As you may know, this week is CinemaCon, where studios dangle shiny things in front of theater owners to soothe them, and confirm that everyone will make piles of money with the blockbusters they have on the way. Directors and stars come out with great enthusiasm, show off footage, and everyone oohs and aaahs and dreams with dollar signs in their heads. But it seems that even heading into his fourth movie, Michael Bay is a bit protective/insecure about his “Transformers” series, throwing some shade on the other robot movies out there.
Indeed, Bay — who is in Las Vegas to hang out with Victoria’s Secret models to promote both next week’s “Pain & Gain” and “Transformers 4” — casually dismissed unspecified “ripoff” movies, claiming audiences know that his robot smashfest is the real deal or whatever. Was he talking about the mega-flop “Battleship” or maybe “Real Steel“? That would be weird, months and months after the fact, and many speculated he’s taking a jab at Guillermo Del Toro‘s robot smashfest “Pacific Rim.” Well, he isn’t taking it lightly.
“This is my universe and my creation, and I do not create through comparison,” he told THR, launching this little criticism at Bay about the action in his films: “The fights don’t occur in well-lit, super cool, car commercial-looking environments. They occur in the middle of a raging sea storm or in a savage snow storm. They happen in a universe that is incredibly saturated.” Oh snap!
Indeed, Bay’s “Transformers” movies are basically 50% advertising, not just for Chevrolet but for whatever company signs up for product placement, so well done, Del Toro. But in the end, the director is a good sport, adding “the source of all artificial life is Frankenstein” but still saying that his giant jaegers would destroy every “robot in the history of mankind in a toe-to-toe showdown.” Strong words.
What do you say about all this? Let us know below. “Pacific Rim” transforms opens on July 12th.
