive producer Steven Spielberg told him to fire Fox 27 a claim that Spielberg denied 28 I wasn t hurt Bay stated because I know that s just Megan Megan loves to get a response And she does it in kind of the wrong way I m sorry Megan I m sorry I made you work twelve hours I m sorry that I m making you show up on time Movies are not always warm and fuzzy 27 With Fox not reprising her role Rosie Huntington Whiteley was chosen to play Sam s new love interest 29 Ramon Rodriguez was initially planned to be in the film in a role bigger than the one he had in Revenge of the Fallen but he was dropped during early production 30 It was confirmed that Bay would return as director in the fourth film 31 A few well known actors such as John Malkovich and Frances McDormand also gained selected roles for the film Malkovich explains I play a guy called Bruce Brazos who s just a loudmouth kind of business man who s Shia s character s boss Who s just a jerk and a kind of a loud one But a fun character Nice It was fun Very very enjoyable just with Shia Rosie a little bit and with John Turturro So for me it was a blast 32 Another well known actor Ken Jeong was cast as an eccentric co worker and stalker Jeong described the film Yeah it s a small role in Transformers but yeah I had an out of body experience working on that one because I just couldn t believe I was there Still that was not a thing where oh I m going to be a part of a blockbuster franchise like Transformers 3 or even now Hangover 2 for that matter So I can t believe I m a part of these franchises in any way It was amazing Michael Bay is brilliant and it ll blow your mind 33 For the role of Decepticon scientist Shockwave veteran Transformers voice actor Corey Burton was originally approached to voice the character after previously doing so in the original television series and Transformers Animated Burton declined the offer citing his work schedule and disinterest in being involved in a blockbuster franchise David Warner Burton s influence on his Shockwave voice was briefly considered but the role was ultimately given to Frank Welker adding to his already long list of Transformers characters 34 35 Themes and inspirations Edit Due to the critically panned Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Bay decided to remove the characters called the Twins entirely from Dark of the Moon This one really builds to a final crescendo It s not three multiple endings One thing we re getting rid of is what I call the dorky comedy The twins are basically gone 36 Due to fan rumors that the Twins would actually be in the film the director made a public 25 000 bet that the Twins would not be seen in Dark of the Moon 36 They were briefly shown in the N E S T headquarters in their vehicle modes in the film Bay acknowledged that Revenge of the Fallen was disappointing to the fans and stated that he doesn t want the third one to suck 37 Bay stated that he wanted Dark of the Moon s final battle to be more geographic and feature a small group of heroes like Ridley Scott s war drama Black Hawk Down Joe Dante s science fiction Small Soldiers and Hasbro s G I Joe The Rise of Cobra 37 Bay also decided to include Shockwave because he considers the character bad and He s got a much bigger gun than Megatron and is a little bit more vicious 37 According to The A V Club the film had several minor story inspirations from the 1980s cartoon The Transformers including the usage of a Space Bridge and the kicking the Autobots out 38 better source needed Similar to the previous two installments the film was told in the human point of view to engage the audience Bay wanted Sam to have a girlfriend like in the first two films Actor Shia LaBeouf said that Sam and Mikaela had become one character and although he would miss Megan Fox with this change you have discovery again from a new perspective 39 LaBeouf also stated that the additions of Huntington Whiteley and new characters allows Dark of the Moon to keep the magic of the first film 40 Dark of the Moon also had numerous Star Trek references partly because scriptwriter Ehren Kruger was a big Star Trek geek 41 but also as a nod to the fact that new character Sentinel Prime was voiced by Leonard Nimoy who originated the iconic role of Spock on Star Trek and voiced Galvatron in The Transformers The Movie The first Star Trek reference is when refugee robots Brains and Wheelie who live in Sam and Carly s apartment complex are watching TOS episode Amok Time Wheelie comments I ve seen this one It s the one where Spock goes nuts 41 The second reference is when Sam meets his girlfriend Carly Spencer at work and is being introduced to Carly s employer Dylan Gould Sam marvels at their workplace It s a beautiful building you guys have Like the Starship Enterprise in here 41 The third reference is when Bumblebee says goodbye to Sam at Cape Canaveral the words my friend are sampled from Spock in Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan You are my friend I am and always shall be yours 41 The fourth and final reference is when Sentinel Prime activates the Control Pillar quoting Spock s maxim in Star Trek II and Star Trek III The Search for Spock The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few 41 Filming Edit source source source source source source source source source source source source Explosions on Wacker Drive in Chicago for Transformers Dark of the Moon filming on location The shooting of Transformers 3 in Chicago in July 2010 in the foreground the Autobot wrecker Topspin as a heavily armed Chevrolet Impala Vehicles used on the set of Transformers Dark of the Moon Transformers Dark of the Moon s production cost was reported 195 million with the cost of the 3 D filming accounting at 30 million of the budget 5 Preparation for filming began on April 7 2010 in Northwest Indiana specifically around Gary which portrayed Ukraine in the film 42 43 44 Principal photography commenced on May 18 2010 with shooting locations including Chicago Florida and Moscow 45 46 The first six weeks were spent in Los Angeles locations included Sherman Oaks Fourth Avenue and 5 Main The next four weeks were spent in Chicago Locations filmed in Chicago included LaSalle Street Michigan Avenue Bacino s of Lincoln Park at 2204 North Lincoln Avenue and areas surrounding the Willis Tower 47 The scenes set in Michigan Ave featured a substantial amount of pyrotechnics and stunt work 48 Filming in Detroit was planned to take place in August but the Chicago shoot was extended until September 1 49 In late September the production moved to NASA s Kennedy Space Center in Florida just before the launch of Space Shuttle mission STS 133 50 Scenes were filmed at Launch Pad 39A the Vehicle Assembly Building and the Orbiter Processing Facility 51 Actors on a Transformers Dark of the Moon set in July 2010 While filming in Washington D C the crew shot on the National Mall and Bay stated that there would be a car race on the location Two further locations announced were the Milwaukee Art Museum and the former Tower Automotive complex on Milwaukee s north side then under redevelopment for mixed use as well as the city s equipment yard Filming was scheduled to take place there after work was done in Chicago 52 On September 23 scenes were filmed at the former city hall in Detroit On October 16 a flashback scene that takes place in the later 1960s was shot at the Johnson Space Center in Houston using extras with period fashion and hairstyles 53 One day of shooting was also spent at the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia 54 Other planned filming locations included Africa and China 55 Though about 70 of the film s live action footage was shot in 3 D 56 using Arri Alexa and Sony F35 cameras 57 more than half of the film still had to be converted into 3 D in post production to fix technical flaws that 3 D filming produces 58 Other footage that needed to be converted into 3 D in post production was either entirely computer generated or shot in the anamorphic format on 35 mm film 56 35 mm film was used for scenes filmed in slow motion and scenes such as closeups of faces or shots of the sky that required higher image quality than the HD digital 3 D cameras could provide 56 35 mm cameras were also used for scenes where the 3 D cameras proved to be too heavy or were subject to strobing or electrical damage from dust 56 Principal photography officially concluded on November 9 2010 59 Dark of the Moon has been found to contain recycled footage from an earlier film directed by Michael Bay The Island 2005 60 Bay similarly recycled footage from his film Pearl Harbor 2001 in the 2007 film Transformers 61 Accidents Edit Shooting of the duel between Sam Witwicky Shia LaBeouf and Dylan Gould Patrick Dempsey in Chicago Filming was temporarily delayed on September 2 2010 when an extra was seriously injured during a stunt in Hammond Indiana Due to a failed weld a steel cable snapped from a car being towed and hit the extra s car damaging her skull The extra identified as Gabriela Cedillo had to undergo brain surgery 62 The injury has left her permanently brain damaged paralyzed on her left side and her left eye stitched shut 63 64 Paramount admitted responsibility for the accident and covered all of Cedillo s medical costs 65 Nevertheless Cedillo s family filed a lawsuit on October 5 citing seven counts of negligence against Paramount and several other defendants not including Bay with total damages sought in excess of 350 000 66 Cedillo s attorney Todd Smith said This was an attractive 24 year old girl who had dreams and aspirations involving acting and this kind of injury may well have a serious impact on her dreams 67 The filed complaint reads that Cedillo has endured and will in the future endure pain and suffering has become disfigured and disabled has suffered a loss of the enjoyment of a normal life has been damaged in her capacity to earn a living has incurred and will in the future incur expenses for medical services all of which are permanent in nature 67 In response to the suit Paramount released the following statement We are all terribly sorry that this accident occurred Our thoughts prayers and best wishes are with Gabriela her family and loved ones The production will continue to provide all the help we can to Gabriela and her family during this difficult time 67 In May 2012 it was revealed that an 18 million settlement had been reached between Paramount and the Cedillo family 68 A second accident occurred on October 11 2010 in Washington D C While filming a chase scene at 3rd Street and Maryland Avenue SW a Metropolitan Police K9 Unit SUV accidentally rammed the Camaro that portrays Bumblebee in the film The area had been closed off by the Washington D C police and it is unclear why the SUV was there Both drivers were uninjured 69 but the Camaro was severely damaged 70 Reports indicate that the K9 Unit was heading to a report of a bomb threat as part of a Bomb Squad response but was not using the same radio frequency as the units guarding the filming and did not realize it had gone the wrong way until it collided with the Bumblebee Camaro Many fans who witnessed the crash were horrified at the damage the Bumblebee Camaro suffered and cast and crew members reacted quickly to cover up the damaged Camaro and secure the scene 71 Effects Edit As with the previous Transformers installments Industrial Light amp Magic ILM was the main CGI visual effects company for Dark of the Moon ILM had been working on the pre visualization for six months before principal photography started resulting in 20 minutes worth of footage 72 Digital Domain also rendered 350 CGI shots including the characters Laserbeak Brains Wheelie and the Decepticon protoforms concealed on the moon the space bridge and a skydiving sequence 73 74 External audioIndustrial Light amp Magic s interview for the effects of the film Listen to the InterviewILM s visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar said that not only were the film s effects ambitious they also had to be designed for 3 D and explained the company s solutions for the new perspective We did make sure things are as bright as possible Michael called up theatre owners to make sure they keep the lamps bright in the theatres make everything a little sharper because we know that through the steps no matter what when you get to the final screening things tend to go less sharp 75 On the last weekend of ILM s work on Dark of the Moon the company s entire render farm was being used for the film giving ILM more than 200 000 hours of rendering power a day or equivalent to 22 8 years of rendering time in a 24 hour period 12 Farrar embraced the detail in creating giant robots for 3 D making sure that in close ups of the Transformers faces you see all the details in the nooks and crannies of these pieces It s totally unlike a plain surface subject like a human head or an animated head The supervisor said that Bay s style of cinematography helped integrate the robots into the scenes as Michael is keen on having foreground midground background depth in his shots even in normal live action shots He ll say Put some stuff hanging here It could be women s stockings or forks and knives dangling from a string out of focus it doesn t matter but it gives you depth and focus depth and makes it more interesting 76 Considerable digital animation was required for the elaborate Driller as it comprised over 70 000 parts significantly more than Optimus Prime s 10 000 parts The most complicated effects involved the Driller a giant snake like creature with an eel like body and spinning rotator blades knives and teeth In Revenge of the Fallen it took 72 hours per frame to fully render Devastator for the IMAX format which is approximately a frame amount of 4 000 For the Driller which required the entire render farm it was up to 122 hours per frame 72 The most complex scene involved the Driller destroying a computer generated skyscraper which took 288 hours per frame 75 For said sequence ILM relied on its internal proprietary physics simulation engine to depict the destruction of the building which included breaking concrete floors and walls windows columns and pieces of office furnishings ILM digital production supervisor Nigel Sumner explained We did a lot of tests early on to figure out how to break the building apart exploring a lot of the procedural options A building that s 70 feet tall to go in and hand score the geometry so when it fractures or falls apart would be a time consuming laborious process The floor of a building may be made of concrete How does concrete fracture when it tears apart The pillars would be made of a similar material but made of rebar or other engineering components We d look at how a building would blow apart and then choose the best tool to help achieve the properties of that during a simulation 76 Sentinel Prime left was modeled after actor Sean Connery right 12 The scenes in Chicago were mostly shot on location as Bay believed the plates had to really be shot in the actual city Farrar was always fascinated with the idea of shooting on location and then blending the film with Computer generated imagery He said We try and shoot everything real You may have seen some films recently where the entire city has been destroyed and it s entirely CGI Well for a Transformers film it s different because we actually went to Chicago If you start with the real thing you have a lot more to work with to make it look real So for a couple of months there I was in a helicopter shooting aerial plates of the real buildings And we d add destruction to all the backgrounds smoke fire debris fighter planes war battles torn up streets to real cityscapes 76 Four ILM employees also traveled to Chicago and photographed buildings from top to bottom at six different times of the day in order to create a digital model of the city to be used in certain scenes 12 ILM s crew designed many major action scenes 12 with many of the Chicago battle concepts coming from the helicopter shooting of the aerial plates 72 Animator Scott Benza said Sentinel Prime had a face more human like than any of the other robots with a more complex frame and a greater number of plates so it could be more expressive 12 ILM had based most of Sentinel Prime s features on Sean Connery and after Leonard Nimoy was cast to voice the role the effects were altered to incorporate Nimoy s acting as well Every robot would take approximately 30 weeks to build visually Originally the fight between Sentinel Prime Optimus Prime and Megatron was considered to be on water in the Chicago River but the budget was cut and ILM realized that they would not want to present that version of the final battle to Bay so they decided to have the battle take place on the bridge over the river 72 For a sequence where Bumblebee catches Sam and Lennox while transforming in mid air a digital double of Shia LaBeouf was combined with footage of the actor in high speed so that the effects team could time it for slow motion 76 Since Bay shoots all his films in anamorphic format Dark of the Moon s representation would be squeezed in to distort the image and ILM would add in the robots and un distort the image 72 The ample variety of filming formats used single camera 3 D stereo rigs with two cameras anamorphic and spherical lenses proved a challenge especially as ILM had a deadline to deliver the 3 D plates to the companies responsible for the 3 D conversion 12 ILM made 600 3 D shots and Digital Domain had under 200 72 while Legend3 D the lead 3 D conversion company of the film completed 78 minutes of work on the film and finalized the work of approximately 40 minutes of challenging non visual effects and 38 minutes of visual effects shots 77 Music EditSee also Transformers Dark of the Moon The Album and Transformers Dark of the Moon The Score Steve Jablonsky It s Our Fight source source A 27 second sample of Steve Jablonsky s It s Our Fight The climax is played and a unique bass drum is used in the process Problems playing this file See media help Composer Steve Jablonsky who had before collaborated with Bay on The Island and the first two Transformers films returned to compose the Dark of the Moon score Jablonsky s musical score was lauded by critics and fans The score was released on June 24 2011 five days before the actual release of the film 78 Although a bit more score heavy this time around the soundtrack is certainly featured and we not only rejoin characters we have come to know but some familiar artists who are back again as well Allison Loring reviewing the film s soundtrack 79 The album was originally set for release on June 28 2011 but Amazon com listed the album as unavailable while the album was still being listed for release during the week of the film s global release 80 It was available for download on Amazon on June 30 2011 80 and the score currently features 17 pre recorded tracks that are featured in the final film The score s length is approximately 59 47 81 The album for the film was released on June 14 2011 It consists of singles produced by different artists and bands and rock tracks American rock band Linkin Park composed the lead single for the film Iridescent as they did with the first two films What I ve Done was used in the 2007 film and New Divide for the 2009 film The sound effects for the Transformers and foley was synthesized and developed by electronic music producer Christian Valentin Brunn born July 20 1994 better known by his stage name Virtual Riot The music video for Iridescent was directed by Joe Hahn 82 Two other singles were released specifically for the soundtrack Monster by Paramore citation needed and All That You Are by the Goo Goo Dolls Several other unreleased songs make their debut on the album including The Pessimist by Stone Sour and The Bottom by Staind My Chemical Romance s song The Only Hope for Me Is You also appeared and can also be found on their fourth studio album Danger Days The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys and on the soundtrack The song was not exclusively for the movie and was featured in the credits 83 The Black Veil Brides song Set the World on Fire is also included citation needed Marketing Edit An advertisement for the film on a bus in Hong Kong Most of the characters returned for Hasbro s new toyline which was released on May 16 2011 84 In October 2010 Entertainment Tonight previewed the behind the scenes filming in Chicago 85 86 A two minute teaser trailer was announced on November 27 87 and was posted to the Internet on December 9 2010 88 A 30 second television advertisement for the film aired during Super Bowl XLV on Fox on February 6 2011 89 The first full theatrical trailer was released on April 28 2011 90 The very first video clip was released on May 18 91 A second clip was released the next day on May 19 92 The North American promotional costs came to approximately 75 million 5 93 Novelizations Edit In May 2011 the novelization junior novel and graphic novel of Transformers Dark of the Moon were released Both the novel and the graphic novel featured Skids and Mudflap as supporting characters but the characters were missing from the junior novel The graphic novel made reference to several Autobots from the IDW Publishing tie in comics who died in the stories between Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon 94 Another novel written by Peter David was published on May 24 2011 and was released only paperback Though it is slightly different from the film the novel still pertains to the topic and synopsis of the film it is based on in the outcome of the final battle The novel features about 400 pages and is published by Del Rey Books Its synopsis is All humankind was watching that day in 1969 And yet only a handful knew the real mission behind America s triumph in the space race to explore the alien ship that has crashed on the far side of the moon Decades later scientists are still struggling to understand the technology found on board though with the treacherous Decepticons after it a powerful force must be at stake The only hope of averting a crisis is to reawaken Sentinel Prime the long lost leader of the Autobots but who knows what else remains in the shadows hidden from man and machine 95 Video game Edit Main article Transformers Dark of the Moon video game On June 14 2011 Activision published a video game based on the film for Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 Wii Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS The versions for Nintendo s consoles were developed by Behaviour Interactive 96 while the versions for the rest of the consoles were developed by High Moon Studios who had previously developed Transformers War for Cybertron Electronic Arts released the game Transformers Dark of the Moon on June 28 2011 for Nokia Symbian smartphones Apple products iPod Touch iPhones and iPad 97 98 and Research In Motion s BlackBerry devices 99 Release Edit Rosie Huntington Whiteley at the film s premiere Theatrical Edit Transformers Dark of the Moon first premiered at the Moscow International Film Festival on June 23 2011 Linkin Park performed a special outdoor concert in Red Square in Moscow on the same night in celebration of the event 1 Initially scheduled to be released on July 1 2011 the release was brought forward to June 29 2011 3 It was announced in November 2010 that unlike Transformers Revenge of the Fallen no scenes in the film were shot with IMAX 3 D cameras 100 Home media Edit During Hasbro Investor Day it was announced that the DVD and Blu ray Disc would be released in the fourth quarter of 2011 101 The NTSC home release for the film was released on September 30 2011 102 with a Blu ray 3D version of the film slated for release in the coming months 103 104 However the first home release was criticized for the lack of bonus features 105 A Walmart exclusive edition of Transformers Dark of the Moon also was released on September 30 2011 106 The PAL DVD and Blu ray Discs of Transformers Dark of the Moon was released on November 28 2011 107 In North America it sold 716 218 DVD units equivalent of 13 565 169 in its first week topping the weekly DVD chart 108 As of February 26 2012 update it has sold 2 829 285 DVD units equivalent of 48 058 979 109 It also topped the Blu ray charts on the same week and it has sold 2 381 657 Blu ray units earning 50 934 911 by October 23 2011 110 The Blu ray 3D release of the film was released on January 31 2012 in NTSC regions and on February 13 2012 in PAL regions 111 Transformers Dark of the Moon was released on 4K UHD Blu ray on October 30 2017 in PAL regions and December 5 2017 in NTSC regions 112 Reception EditBox office Edit Worldwide Edit Transformers Dark of the Moon had grossed 352 3 million in North America and 771 4 million in other territories for a worldwide total of 1 123 billion 113 It was the fifth highest grossing film of all time and the second highest grossing film of 2011 On August 3 2011 the film crossed the 1 billion mark 114 making it the second Paramount Pictures film to do so along with Titanic Its worldwide opening weekend 382 4 million is the fourth largest ever and the largest for Paramount 115 It set an IMAX worldwide opening weekend record with 23 1 million first surpassed by Deathly Hallows Part 2 116 It reached 400 million 6 days 500 million 9 days 600 million 12 days and 700 million 16 days in record time but lost all records to Deathly Hallows Part 2 117 North America Edit The film opened in 4 088 theaters including a then record total of 2 789 3 D locations It made 5 5 million during Tuesday 9 p m showings 8 million during midnight showings 118 and 37 7 million on its opening day Wednesday including Tuesday showings This was the sixth best opening Wednesday 119 However all these figures were lower than Revenge of the Fallen 120 On Thursday it earned 21 5 million falling 43 an improvement from its predecessor s Wednesday to Thursday decline It grossed 33 0 million on Friday totaling 97 8 million Its 3 D share accounted for 60 of its gross which was atypical due to the downturn in 3D attendance in North America For its three day opening weekend Friday to Sunday it grossed 97 9 million topping the box office ahead of Cars 2 121 It achieved the third largest opening weekend of 2011 122 the fourth largest opening weekend in July 123 the fifth largest opening weekend for a film not released on Friday 124 and the second largest five day gross for a film opening on Wednesday 113 It set records for the 3 day 97 9 million 125 and 4 day 115 9 million Independence Day weekend surpassing Spider Man 2 s record in both cases 88 2 million and 115 8 million respectively until both records were broken with the release of Minions The Rise of Gru in 2022 126 It retained first place on its second weekend dropping 52 to 47 1 million 127 Closing on October 13 2011 with 352 4 million it is the second highest grossing film of 2011 128 and the second highest grossing film in the franchise 129 130 Outside North America Edit The film grossed 32 5 million on its opening day pacing 38 ahead of its predecessor Including some early Tuesday previews it earned 36 6 million in one and a half days 131 and by Thursday its international total reached 66 million 132 By the end of its first weekend it had earned 219 8 million which stands as the fifth largest opening weekend of all time overseas and the largest for Paramount 133 Its foreign launch was 57 ahead of that of Revenge of the Fallen 139 6 million 70 of its grosses came from 3 D a higher 3 D share than Pirates 4 s 66 134 Don Harris general manager of distribution for Paramount commented on the results of Dark of the Moon If we hadn t chosen to debut the movie later in Japan and China we probably would have had the all time record 135 The film topped the box office outside North America for two weekends in a row 136 In China its highest grossing market after North America the film set records for an opening day with 15 9 million a single day with 17 4 million overtaken by Journey to the West Conquering the Demons 137 and an opening weekend with 46 8 million 62 7 million with previews 138 The latter was taken from Avatar 42 0 million 139 The opening weekend record when including previews was surpassed by Titanic 3D 74 2 million 140 Dark of the Moon ended its run with 167 95 million marking the second highest grossing film of 2011 after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 141 Besides China it broke the opening day record in Russia and South Korea 131 the single day record in Hong Kong 142 and the opening weekend record in South Korea 143 Hong Kong Malaysia Taiwan Thailand Singapore the UAE the Philippines and Peru the last three records were surpassed by The Avengers 134 144 145 Following China in total earnings were South Korea 69 1 million and Japan 54 2 million 146 Critical response Edit On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 35 based on reviews from 263 critics with an average rating of 5 10 The site s critical consensus reads Its special effects and 3D shots are undeniably impressive but they aren t enough to fill up its loud bloated running time or mask its thin indifferent script 7 On Metacritic the film has a score of 42 out of 100 based on 37 critics indicating mixed or average reviews 147 Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of A on an A to F scale 148 149 Roger Ebert gave the film one out of four stars criticizing its visuals plot characters and dialogue 150 Richard Roeper likewise panned the film giving it a D and responded that rarely has a movie had less of a soul and less interesting characters 151 A O Scott in The New York Times wrote I can t decide if this movie is so spectacularly breathtakingly dumb as to induce stupidity in anyone who watches or so brutally brilliant that it disarms all reason What s the difference 152 Several critics felt that Shia LaBeouf and Rosie Huntington Whiteley s performances were ineffective Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film 0 stars the same rating that he had given to Revenge of the Fallen and stated the two actors couldn t be duller 153 Tirdad Derakhshani of The Philadelphia Inquirer stated that LaBeouf plays Witwicky as if he had a ferocious case of attention deficit disorder After two films his fidgeting isn t cute anymore 154 James Berardinelli of ReelViews wrote that LaBeouf has sunk to greater levels of incompetence here It s hard to call his posturing and screaming acting 155 Jason Solomons of The Observer wrote W e re first introduced to Huntington Whiteley via a close up of her bum segueing straight from the film s opening sequence and titles on to the pert buttocks and underwear of our heroine and that her English posh girl accent renders her practically unintelligible when surrounded by American accents and falling masonry 156 Much of the criticism towards Rosie Huntington Whiteley compared her in an unfavorable light to Megan Fox Lou Lumenick of the New York Post wrote that her acting makes Megan Fox look like Meryl Streep in comparison 157 Huntington Whitely was later nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress for her performance but lost to David Spade for Jack and Jill 158 For good or ill Bay is the soul of a new machine the poet of post human cinema the CEO of Hollywood s military entertainment complex Richard Corliss in his review of the film for Time magazine 159 Steve Prokopy of Ain t It Cool News found the film to be better than the first two 160 Jim Vejvoda of IGN gave the film a score of seven out of ten also stating that it was the best of the franchise 161 E Online graded the film a B while noting if this film is truly the end of a trilogy its main antagonists should have played more of a part 162 Website Daily Bhaskar also praised the film rating it three and a half out of five stars citing it as an improvement on the previous film and writing that it gives fans something to cheer about 163 Many reviews praised the film s special effects and aggressive use of 3 D After previewing a partial unfinished cut of the film Kofi Outlaw of Screen Rant declared that Bay had created the best 3 D experience since James Cameron s Avatar 164 Neil Schneider of Meant to be Seen a website focused on stereoscopic 3 D gaming and entertainment remarked that while Transformers Dark of the Moon had the scrapings of a really good story this 3 D movie was shot with a 2 D script On the topic of 3 D Schneider said Transformers 3 was a mix of native stereoscopic 3 D camera capturing and 2 D 3 D conversion as a 3 D tool and most was done very well He added At a minimum Transformers 3 demonstrates that fast cutting sequences are indeed possible and practical in stereoscopic 3 D More than that it was a comfortable experience and helped exemplify great use of stereoscopic 3 D with CGI live action and CGI digital characters That said I think they still could have taken it much further 165 Charlie Jane Anders of Jezebel believed that some elements of the film were deliberate self references to Michael Bay s own sense of under appreciation after the backlash to the second film After a few hours of seeing Shia get dissed overlooked and mistreated the message becomes clear Shia as always is a stand in for Michael Bay And Bay is showing us just what it felt like to deal with the ocean of Haterade the snarking the Razzie Award the mean reviews that Revenge of the Fallen unleashed She went on to say that the film s frequent often jarring shifts in tone were an intentional endorsement of Michael Bay s own filmmaking style Tone is for single purpose machines Consistency is for Decepticons Michael Bay s ideal movie shifts from action movie to teen comedy to political drama with the same well lubricated ease that his cars become men By the time you ve finished watching you will speak Michael Bay s cinematic language 166 Accolades Edit Award Category Recipients Result Ref 2011 Teen Choice Awards Choice Summer Movie Transformers Dark of the Moon Nominated 167 Choice Summer Movie Actor Shia LaBeouf NominatedChoice Summer Movie Actress Rosie Huntington Whiteley Nominated2011 Scream Awards Best Science Fiction Movie Transformers Dark of the Moon Nominated 168 Best Cameo Buzz Aldrin NominatedHoly Sh t Scene of the Year Escape From Collapsing Building Transformers Dark of the Moon NominatedBest 3D Movie Transformers Dark of the Moon WonBest F X Transformers Dark of the Moon Nominated2012 People s Choice AwardsFavorite Movie Transformers Dark of the Moon Nominated 169 Favorite Action Movie Transformers Dark of the Moon NominatedFavorite Action Movie Star Shia LaBeouf Nominated2011 Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Awards Obviously Worst Film Transformers Dark of the Moon Won 170 2011 Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards Sequel or Remake That Shouldn t Have Been Made Transformers Dark of the Moon Nominated 171 2012 Annie AwardsAnimated Effects in a Live Action Production Florent Andarra Won citation needed 2012 Golden Reel Awards Music in a Feature Film Transformers Dark of the Moon Nominated 172 Sound Effects and Foley in a Feature Film Transformers Dark of the Moon Nominated2012 Screen Actors Guild AwardsOutstanding Performance By a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture Transformers Dark of the Moon Nominated citation needed 2012 Visual Effects Society Awards Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture Scott Benza Wayne Billheimer Matthew E Butler Scott Farrar Nominated 173 Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture Chris Balog Ben O Brien Amy Shepard Jeff Sutherland NominatedOutstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture Giles Hancock John Hansen Tom Martinek Scott Younkin for 155 Wacker Drive WonOutstanding Models in a Feature Motion Picture Tim Brakensiek Kelvin Chu David Fogler Rene Garcia for Driller WonOutstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture Michael Balog Richard Bluff Shawn Kelly Jeff White Nominated2012 Academy AwardsBest Sound Editing Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl Nominated 174 Best Sound Mixing Greg P Russell Gary Summers Jeffrey J Haboush and Peter J Devlin NominatedBest Visual Effects Scott Farrar Scott Benza Matthew Butler and John Frazier Nominated2012 Golden Raspberry AwardsWorst Picture Transformers Dark of the Moon Nominated 175 Worst Director Michael Bay NominatedWorst Supporting Actor Patrick Dempsey NominatedWorst Supporting Actor Ken Jeong NominatedWorst Supporting Actress Rosie Huntington Whiteley NominatedWorst Screenplay Ehren Kruger NominatedWorst Screen Couple Shia LaBeouf and Rosie Huntington Whiteley NominatedWorst Screen Ensemble Transformers Dark of the Moon Nominated2012 Saturn AwardsBest Special Effects Scott Benza John Frazier Matthew Butler and Scott Farar Nominated 176 2012 Empire AwardsThe Art of 3D Presented by RealD Transformers Dark of the Moon Nominated 177 Sequels EditSee also Transformers Age of Extinction Transformers The Last Knight Bumblebee film and Transformers Rise of the Beasts The fourth film in the Transformers film series Age of Extinction was released June 27 2014 A fifth film The Last Knight was released on June 21 2017 followed by a spin off titled Bumblebee released on December 21 2018 Transformers Rise of the Beasts is scheduled to be released June 9 2023 See also EditList of highest grossing filmsReferences Edit a b Transformers Dark Of The Moon Presents Linkin Park Live In Moscow On June 23 In Support Of Movie s World Premiere In Russia Paramount Pictures May 23 2011 Archived from the original on March 20 2012 Retrieved February 12 2016 Global sites amp Release Dates Paramount Pictures Archived from the original on February 21 2011 Retrieved February 12 2016 a b Labrecque Jeff Transformers Dark of the Moon gets new release date Entertainment Weekly Retrieved May 20 2011 Transformers Dark Of The Moon BBFC June 21 2011 Retrieved June 28 2011 a b c Fernandez Jay A May 25 2011 Michael Bay Reveals James Cameron s Secret Role in the Making of Transformers The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved August 14 2011 a b Transformers Dark of the Moon 2011 Box Office Mojo Retrieved January 18 2014 a b Transformers Dark of the Moon 2011 Rotten Tomatoes Fandango Retrieved November 29 2022 Saraiya Sonia July 7 2014 Alan Tudyk on never playing the same role twice except that one time The A V Club Retrieved July 7 2014 Confession The same role I did in 28 Days with Sandra Bullock I did it in Transformers His name was Dutch but I said He s the same guy Not only does he kind of seem like the same guy he s the absolute same guy Sciretta Peter April 15 2011 Interview Michael Bay Talks Transformers Dark of the Moon Film Retrieved August 8 2011 Transformers 3 release date Michael Bay March 17 2009 Archived from the original on October 2 2011 Retrieved August 7 2011 Wayland Sara August 10 2009 Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman talk STAR TREK Sequel COWBOYS AND ALIENS TRANSFORMERS 3 VIEW MASTER Film More Collider Retrieved August 18 2011 a b c d e f g Desowitz Bill July 6 2011 A Colossal Transformers Sequel By Animation World Network Archived from the original on October 17 2012 Retrieved August 18 2011 Transformers 3 July 1 2011 Michael Bay October 1 2009 Archived from the original on September 14 2012 Retrieved November 11 2009 Michael Bay Testing 3 D for Transformers 3 Film February 26 2010 Retrieved March 10 2010 Cohen David S Sunhee Han February 2 2010 Korea s Stereo Pictures cues Cats Is Warner on 3 D overdrive Variety Retrieved February 4 2010 a b Bowles Scott June 28 2011 Transformers Dark of the Moon aims to revive 3 D movies USA Today Archived from the original on February 5 2013 Retrieved August 17 2011 a b Michael Bay amp James Cameron Talk 3 D Extended Michael Bay Official YouTube Channel YouTube June 26 2011 Archived from the original on October 30 2021 Retrieved July 28 2011 Ditzian Eric April 2 2010 Breaking Dawn Transformers 3 And Other Films That Might Go 3 D MTV Retrieved May 4 2010 Transformers 3 2011 Hollywood Film Release Date DVD Cast and Crew Trailer Calcutta Tube September 1 2010 Archived from the original on January 18 2013 Retrieved August 18 2011 Fischer Russ October 6 2010 Third Transformers Film Titled Transformers Dark of the Moon Film Retrieved October 6 2010 Wintraub Steve December 8 2010 Collider com article about DOTM Collider com Retrieved August 22 2011 Transformers 3 Script Complete Josh Duhamel Says MTV May 19 2010 Retrieved March 21 2010 Marsi Steve May 5 2010 Patrick Dempsey Confirmed For Role in Transformers 3 TV Fanatic Retrieved August 14 2011 Finke Nikki May 19 2010 Michael Bay s Revenge No More Megan Update Suggested Replacements Deadline Hollywood Retrieved March 2 2022 Transformers Shia LaBeouf Megan Fox s S Talking Got Her Fired Us Weekly LLC June 21 2011 Retrieved March 4 2022 When you re days and months on a set it s like a family You say rude things and you make up Caplan David Garcia Jennifer May 19 2010 Megan Fox It Was My Decision To Leave Transformers People Retrieved May 20 2010 a b Fennessey Sean July 2011 Why Michael Bay Fired Megan Fox from Transformers Movies TV GQ Retrieved September 12 2012 Lussier Germain December 2 2011 Steven Spielberg Would Like Michael Bay To Do More Transformers Has Genre Locked For Indiana Jones 5 Expands On Crystal Skull Criticism SlashFilm and denied the Megan Fox Transformers rumors Markovitz Adam June 3 2010 It s official Victoria s Secret model Rosie Huntington Whiteley replaces Megan Fox in Transformers 3 Entertainment Weekly Retrieved August 27 2011 Billington Alex Bay Says We ll See More Ramon Rodriguez in Transformers 3 FirstShowing net Retrieved January 16 2012 Hoffa Meredith Michael Bay will direct the next Transformers but first he s pumped for Pain and Gain Entertainment Weekly Retrieved June 14 2012 John Malkovich Describes His Character in Transformers 3 Reelzchannel Hubbard Broadcasting October 4 2010 Archived from the original on August 16 2011 Retrieved August 14 2011 Topel Fred March 23 2011 Ken Jeong on Community Hangover 2 and Transformers 3 CraveOnline Retrieved August 19 2011 Corey Burton Uninterested in Reprising Shockwave for Transformers 3 David Warner is Rumored Transformers News TFW2005 December 20 2010 Corey Burton November 8 2010 Welcome Transformers CoreyBurton com Archived from the original on January 31 2011 Master Control Program characterization seemed a great fit for the lonely outpost guardian of interstellar command communications a b Michael Bay Will Bet You 25 000 That the Twins Aren t in Transformers Dark of the Moon Collider com May 15 2011 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Empireonline com Bauer Consumer Media 2012 Archived from the original on August 19 2014 Retrieved April 1 2020 Notes Edit As depicted in the 2009 film Transformers Revenge of the Fallen External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Transformers Dark of the Moon Wikiquote has quotations related to Transformers Dark of the Moon Transformers Dark of the Moon at IMDb Dark of the Moon title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Transformers Dark of the Moon at AllMovie Transformers Dark of the Moon at Box Office Mojo Transformers Dark of the Moon at the TCM Movie Database Portals United States Film Illinois Chicago War Science Fiction Speculative fiction 2010s Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Transformers Dark of the Moon amp oldid 1131998501, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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