Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson and Brian Tyree Henry Debut Origin Story ‘Transformers One’

Chris Gardner
·2 min read
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One year after Paramount Pictures broke news at CinemaCon that Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson and Brian Tyree Henry had signed on for the animated Transformers One — the first animated film in the franchise in nearly four decades — the studio welcomed that trio back to introduce their work.

Hemsworth, Johansson and Henry had official duties during Paramount’s studio presentation by pumping a new extended trailer that played for the gathering of theater owners (ahead of a wide launch April 18) as well as pulling back the curtain on the first scene from Transformers One in 3D. Johansson appeared on the big screen in a recorded message from New York, where she’s at work on her directorial debut, Eleanor the Great.

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“I’m so incredibly proud of the the work that we’ve all done,” the actress said, teasing that the film is “unlike anything you’ve ever seen onscreen.”

Hemsworth then came out on the Colosseum stage inside Caesars Palace to chat up the film, telling exhibitors that their audiences “will experience something truly spectacular.” He shared that he plays Orion Pax, a young Optimus Prime, and is poised to “reveal a side of this character that audiences haven’t seen before.” He also paid tribute to Canadian actor Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime for decades, for lending his talents by way of “strength, gentleness and compassion.”

The superstar then welcomed his “brother-in-arms” Henry, who is D-16, a young Megatron. He promised an origin story in Transformers One that is “like nothing you’ve ever seen on the big screen before,” adding, “This origin story is how they transformed from brothers in arms to sworn enemies.” The pair revealed the trailer as well as the 3D scene.

Johansson is Elita-1 with Keegan-Michael Key as B-127, with Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm rounding out the cast. The story is described by Paramount as “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.”

Transformers One hits theaters Sept. 13. It hails from Paramount Animation and Hasbro, in association with New Republic Pictures and is based on Hasbro’s iconic Transformers action figures. Josh Cooley, the Oscar-winning director of Toy Story 4, is directing from a script by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari. Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Tom DeSanto, Don Murphy, Michael Bay, Mark Vahradian and Aaron Dem are producing. Steven Spielberg, Zev Foreman, Olivier Dumont, Brian Oliver, B.J. Farmer and Matt Quigg take executive producer credits.

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