Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

This article is about the film. For other uses, see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (disambiguation).

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
The faces of two robots stand atop a pyramid. A helicopter flies over an industrial facility on the right side of the image, and a young couple is seen in front of the pyramid. The film title and credits are on the bottom of the poster.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMichael Bay
Written by
Based onHasbro's Transformers action figures
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyBen Seresin
Edited by
Music bySteve Jablonsky
Production
companies
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
  • June 8, 2009 (2009-06-08) (Tokyo)
  • June 24, 2009 (2009-06-24) (United States)
Running time
150 minutes[3]
CountryUnited States[2]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$200–210 million[4][1][5]
Box office$836.5 million[1]

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a 2009 American science fiction action film based on Hasbro's Transformers toy line. The film is the second installment in the Transformers film series and the sequel to Transformers (2007). The film is directed by Michael Bay and written by Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman. Taking place two years after the previous film, the story revolves around Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen), Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), and the Autobots allying once again in the war against the Decepticons, led by Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving). An ancient Decepticon named the Fallen (voiced by Tony Todd), seeks revenge on Earth and intends to find and activate a machine that would destroy the Sun and all life in the process.

Development on a sequel to Transformers began by May 2007. With deadlines jeopardized by possible strikes by the Directors Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild, Bay managed to finish the production on time with the help of previsualization and a scriptment. Shooting took place between May and September 2008, with locations in Egypt, Jordan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and California, as well as air bases in New Mexico and Arizona.

It premiered on June 8, 2009, in Tokyo and was released on June 24 in the United States. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, criticizing the heavy focus on action, underdeveloped characters, plot, runtime, tonal inconsistencies, and some of the human performances, but praised the voice performances (particularly of Cullen and Todd) and visual effects. It won three Golden Raspberry Awards at the 30th Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony and became the highest-grossing film to win the Worst Picture award. The film surpassed its predecessor's box office gross worldwide with $836.5 million, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2009. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing, at the 82nd Academy Awards. With over 11 million home media sales in 2009, it was also the top-selling film of the year in the United States. It was followed by Transformers: Dark of the Moon in 2011.

  1. ^ a b c "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on November 24, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
  3. ^ "TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (12A)". BBFC. June 15, 2009. Archived from the original on January 21, 2016. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  4. ^ "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on October 16, 2009. Retrieved October 17, 2009.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference variety-budget was invoked but never defined (see the help page).