Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye (film)

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye
Theatrical release poster
Production
Written by	Ehren Kruger Robert Towne Ronald D. Moore Brannon Braga

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye is a 2013 American science fiction action film directed by D. J. Caruso and based on the Transformers toy line. First released on January 18, 2013, it is the third installment of the live-action Transformers film series film series, the sequel to 2009's Revenge of the Fallen, as well as the eleventh film in the Hasbro Cinematic Universe. It is the first film in the series not to be directed by Michael Bay, though he served as the film's producer. The film's story is set four years after the events of the 2009 film, two years after Transformers & G.I. Joe: Renegation, and a year after Battleship and follows the warring Autobots and Decepticons as they join forces after the all power Transformer enemy Unicron arrives to destroy the universe.

The film stars Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Chelsey Reist, Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, John Malkovich and Frances McDormand. The script was written by Mission: Impossible II writers Robert Towne, Ronald D. Moore, and Brannon Braga. More Than Meets The Eye employed both regular 35mm film cameras and specially-developed 3-D cameras, with filming locations in Chicago, Florida, Indiana, Milwaukee, Moscow, and Washington, D.C.. The film was rendered specifically for 3-D, and the visual effects involved more complex robots which took longer to render.

Exclusive early premieres in select 3-D and IMAX theaters took place January 21, 2013, one night before worldwide release in 2-D and 3-D (including IMAX 3D) formats—each featuring Dolby Surround 7.1 sound.

The film was released in North America on January 23, 2013. Critical reception of the film was mixed with several critics calling it better than Revenge of the Fallen and praising the film's visuals, Ramin Djawadi's musical score, and 3-D action sequences, while others criticizing its writing, acting, and length. But despite the reviews, More Than Meets The Eye grossed US$1.12 billion worldwide, and is currently the 13th-highest-grossing film of all time, the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2013 (behind Sonic the Hedgehog, Frozen and Iron Man 3), the highest-grossing film in the Transformers series, and the 10th film to gross over $1 billion. Like the 2007 film, it was nominated for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects at the 84th Academy Awards.

A sequel, Transformers: The Last Knight, was released on June 21, 2017, with Cullen, Hemlsworth, and Welker returning, and Michael Bay directing.

Plot

Sixty-five million years ago, two Transformer brothers; Primus and Unicron and a race of aliens called the "Quintessons" begin wiping out most life on Earth. Primus berates his brother for his dark terror and creates the thirteen Primes and they defeat Unicron, casting him into an unknown part of space. In 1961, the Ark, a Cybertronian spacecraft carrying an invention capable of ending the war between the Autobots and Decepticons, crash lands on the far side of Earth's Moon. The crash is detected on Earth by NASA, and President John F. Kennedy authorizes a mission to put a man on the Moon as a cover for investigating the craft. In 1969, the crew of Apollo 11 lands on the Moon to explore the craft.

In the present, a year after the battle of San Diego, the Autobots assist the United States military in preventing conflicts around the globe. During a mission to Chernobyl to investigate suspected alien technology, Optimus Prime finds a fuel cell from the Ark, discovering it had survived its journey from Cybertron. The Autobots are attacked by Shockwave who manages to escape. After learning of the top-secret mission to the Moon, the Autobots travel there to explore the Ark. There they discover a comatose Sentinel Prime – Optimus' predecessor as leader of the Autobots – and his creation, the Pillars, a means of establishing a Space Bridge between two points to teleport matter. Cemetery Wind, an elite unit, formed by paranoid Dr. Hideki Yakamoski and team leader James Savoy, is tasked to hunt down both the Autobots and Decepticons. With help from the Cybertronian bounty hunter Lockdown, they ambush and brutally kill Skids and Mudflap. However, their primary targets are Optimus Prime and Megatron, both whom Lockdown personally want alive.

In South Asia, Sam Witwicky, now a Navy SEAL (at the rank of Master Sergeant) is transporting a prisoner named Renko Vik. Vector, Renko's brother calls Sam to announce he is holding Mikaela Banes, Sam's girlfriend, hostage in Washington D.C. and wants to make an exchange. However, Vector is in fact tracking Sam's convoy; two helicopters arrive and ambush it. In the midst of the skirmish, Sam is forced to kill Renko when he brandishes a weapon. In response, Vector executes Mikaela. Sam returns to the U.S. to attend Mikaela's funeral. There, he takes a job at his uncle Daniel Witwicky's car workshop. One day, He saves a girl named Alexis Starr from drowning, and decided to promise to protect her. Sam is provided information by his eccentric co-worker Jerry Wang about the Ark, before Jerry is assassinated by Laserbeak – a condor-like Decepticon.

On the next day, Daniel and his wife Molly discover an old truck in an abandoned theater and they buy it to repair and sell. Daniel discovers that the truck is an injured Optimus Prime's long lost son, Rodimus, and he and Sam repair him, bringing him back to life. Cemetery Wind and Lockdown confront and threaten the Witwickys before Rodimus attacks and rescues them before Lockdown destroys the Witwicky's home. Sam, Alexis, Daniel, Molly, and their son escape with the help of Autobot Hot Rod. After returning to Earth, Optimus uses the energy of his Matrix of Leadership to revive Sentinel Prime. Sam contacts the now-independently wealthy Seymour Simmons, and together they realize that Megatron and the Decepticons are murdering people connected to the American and Russian space missions to the Ark. They locate two surviving Russian cosmonauts who reveal satellite photos of hundreds of Pillars being stockpiled on the Moon. Sam realizes that the Decepticons raided the Ark long before the Autobots mission and intentionally left Sentinel and five Pillars behind to lure the Autobots into a trap – Sentinel being the key to activating the Pillars and the Decepticons lacking the means to revive him. However, Rodimus is more focused on killing Yakamoski and avenging his fallen friends, much to his father's concern and dismay. The Autobots rush to return Sentinel to their base for protection. However, Megatron and his Decepticons arrive and attack for short while before Lockdown kills Sentinel, wounds Optimus and Megatron, capturing them, and Daniel on his ship. He explains that those who made the Transformers, Unicron, the "Creator," wants Optimus and Megatron back. Alexis is later captured by Vector Vik, who is revealed to be in service of Unicron. The Autobots and Decepticons decide to join forces and board the ship while Cemetery Wind give Lockdown the Pillars they stole from NEST headquarters. Sam, Daniel, and Molly rescue Ethan and Alexis and escape with Bumblebee and Sideswipe while Rodimus, Hot Rod, and the Decepticons escape with Optimus and Megatron on a detachable part of Lockdown's ship. Optimus and Megatron explain that Lockdown is planning to use the Pillars to bring Unicron to Earth so he could turn every human into Transformers with Cemetery Wind's help.

Working together, the Autobots and Decepticons, with the humans, manage to rescue Alexis and kill Metal-Blade. Optimus uses Shockwave's hydroid-cannon to blast the Control Pillar, disabling the Space Bridge. Lockdown arrives to capture Optimus, Megatron and the Dinobots, using a large magnet to cause destruction. After disabling the magnet, Optimus and Megatron fight Lockdown at an abandoned factory. Sam and Lennox confront Yakamoski and Vik as they reactivate the Control Pillar, and knocks Gould into the Pillar, electrocuting him to death. Bumblebee and Ratchet arrive and destroy the Control Pillar, permanently disabling the Bridge and causing the partially transported Unicron to implode, killing him instantly. In the ensuring duel, Optimus and Megatron kill Yakamoski and Vik, but allowing Lockdown to pin Optimus and Megatron down with their own swords, damaging their sparks. Sam ends up fighting Lockdown one-on-one. Alexis, Daniel and Bumblebee arrive to help Optimus and Sam out. While Bumlebee fights Lockdown, Alexis and Daniel free Optimus and Megatron, where Optimus kills Lockdown by cutting his head open with a sword. He uses Lockdown's gernade to finish off the surviving KSI drones. With the Unicron defeated, Alexis and Sam are reunited, as well as Daniel and his parents, and the Decepticons retreat, vowing to defeat the Autobots one day.

Cast

Transformers

• Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots and keeper of the Matrix of Leadership who transforms into a blue and red 1994 Peterbilt 379 semi-trailer truck.
• Frank Welker as Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons who now transforms into a rusty 10-wheeler Mack Titan tank-truck.
• Chris Hemsworth as Rodimus, Optimus Prime's long-lost son who was one of the passengers on the ARK. He transforms into a tow truck.
• Judy Nelson as Hot Rod.
• Leonard Nimoy as Sentinel Prime, Optimus's predecessor as the leader of the Autobots who transforms into a red and black Rosenbauer Panther Fire Truck.
• Mark Ryan as Lockdown, an Cybertronian bounty hunter who transforms into a grey 2006 Lamborghini Gallardo LP 700–4 Coupe and works for Unicron to bring Optimus Prime and Megatron to him.^[5][6] He has a group of mercenaries and a pack of Steeljaws.
• Jess Harnell as Ironhide, the Autobot weapons specialist who transforms into a black 2006 GMC Topkick C4500, and Barricade, the Decepticon who transforms into a police car.
• Greg Berger as Grimlock, leader of the Dinobots. He transforms into a metal armoured Tyrannosaurs Rex with Helicopter features.
• 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 2004 search and rescue Hummer H2 ambulance.
• Paul Walker as Mirage, the Autobot spy who transforms into a red 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia. This was Walker's final voice role before his death in November 2013 after the film was released.
• James Remar as Sideswipe, the Autobot combat instructor who transforms into a silver 2009 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.
• Alexander Gould as Cliffjumper, the Autobot who resembles Bumblebee and transforms into 2011 Chevrolet Camaro.
• Steven Blum as Shockwave, the sadistic Decepticon scientist and assassin who transforms into a Cybertronian tank.

Humans

• Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky, a recent college graduate who is once again tied to the fate of Earth's survival.
• Josh Duhamel as Will Lennox, the commander of the classified strike team NEST, an international task-force battling Decepticons with the Autobots.
• Halle Berry as Molly Witwicky, an ISEA astronaut and scientist.
• Goran Visnjic as Dr. Spike Witwicky, Molly's husband, a robotics engineer heading the Humanichs Project.
• Pierce Gagnon as Daniel Witwicky, Molly and John's son, a humanoid robot and the prototype for the Humanichs Project.
• John Turturro as Seymour Simmons, a former agent in charge of the terminated Sector 7 unit and now a successful professional writer.
• Tyrese Gibson as Master Sgt. Rob Epps, a NCOIC of the NEST strike team.
• Chelsey Reist as Alexis Starr, a girl whom Sam meets and befriends.
• Hiroyuki Sanada as Dr. Hideki Yakamoski, leader of Cemetery Wind.
• Frances McDormand as Charlotte Mearing, the Director of National Intelligence.
• Keiko Agena as the assistant of Charlotte Mearing.
• Megan Fox as Mikaela Banes, Sam's girlfriend who is murdered by terrorist Vector Vik.

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

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 January 23, 2013. In August 2009, Michael Bay announced that he would not return to direct the film as he was busy with Pain & Gain.

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". Revenge of The FallenTemplate:'s co-writer Ehren Kruger became the head screenwriter for More Than Meets The Eye. Kruger had frequent meetings with Industrial Light & Magic's (ILM) visual effects producers, who suggested plot points such as the scenes in Chernobyl.

In September 2009, D.J. Caruso, the director of Eagle Eye, was announced as the sequel's director and Robert Towne, Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga, the writers of Mission: Impossible II, were hired to help Kruger write the story for the film. Caruso described hiring the three writer as "a good opportunity for fresh writing for the franchise". Bay responded to Caruso being cast as the new director; "I trust Caruso. I believe he will do a much better job with the film than I did with Revenge of the Fallen".

On October 1, 2009, Caruso revealed that Transformers 3 had already gone into pre-production, and its planned release was back to its originally intended date of January 23, 2013, rather than 2014. Due to the revived interest in 3-D technology brought in by the success of Avatar, talks between Paramount, ILM, Caruso, 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 Caruso's work. In addition to using the 3-D Fusion camera rigs developed by Cameron's team, Caruso and the team spent nine months developing a more portable 3-D camera that could be brought into location.

In a hidden extra for the Blu-ray version of Revenge of The Fallen, Bay expressed his intention to make Transformers 3 with Caruso 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. Having been called Transformers 3 up to that point, the film's final title was revealed to be More Than Meets The Eye in October 2010. After Revenge of The Fallen was almost universally panned by critics, Bay acknowledged the general flaws of the script, having blamed the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike prior to the film for many problems. Caruso and Bay promised to not have the "dorky comedy" from the last film as Caruso would take the captain's wheel. On March 19, 2010, the script was said to be finished.

Casting

Patrick Dempsey's role as Dylan Gould was to be the employer of Fox's character, Mikaela Banes. According to various published sources, Fox's absence from the film was due to Caruso ultimately choosing not to renew her role in light of her comparing him and his work ethics to Adolf Hitler, although representatives for the actress said that it was her decision to leave the film franchise. Bay later claimed that Fox was fired by executive producer Steven Spielberg, a claim which Spielberg denied. "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."

Fox only made a small appearance in the first half of the film. Chelsey Reist was chosen to play Sam's new love interest. 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. Shia LaBeouf stated that this would be his last film in the series, also concluding that director Michael Bay would not return for a fourth installment, though it was later confirmed that Bay would return as director in the fourth film. 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." 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."

Filming

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye 's production cost was reported $195 million, to $284 million with the cost of the 3-D filming accounting at $30 million of the budget. Preparation for filming began on April 7, 2012 in Northwest Indiana, specifically around Gary, Indiana, which portrayed Ukraine in the film. Principal photography commenced on May 18, 2012, with shooting locations including Chicago, Florida, and Moscow. 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 around the Willis Tower. The scenes set in Michigan Ave featured a substantial amount of pyrotechnics and stunt work. Filming in Detroit was planned to take place in August but the Chicago shoot was extended until September 1. In late September the production moved to Florida, just before the launch of Space Shuttle mission STS-133.

Effects

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

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." On the last weekend of ILM's work on More Than Meets The Eye, 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. 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."

Music

See also: Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye – The Album and Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye – The Score

Composer Steve Jablonsky, who had before collaborated with Bay on The Island and the first two Transformers films, did not return to compose the More Than Meets The Eye score. Instead, composer Ramin Djawadi was hired to compose the score. This caused backlash with critics and fans who have lauded Jablonsky's score. The score was released on January 18, 2013, five days before the actual release of the film.

Marketing

Most of the characters returned for Hasbro's new toyline, which was released on December 16, 2012. In July 2012, Entertainment Tonight previewed the behind-the-scenes filming in Chicago. A two-minute teaser trailer was announced on November 27, and was posted to the Internet on August 9, 2012. A 30-second television advertisement for the film aired during Super Bowl XLV on Fox on August 6, 2012. The first full theatrical trailer was released on August 17, 2012. The very first clip was released on November 18. A second clip was released the next day on November 19. The North American promotional costs came to approximately $75 million.

Novelizations

Main article: Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye The Junior Novel

In December 2012, the novelization, junior novel, and graphic novel of Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye 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 More Than Meets The Eye. 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?

„

Release

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye first premiered at the Moscow International Film Festival on January 21, 2013. Linkin Park performed a special outdoor concert in Red Square in Moscow on the same night in celebration of the event. The film was eventually released on January 23, 2013. It was announced in November 2012 that unlike Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, no scenes in the film were shot with IMAX cameras.

Reception

While many critics praised the film's visual effects and 3-D action sequences, criticism was directed towards the film's running time, acting, and script. Several critics also felt that More Than Meets The Eye failed to live up to the first Transformers film. Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye a score of 39% based on 244 reviews and a rating average of 4.9/10, saying, "Its special effects and 3-D shots are undeniably impressive, but they aren't enough to fill up its loud, bloated running time, or mask its thin, indifferent script." Metacritic, another review aggregator, gave the film a Metascore of 42/100, indicating "mixed or average reviews" from 37 critics.

Roger Ebert gave the film one out of four stars, criticizing its visuals, plot, characters, and dialogue. Richard Roeper likewise panned the film, giving it a D and saying that "rarely has a movie had less of a soul and less interesting characters." 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?"

Several critics felt that Shia LaBeouf and Chelsey Reist's performances were ineffective. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film zero stars, the same rating that he had given to Revenge of The Fallen, and stated the two actors "couldn't be duller." 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." 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'." Jason Solomons of The Observer wrote that "we're first introduced to Reiset via drowning, segueing straight from the film's opening sequence and titles on to the pert underwear of our heroine," and that her English posh girl accent "renders her practically unintelligible when surrounded by American accents and falling masonry." Much of the criticism towards Chesley Reiset 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." Baz Bamigboye of the Daily Mail titled his review of the film, 'Come back Megan Fox, all is forgiven...'. Reist was later nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress for her performance, but lost to David Spade for Jack and Jill.

"For good or ill, Caruso 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

In a more positive review, Steve Prokopy of Ain't It Cool News found the film to better than the first two. Jim Vejvoda of IGN gave the film a score of seven out of ten, also stating that it was the best of the franchise. 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. 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". CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was an A on an F to A+ scale.

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 Caruso had created the best 3-D experience since James Cameron's Avatar. Neil Schneider of Meant to be Seen, a website focused on stereoscopic 3-D gaming and entertainment, remarked that "while Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye 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 live action and digital characters. That said, I think they still could have taken it much further."

Charlie Jane Anders of io9 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."

Box office

Worldwide

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye grossed $352,390,543 in North America, and $771,403,536 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $1,123,794,079. Worldwide, it is the thirteenth highest-grossing film, the fourth highest-grossing 2013 film, the highest-grossing film of the Transformers series, the second highest-grossing film by Paramount (behind Titanic), the third highest-grossing threequel (behind Iron Man 3 and Captain America: Civil War), and the second highest-grossing Hasbro film as of 2015. It is also the tenth film in cinematic history to earn more than $1,000 million, and the fifth-fastest film to achieve this. Its worldwide opening weekend ($382.4 million) is the fourth-largest ever and the largest for Paramount. It set an IMAX worldwide opening-weekend record with $23.1 million (first surpassed by Deathly Hallows – Part 2). It reached $400M (6 days), $500M (9 days), $600M (12 days) and $700M (16 days) in record time, but lost all records to Deathly Hallows – Part 2.

North America

The film opened in 4,088 theaters including a then-record total of 2,789 3D locations. It made $5.5 million during Tuesday 9 p.m. showings, $8 million during midnight showings. and $37.7 million on its opening day (Wednesday) – including Tuesday showings. This was the sixth-best opening Wednesday. However, all these figures were lower than Revenge of the Fallen. 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 3D 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. It achieved the third-largest opening weekend of 2013, the fourth-largest opening weekend in January, and the second-largest five-day gross for a film opening on Wendesday. It set records for the 3-day ($97.9 million). It retained first place on its second weekend, dropping 52% to $47.1 million. Closing on July 3, 2013 with $352.4 million, it is the second-highest-grossing film of 2011 and the second-highest-grossing film in the franchise.

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, and by Thursday its overseas total reached $66 million. 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. 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 4Template:'s 66%). Don Harris, general manager of distribution for Paramount, commented on the results of More Than Meets The Eye: "If we hadn't chosen to debut the movie later in Japan and China, we probably would have had the all-time record." The film topped the box office outside North America for two weekends in a row.

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) and an opening weekend with $46.8 million ($62.7 million with previews). The latter was taken from Avatar ($42.0 million). The opening weekend record, when including previews, was surpassed by Titanic 3D ($74.2 million). More Than Meets The Eye ended its run with $167.95 million, marking the highest-grossing film of 2011. Besides China, it broke the opening-day record in Russia and South Korea; the single-day record in Hong Kong; and the opening weekend record in South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, the UAE, the Philippines and Peru. Following China in total earnings were South Korea ($69.1 million) and Japan ($54.2 million).

Accolades

Award	Category	Winner/Nominee	Result	Ref.
2013 Scream Awards	Best Science Fiction Movie	Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye	Nominated
	Best Cameo	Buzz Aldrin	Nominated
	Holy Sh*t Scene of the Year (Escape From Collapsing Building)	Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye	Nominated
	Best 3D Movie	Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye	Won
	Best F/X	Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye	Nominated
2014 People's Choice Awards
	Favorite Movie	Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye	Nominated
	Favorite Action Movie	Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye	Nominated
	Favorite Action Movie Star	Shia LaBeouf	Nominated
2013 Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Awards	Obviously Worst Film	Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye	Nominated
2013 Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards	Sequel or Remake That Shouldn’t Have Been Made	Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye	Nominated
2014 Annie Awards
	Animated Effects in a Live Action Production	Florent Andarra	Won
2014 Golden Reel Awards	Music in a Feature Film	Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye	Nominated
	Sound Effects and Foley in a Feature Film	Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye	Nominated
2014 Screen Actors Guild Awards
	Outstanding Performance By a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture	Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye	Nominated
86th Academy Awards
	Best Visual Effects	Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier	Nominated
	Best Sound Mixing	Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin	Nominated
	Best Sound Editing	Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl	Nominated
34th Golden Raspberry Awards
	Worst Picture	Transformers:More Than Meets The Eye	Nominated
	Worst Supporting Actor	Patrick Dempsey	Nominated
	Worst Supporting Actor	Ken Jeong	Nominated
	Worst Supporting Actress	Chesley Reist	Nominated
	Worst Screen Couple	Shia LaBeouf and Chesley Reist	Nominated
40th Saturn Awards
	Best Special Effects	Scott Benza, John Frazier, Matthew Butler, and Scott Farar	Nominated
2014 Empire Awards	The Art of 3D Presented by RealD	Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye	Nominated
2014 Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Movie		Nominated
	Favorite Song	"Iridescent" by Linkin Park	Nominated

Home media

During Hasbro Investor Day, it was announced that the DVD and Blu-ray disc would be released in the third quarter of 2013. The NTSC home release for the film was released on May 30, 2013, with a Blu-ray 3D version of the film slated for release in "the coming months". However, the first home release was criticized for the lack of bonus features. A Blu-ray "Extended Action Cut" added 10 minutes of footage and uncensored violence was also available, with the United States version being a Best Buy exclusive.

A Walmart exclusive edition of Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye also was released on May 30, 2013. The PAL DVD and Blu-ray Discs of Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye was released on November 28, 2011.

In North America, it sold 716,218 DVD units (equivalent of $13,565,169) in its first week, topping the weekly DVD chart. It had since sold 2,829,285 DVD units (equivalent of $48,058,979). 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 May 23, 2013. The Blu-ray 3D release of the film was released on July 12, 2013.

The aftermarket multimedia bundle Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye consists of a DVD or Blu-ray copy of Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye and a CD or digital copy of Pink Floyd's More Than Meets The Eye, intended to be synchronized by setting one's CD or media file player to repeat mode and relatively high volume, turning the audiovisual volume down or off, playing the DVD or Blu-ray disc, and starting the CD as the final star in the Paramount logo appears.

Sequels and spin-offs

Main article: Beast Wars: Transformers (film)

A fourth film serving as a spin-off, Beast Wars, was released in 2015.

A fifth Transformers film, serving as the fourth, titled The Last Knight, was released on June 21, 2017 to negative reviews.

A sixth film, serving as a Bumblebee spin-off, is scheduled for a 2018 release.Template:Citation needed A seventh film, Transformers 5, is scheduled for a 2019 release, and will serve as the fifth main entry in the series.Template:Citation needed