An unfinished version of Transformers One was screened at the Annecy Animation Festival earlier today, and the audience gave it a rousing standing ovation. Although those who saw the Transformers One screening have been sworn to silence, the first reactions that have emerged paint a very positive picture.

Director Josh Cooley introduced the movie, saying, “I’m very, very excited. So much talent and nostalgic love has gone into this movie.” He also thanked the team behind the film as the “greatest animators and CG artists in the world,” while also giving a shout-out to Industrial Light & Magic. Turning to the audience, he added, “I want to thank you all for being ‘audience one.’“

The Annecy audience broke into applause and laughter at several moments throughout the screening, with a rousing standing ovation showing just how much they loved the movie. It’s still early, and the film isn’t completely finished, but this type of reaction certainly bodes well for the first animated Transformers movie in nearly forty years.

Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry star as Orion Pax/Optimus Prime and D-16/Megatron, respectively. The cast also includes Scarlett Johansson as Elita, Keegan-Michael Key as Bumblebee, Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime, and Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion. Josh Cooley directs from a script by Andrew Barrer, Steve Desmond, and Gabriel Ferrari. The animated movie tells the “long-awaited origin story of how the most iconic characters in the Transformers universe, Orion Pax and D-16, went from brothers-in-arms to become sworn enemies, Optimus Prime and Megatron.“

Should the film do well, we could see more as franchise producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura has teased that Transformers One will set up a “natural trilogy” that would continue the story of Optimus Prime and Megatron.

“We’re hoping that there is enough emotional construct to that, that would lead to a trilogy of it because, personally, I think there’s a natural trilogy,” he said. “I’m not always looking to do multiple movies, but there’s a natural trilogy around their relationship. So, you’re going to see Cybertron in a way you’ve never seen it, that no one’s ever seen it before. Because we’re doing an animation, we’re allowed to really go all out. If you tried to make this live-action, it would probably be a billion-dollar movie or something.“

Transformers One is set to hit theaters on September 20th.

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