Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Plot

Pada 1961, kapal angkasa Cybertron, Ark, yang membawa ciptaan yang mampu menamatkan perang antara Autobots dan Decepticons, terhempas on the far side of the moon. Hempasan ini dikesan dari Bumi oleh NASA, lalu Presiden John F. Kennedy authorizes a mission to put a man on the moon as a cover for investigating the craft. Pada 1969, kru kapal angkasa Apollo 11 mendarat di permukaan Bulan untuk explore the craft.
Pada masa sekarang, the Autobots membantu tentera Amerika Syarikat dalam mengelakkan konflik serata dunia. Semasa misi ke Chernobyl untuk menyiasat suspected Alien technology, Optimus Prime finds a fuel cell from the Ark, discovering it had survived its journey from Cybertron. The Autobots diserang Shockwave yang mampu melarikan diri. 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 – former Autobot leader – dan ciptaannya, The Pillars, a means of establishing a Space Bridge antara dua titik tempat untuk memindahkan jisim teleport matter. After returning to Earth, Optimus uses the energy of his Matrix of Leadership to revive Sentinel Prime.
Sementara itu, Sam Witwicky is frustrated that he is unable to work with the Autobots dan juga gagal mendapatkan perkerjaan. He also becomes envious of the close relationship between his new girlfriend, Carly Spencer, and her boss Dylan Gould. After finding work, Sam is provided information by his co-worker Jerry Wang about the Ark before he is assassinated by Laserbeak – a condor-like Decepticon. Sam contacts the now-retired 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 key to activating the Pillars and the Decepticons lacking the means to revive him. The Autobots rush to return Sentinel to their base for protection but Sentinel betrays them and kills Ironhide, revealing he had made a deal with the Decepticons to ensure the survival of the Cybertronian race.
Sentinel uses the Pillars to transport hundreds of concealed Decepticons from the moon to Earth and Carly is captured by Gould, who is revealed to be in the Decepticons' service. The Autobots are exiled from Earth at the demand of the Decepticons to avoid war but as their ship leaves Earth it is destroyed by Starscream, seemingly killing the Autobots. The Decepticons, led by Megatron and Sentinel, seize Chicago as their agents place Pillars around the world. Gould reveals to Carly that the Decepticons plan to transport their homeworld of Cybertron to the Milky Way to use the resources and enslaved humans of Earth to rebuild their world. Sam teams with Robert Epps to go into Chicago and save Carly, but they are nearly killed by Decepticon forces before the Autobots intervene; revealing they concealed themselves during the launch of their ship to convince the Decepticons they were destroyed.
Working together, the Autobots and human soldiers manage to rescue Carly and destroy Soundwave, Barricade, Starscream and Shockwave with Optimus using Shockwave's arm-cannon to blast the Control Pillar, disabling the Space Bridge. Sam confronts Gould as he reactivates the Control Pillar. Sam knocks Gould into the Pillar, electrocuting him. Bumblebee and Ratchet arrive and destroy the Control Pillar, permanently disabling the Bridge and causing the partially transported Cybertron to implode. Optimus and Sentinel fight while Carly convinces Megatron that he will be replaced as leader of the Decepticons by Sentinel. Sentinel severs Optimus's right-arm and prepares to execute him when Megatron intervenes, incapacitating Sentinel. Optimus attacks Megatron, decapitating and killing him. Sentinel pleads for his life but Optimus executes him. With the Decepticons defeated, Carly and Sam are reunited and the Autobots accept that with Cybertron gone, Earth is now their home.

Produksi

As a preemptive measure, Michael Lucchi and Paramount announced a July 1, 2011 release date in IMAX 3-D for another Transformers film before completion of Revenge of the Fallen. Director Michael Bay responded, "I said I was taking off a year from Transformers. Paramount made a mistake in dating Transformers 3—they asked me on the phone—I said yes to July 1—but for 2012—whoops! Not 2011! That would mean I would have to start prep in September. No way. My brain needs a break from fighting robots."
On October 1, 2009, Bay revealed that Transformers: Dark of the Moon had already gone into pre-production, and its planned release was back to its originally intended date of July 1, 2011, rather than 2012. Filming started in May 2010, with shooting locations including Chicago, Florida, and Moscow. Due to the revived interest in 3-D technology brought in by the success of Avatar, talks between Paramount, Industrial Light & Magic and Bay had considered the possibility of the next Transformers film being filmed in 3-D. Testing has been performed in bringing the technology into Bay's work. Bay was reluctant to film with 3-D cameras since in test he'd found them to be too cumbersome for his filming style, but he didn't want to implement the technology in post production either since he was not pleased with the results.
According to various published sources, Megan Fox's absence from the film was due to Bay 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 revealed that Fox's comments comparing him to Hitler particularly angered executive producer Steven Spielberg, which affected Bay's decision to remove her. "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." With Fox not reprising her role, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley 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.
In a hidden extra for the Blu-ray version of Revenge of the Fallen, Bay expressed his intention to make Transformers 3 not necessarily larger than Revenge of the Fallen, but instead go deeper into the mythos, give it more character development, and make it darker and more emotional. Shortly after the release of Revenge of the Fallen, Orci said he would like to introduce Unicron "for scale's sake", and Unicron is briefly shown in a secret Transformers 3 preview feature in the Revenge of the Fallen Blu-ray disc. Ultimately the producers decided to forgo a plot involving the planet eating transformer, and no further comments are ever made on the subject. Having been called Transformers 3 up to that point, the film's final title was revealed to be Dark of the Moon in October 2010.
On March 19, 2010, the script was said to be finished, and pre-shoots began on April 7, 2010 in Northwest Indiana, specifically around Gary, which portrayed Ukraine, and Los Angeles. Filming began on May 18. The first six weeks took place 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 "Sears 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 1 September. In late September the production moved to Florida, just before the launch of Space Shuttle mission STS-133.
While filming in Washington, the crew shot on the National Mall, Bay stated that there would be a car race on the location. Two further locations announced were the Milwaukee Art Museum and the former Tower Automotive complex on Milwaukee's north side, currently under redevelopment for mixed use as well as the city's equipment yard. Filming was scheduled to take place there after work was done in Chicago. On September 23, filming was done at the former city hall in Detroit, MI. On October 16, work was done at the Johnson Space Center in Texas with intent to shoot a scene set in the late 1960s utilizing extras with period fashion and hairstyles. One day of shooting was also done at the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia. Other planned filming locations included Africa, Moscow, and China. About 70 percent of the film was shot in 3-D, using Arri Alexa and Sony F35 cameras, while other footage was shot in the anamorphic format on 35mm film and converted into 3D in post production. 35mm film was used for scenes filmed in slow motion, and scenes which required higher image quality than the HD digital 3D cameras could provide, such as closeups of faces or shots of the sky. 35mm cameras were also used for scenes where the 3D cameras proved to be too heavy, or were subject to strobing or electrical damage from dust. Filming was officially completed on November 9, 2010.
As with the 2007 film, in which Bay recycled footage from his earlier film Pearl Harbor, Dark of the Moon has been found to contain footage from the Bay's The Island. Dark of the Moon cost a reported $195 million to produce, with the cost of the 3D filming accounting for $30 million of the budget.

Kemalangan

Pengfileman ditangguhkan sementara pada 2 September, 2010 di Hammond, Indiana, apabila seorang pelakon tambahan cedera parah semasa during a stunt. Kemalangan berlaku apabila sebuah tali keluli terputus dari kereta yang sedang ditunda, akibat kimpalan yang gagal, mengena kereta pelakon tambahan lalu merosakkan tengkoraknya. Pelakon tambahan, dikenali sebagai Gabriella Cedillo, terpaksa menjalani pembedahan otak. Kecederaan itu has left her permanently brain-damaged, lumpuh sebelah kiri dan mata kirinya dijahit tutup. Paramount mengambil tanggungjawab terhadap kemalangan itu, lalu menanggung segala kos perubatan Cedillo. Nevertheless, pada 5 Oktober, keluarga Cedillo filed a lawsuit, which cites seven counts of negligence terhadap Paramount, D.W. Studios dan pelbagai lagi pembela (tidak termasuk Bay), dengan jumlah tuntutan pampasan melebihi $350,000.
Pada 11 Oktober, 2010, while filming a chase scene at 3rd Street and Maryland Avenue, SW, a Washington DC Metropolitan Police K9 Unit SUV melanggar Camaro that portrays Bumblebee in the film. Kawasan telah ditutup polis DC, dan ia tidak jelas mengapa SUV itu berada disana. Kedua-dua pemandu tidak tercedera, namun kereta Camaro itu rosak teruk.

Pemasaran

Most of the characters returned for Hasbro's new toyline, which came out on May 16, 2011. In October 2010, Entertainment Tonight previewed the behind-the-scenes filming in Chicago. Following that, the official film website was changed with the logo and the release date under it. A two-minute teaser trailer was announced on November 27, and was posted to the web on December 9, 2010. A thirty-second television advertisement for the film aired during Super Bowl XLV on FOX on February 6, 2011. The first full theatrical trailer was released on April 28, 2011. A 3D trailer was released on May 20, 2011 with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides 3D, which would complete the promotional campaign for Dark of the Moon. The very first clip was released on May 18. A second clip was released the next day on May 19. The promotional costs brought the cost of producing and marketing the film to a total of $270 million.

Runut bunyi

The album was released on 14 Jun, 2011. Lagu Linkin Park berjudul "Iridescent" is the lead single for the film, continuing the streak of the band's songs as the theme songs of the film series. The single follows "What I've Done" being used in the 2007 film, dan "New Divide" bagi filem 2009. Video muzik bagi "Iridescent" diarahkan Joe Hahn. Two other singles were released specifically for the soundtrack, "Monster" by Paramore and "All That You Are" by the Goo Goo Dolls. Several other unreleased songs make their debut on the album, including "The Pessimist" by Stone Sour and "The Bottom" by Staind.

Skor

Runut bunyi skor telah dikeluarkan pada 24 Jun, 2011, lima hari sebelum penayangan filem bermula. Seperti dua runut bunyi skor filem Transformers terdahulu, Steve Jablonsky adalah komposer.

Penovelan

In May 2011, the novelization, junior novel and graphic novel of Transformers: Dark of the Moon were released. Both the novel and the graphic novel featured Skids and Mudflap as supporting characters, but they were missing from the junior novel. The graphic novel made reference to several Autobots from the IDW tie-in comics who died in the stories between Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon.

Mainan video

Activision developed a video game for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS. The trailer for the Dark of the Moon video game was released in February 2011. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game were developed by High Moon Studios, who had previously developed Transformers: War for Cybertron. Behaviour Interactive developed the Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS versions of the game. The game was released in North America on June 14, 2011.

Pengeluaran

Transformers: Dark of the Moon premiered at the Moscow International Film Festival on June 23, 2011. Linkin Park performed a special outdoor concert in Red Square in Moscow on the same night in celebration of the event. Initially scheduled to be released on July 1, 2011, the release was brought forward to June 28, 2011. Originally set to be released in both conventional and IMAX theaters, it was announced in November 2010 that no IMAX 3D shots were made for the film.

Sambutan kritik

The film has received generally negative reviews from film critics, with many praising the film's visual effects and 3D action sequences, but criticizing the below average acting and script; film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave Dark of the Moon a score of 36% based on 224 reviews and a rating average of 4.8/10, saying "Its special effects — and 3D shots — are undeniably impressive, but they aren't enough to fill up its loud, bloated running time, or mask its thin, indifferent script."
Roger Ebert gave the film one out of four stars, calling it "a visually ugly film with an incoherent plot, wooden characters and inane dialog. It provided me with one of the more unpleasant experiences I've had at the movies." 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."
Several critics were highly critical of the ineffectiveness of the film's two young stars. Peter Travers stated the two "couldn't be duller." The Philadelphia Inquirer stated that Shia 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 said that LaBeouf "has sunk to greater levels of incompetence here. It's hard to call his posturing and screaming 'acting.'" Much of the criticism towards Rosie Huntington-Whiteley compared her in an unfavorable light to Megan Fox. Lou Lumenick said that her "'acting' makes...Megan Fox look like Meryl Streep in comparison." Baz Bamigboye gave his review of the film the title 'Come back Megan Fox, all is forgiven...'.
In a more positive review, Ain't It Cool News called it "the best entry in the Michael Bay-directed franchise." IGN gave the film a 7 out of 10, also stating that it was the best of the franchise. E! Online graded the film a B+ while noting if this 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 3 and a half out of five stars, citing it as an improvement to the previous film and how it 'gives fans something to cheer about'. CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was an A on an A plus to F scale.
Neil Schneider of Meant to be Seen, a website focused on stereoscopic 3D gaming and entertainment, remarked that "while Transformers: Dark of the Moon had the scrapings of a really good story, this 3D movie was shot with a 2D script." On the topic of 3D, Schneider said "Transformers 3 was a mix of native stereoscopic 3D camera capturing and 2D/3D conversion (as a 3D 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 3D. More than that, it was a comfortable experience and helped exemplify great use of stereoscopic 3D with live action and digital characters. That said, I think they still could have taken it much further."
Charlie Jane Anders of io9.com believed that some elements of the film were deliberate self-references to Michael Bay's own sense of under-appreciation after the backlash to Transformers 2. "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

Transformers: Dark of the Moon has earned $281.5 million in North America, setakat Julai 14, 2011, and $423.9 million in other territories, setakat Julai 14, 2011, for a worldwide total of $705.4 million. On its first weekend worldwide it made $382.4 million, marking the second-largest opening of all time behind that of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($394.0 million) and the largest for Paramount/Dreamworks. With another breaking record, it made the largest worldwide debut at IMAX venues, with $23.2 million. With $418.0 million by Monday, it crossed the $400-million-mark worldwide in 6 days, matching the record first set by Spider-Man 3 to reach the amount the fastest. With $511.1 million ($214.0 million in North America and $297.1 million in other territories), it reached the $500-million-mark worldwide in record time, 9 days, surpassing the previous record of 10 days which was held by Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
In the United States and Canada, from its early Tuesday screenings (9:00 p.m. showings), Dark of the Moon brought in $5.5 million. It also earned $8 million in midnight showings, which is lower than what its predecessor made ($16 million). On its opening day (Wednesday), Dark of the Moon grossed $37.7 million (including $8 million from Tuesday-midnight showings), making it the best opening-day gross of 2011 and the sixth best Wednesday opening day of all time. But it's still behind Revenge of the Fallen which grossed $62 million on its opening day. On Thursday it earned $21.5 million, falling only 43 percent which is a better hold than its predecessor's Wednesday-to-Thursday decline and also marking the fifth-largest non-opening Thursday of all time as well as the tenth largest Thursday gross of all time. Transformers: Dark of the Moon was able to rake in $33.0 million on Friday for a total of $97.8 million while 2009's Revenge of the Fallen made $36.7 million on its first Friday for a total of $127.8 million. Opening at a record 2,789 3D locations, Dark of the Moon's 3D share accounted for 60 percent of its gross, which is atypical due to the downturn in 3D attendance in North America. For its 3-day opening weekend, it grossed $97.9 million, marking the largest opening weekend of 2011, the largest Independence day weekend, out-grossing Spider-Man 2's $88.2 million gross, and the third-largest opening weekend in July. It also scored the fifth-largest opening weekend for a film not opening on Friday and the second-largest 5-day gross for a film opening on Wednesday. During the 4-day weekend it grossed $115.9 million, surpassing Spider-Man 2's $115.8 million 4-day gross, which was the previous record for the Independence day holiday. The film held on to the #1 spot for its second weekend, dropping 51.9%, in these territories and grossed $47.1 million.
Overseas, the film grossed $32.5 million on its opening day, pacing 38 percent ahead of its predecessor and marking the largest opening day for a 2011 film (out-grossing the $18.5 million record set by Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides). Including some early Tuesday previews, it earned $36.6 million in one-and-a-half days. By Thursday, its overseas total reached $66 million, a two-day-opening record for 2011 (ahead of the $44.2 million two-day total of Pirates 4). However, it fell short of the latter by the end of its first weekend, earning $219.8 million, which was still the fourth-largest opening weekend of all time overseas and the largest for Paramount. Also, Dark of the Moon's foreign launch was 57 percent ahead of that of Revenge of the Fallen ($139.6 million) and its 3D revenues performed much better in all 58 markets where 70 percent of the grosses came from 3D which was a higher 3D share than Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides's 66 percent. Don Harris, general manager of distribution for Paramount, commented on the results of Dark of the Moon saying "If we hadn't chosen to debut the movie later in Japan and China, we probably would have had the all-time record."  On its second weekend overseas, it fell to $94.7 million, still at first place though at the box office.
In Russia, it broke the record for the highest-grossing opening day of all time, with $5.0 million, surpassing On Stranger Tides's previous record ($4.7 million). It brought in $16,945,064 during its first weekend ($21,965,793 with previews), marking the fourth highest-grossing opening weekend of all time. In South Korea, it earned $5 million, where it was the largest opening day of all time. On its opening weekend, it grossed a massive $21.8 million ($31.1 million with weekday preiews), marking the highest-grossing opening weekend of all time, a record previously held by Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End ($16.7 million). It also made the biggest opening weekend of all time in six other countries topped by Hong Kong and followed by Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Peru. It also performed well in other regions, including the United Kingdom ($17.2 million), Australia ($16.2 million), France ($11.3 million), Mexico ($10.5 million) and Taiwan ($10.5 million). In Chile, it grossed $1,429,074 on its firts weekend, marking the second-largest opening weekend closely behind Pirates 4's $1,448,284 debut. In Germany it opened at $13,169,446 ($15,087,829 with previews), surpassing the openings of both its predecessors. In Hong Kong, it earned a record-breaking $5,060,905 during its opening, by far the largest of all time. In Malaysia, it scored $4,928,400 which is the largest opening of all time. In Mexico, it earned $10,197,801 ($10,740,922 with weekday previews), marking the largest opening of 2011 and the fifth largest of all time. In New Zealand, it marked the largest opening for 2011 and the fourth largest opening of all time, by earning $1,763,653 ($2,114,698 with previews). In Philippines, it earned $4,869,897 ($4,886,654 with previews), marking the largest opening weekend of all time. In Singapore it made $3,508,095 ($4,120,240 with weekday previews) standing as the highest-grossing opening of all time. In Slovakia, it scored the largest debut of 2011 ($259,628). In the UAE, it made the second-largest opening weekend of all time ($1,775,824) behind On Stranger Tides ($1,861,696). In Thailand, it broke the opening weekend record, with $3,705,108 ($4,648,771 with previews) during the busiest weekend ever in the country in terms of total gross ($3,871,234). It was the first $3-million-plus 4-day weekend ever.

Home media

During Hasbro Investor Day, it was announced that the DVD and Blu-ray Disc will be released in the fourth quarter of 2011. The PAL DVD and Blu-ray Disc home releases of Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Trilogy pack, Blu-Ray 3D combo pack, and Collector's Edition) will be released in November 2011. Transformers: Dark of the Moon is due for release on DVD and Blu-Ray on November 15, 2011.