Bumblebee to score worst box office opening in Transformers franchise – despite acclaim?

Hailee Steinfeld leads the new film, which is not directed by Michael Bay and has been widely praised by critics. Its heart, its story and its performances have all been lauded, with many saying it’s the movie original Transformers fans have been waiting for all along. But with an exceptionally crowded Christmas at the box office about to kick off, will it struggle to stand out?

Aquaman and Mary Poppins Returns are also due for release in the US over the coming days, and Bumblebee, it seems, is most at risk of being overshadowed.

It is currently projected to earn around $22 million in its opening weekend – within its initial October projections of $15-25 million, but still a long way shy of its predecessors.

Aquaman, conversely, was initially projected to net around $60 million but has since had its forecast adjusted up to around $82 million, according to ScreenRant.

Still, we’ve been here before: last year The Greatest Showman and Jumanji were both largely written off by analysts amid fanfare for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

But both went on to enjoy huge, ongoing success – and in fact, The Greatest Showman’s soundtrack is due to be announced as the UK’s Christmas No1 album tomorrow.

So even if the initial launch doesn’t go too well for Bumblebee, could word-of-mouth help carry it on into 2019?

Meanwhile, Steinfeld has been speaking about the making of the movie – saying it wasn’t so much a green-screen-heavy venture, but a project that required her to act with a very peculiar co-star.

Speaking to HeyUGuys, she said: “I’ve done green screen work before, and this… What was interesting about this was I was almost expecting a lot of [green screen] but it was very little.

“Because it’s all special effects it was me in the real world but with nothing around me.

“We made 90% of this movie with me and this Transformer – and it was really a tennis ball on a stick! So that was quite an interesting challenge.

“But it was amazing having our wonderful director, Travis Knight, who helped me bring everything to life.”

Bumblebee is out on December 24 in the UK.