Mark Wahlberg, who became the highest-paid actor in 2017 after signing up for the Transformers live-action film franchise, has remained extremely vocal about dropping from the $4.8 billion franchise, giving all sorts of superficial reasons, one being his long hair in the Transformers: Age of Extinction and Transformers: The Last Knight.
Keeping aside several other reasons for his absence from Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, one cannot ignore the fact that its predecessor turned out to be a box office disaster, grossing only $605 million worldwide against a production budget between $217–260 million. Paramount and Hasbro faced an estimated loss of over $100 million.
Mark Wahlberg Had Superficial Reasons For His Departure
If there is one actor who did justice to the Michael Bay-directed Transformers franchise, it’s none other than Shia LaBeouf. The original movie was so successful that it inspired four sequels. After Mark Wahlberg replaced the actor, the franchise has gone through a roller coaster ride.
Walhberg, however, didn’t hang for a full trilogy as he expressed his desire to leave the franchise after the fifth installment, Transformers: The Last Knight. During an appearance on the Graham Norton Show, the Pain & Gain actor revealed:
“This is the last one. This is it — so I can get my life back! Long hair is the worst thing ever. I look like my mum in the ’70s — it’s just really bad.”
While Wahlberg condemned the $4.8 billion franchise for its reputation of keeping some “pretty hard demands” (which remains true), it is also true that Wahlberg’s Transformers: The Last Knight was a major disaster, and was termed as a “cacophonous and thinly plotted” movie by critics.
Mark Wahlberg may have had his reasons for leaving a lucrative franchise, but a logical explanation for his absence from the upcoming movie, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts also rests in the franchise’s decision to reflect a younger and more diverse franchise. It is fair to acknowledge that the decision to not bring the Boogie Nights star is way bigger than the actor himself.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Reflected A Younger And Diverse Franchise
The upcoming Steven Caple Jr.-directed, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, is a result of “Paramount’s need to push the franchise in a new direction.” Even though a sixth installment sounds like a bad idea, the Transformers franchise is dedicated to “spinning its wheels creatively.”
Reportedly, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts revolves around the events of 1994, which means Cade Yeager’s presence makes no sense (his character still has 24 years until his encounter with Optimus Prime).
Another reason for not enrolling Wahlberg is that the franchise is dedicated to portraying a “younger and diverse” cast, especially after the box office disaster with the last installment. While fans praised the youthfulness of Travis Knight’s Bumblebee, the Transformers franchise finds it an effective approach to restoring the lost interest.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is scheduled to release on June 9, 2023, and boasts an ensemble cast like Pete Davidson (Mirage), Anthony Ramos (Noah Diaz), Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime), and Liza Koshy (Arcee).
Mark Wahlberg’s box office disaster, Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) is available for streaming on Netflix.
Source: Collider
