Watch the Grimmer Alternate Opening for Bumblebee

You can now get a glimpse of what a different kind of Bumblebee film might have looked like. Director Travis Knight’s beloved stand-alone film is already available on digital HD and will be released on Blu-ray release next month. This means Paramount has been racing out a slew of special features. One of those is a much grimmer opening scene that would have likely set the stage for a very different version of the film.

The Talented Screenwriter Behind the Lovable, Genuinely Fun Bumblebee

The Transformers franchise has been, well, transformed with the coming of Bumblebee. The newest chapter of the Autobot saga has been hailed for infusing the metallic morphing machines with real heart. Director Travis Knight is the first director to helm one of the films after Michael Bay, but much of the credit for pushing the explosive action films into an emotional new era goes to screenwriter Christina Hodson.

New Bumblebee Photos Reveal Decepticons Sent to Hunt our Hero

You may have heard that Travis Knight’s Bumblebee is getting some pretty fantastic first reactions from critics. /Film’s Peter Sciretta was awestruck to find he liked Bumblebee even better than Michael Bay’s first Transformers. “Better than TF1, and I really liked the first Bay film a lot,” Sciretta tweeted. Bumblebee sets the action in the 80s,

First Reactions to Bumblebee Largely Agree It’s the Best Transformers Yet

Bumblebee has critics buzzing and may boost the Transformers franchise in a satisfying new direction. The robot adventures have always been fun and larger than life, but sometimes their heart is more steel than human. The 1980s prequel appears to be reintroducing that much needed emotional hook.

The Transformers series has been largely popcorn fare, so critics were surprised to find how engrossing the character-driven installment actually is.

Bumblebee Will Soon Do Something He’s Never Done Before

Snoopy. Maggie Simpson. Tinkerbell. Some characters are the strong silent type. Since his screen debut in Transformers, that has included Bumblebee. Until now.

The kindly yellow Transformer will get his own voice in standalone film Bumblebee. Until now, the shy alien has only communicated via a radio so far, but never actually spoken in his own voice. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura revealed to IGN that not only would Bumblebee be shaking out those vocal cords,

Behind the Gen-1 Design of the Transformers in Bumblebee

There’s plenty of reason to be optimistic about Bumblebee. Director Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings) and screenwriter Christina Hodson (Birds of Prey) are two solid places to start. Their passion for the project was evident in the first trailer, in the pared-down story, in the retro look of Bumblebee and his fellow Transformers, and in the spark between Hailee Steinfeld’s Charlie Watson and her new best friend,

John Cena and an Army of Transformers Hunt Bumblebee in New Trailer

Charlie (Hailee Steinfield) has no idea just how special her first car will be. I mean, Volkswagen is discontinuing the Beetle in 2019. That car is going to be a classic someday. Oh, and the particular vehicle she obtains is also a shapeshifting autobot in hiding. A new Bumblebee trailer highlights the intimate nature of the Transformers origin story and the epic odds our heroes are up against.

At 18 years old,

Stop-Motion Master Travis Knight Brings Bumblebee to Life in New Featurette

Travis Knight is one of the most highly-regarded animators working today. The acclaimed Kubo and the Two Strings director is also the President and CEO of Laika Studios. The stop-motion giant turned out instant classics like Coraline, The Boxtrolls, and ParaNorman. Above all else, Knight is an artist. He’s adept at transforming something inanimate — like the materials he builds his Laika figurines from — into something human.

First Bumblebee Trailer Reveals a Very Different Transformers Film

The most lovable of the Transformers is, fittingly, the first to get his own spinoff. Behold the first Bumblebee trailer, which peels away the mechanized ensemble and puts the focus squarely on the yellow shoulders of the sentient Volkswagen Beetle. This Paramount Pictures release features the very talented director Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings) making his live-action directing debut with Bumblebee.