Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry and Scarlett Johansson will lead the voice cast of “Transformers One,” an animated prequel about the epic rivalry between the Autobots and the Decepticons.
Hemsworth is playing young Optimus Prime, Henry is voicing young Megatron in the origin story about how the brothers-in-arms turned into sworn enemies. Additional cast members include Johansson as Elita, Keegan-Michael Key as Bumblebee,Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime and Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion.
“I’m so excited and proud to be working with Hasbro and eOne to bring the first animated ‘Transformers’ movie in almost 40 years to theaters for a never-before-told story,” said Ramsey Naito, president of Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, who announced the cast at CinemaCon. The news drew applause from the room of theater owners in Las Vegas.
Naito added, “I’m honored to have such incredible talents come together to portray these well-known and much-loved characters in an origin story at the heart of the franchise.”
“Toy Story 4” filmmaker Josh Cooley is directing the film from a screenplay by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari. It’s set to release in theaters on July 19, 2024.
Steven Spielberg is executive producing “Transformers One” with Brian Goldner, Brian Oliver, Bradley J. Fischer and Valerii An. Producers include Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Tom DeSanto, Don Murphy, Michael Bay, Mark Vahradian and Aaron Dem.
The “Transformers” film franchise began in 2007 with director Michael Bay and star Shia LaBeouf, who played a teenager who gets caught up in a war between the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons. It became a huge hit, grossing $700 million at the box office and spawning four sequels and a spinoff, which played in theaters to varying degrees of success. A seventh installment in the sci-fi action series, “Rise of the Beasts,” is set to hit the big screen on June 9.
