While Ted hit a home run at the box office, making a sizeable $556 million, and Daddy’s Home took home $245M upon its release, they are nowhere near to Mark Wahlberg’s biggest hit. After Transformers: Dark of the Moon hit the biggest numbers at the box office for the franchise, Paramount begged Michael Bay to continue the franchise, even though he had no intention.
Although Bay eventually returned to make the fourth one, 2014’s Transformers: Age of Extinction marked a new chapter for the huge IP, which witnessed Wahlberg replacing Shia LaBeouf as the lead.
One of Mark Wahlberg’s Most Critically Panned Release Is His Biggest Hit
Even though Age of Extinction set a new low for the franchise critically, scoring a mere 18% on the Tomatometer, the introduction of Dinobots proved to be too much fun for general moviegoers to resist. Unsurprisingly, following in its predecessor’s footsteps, the first of the three planned Transformers movies starring Mark Wahlberg grossed over $1.1B upon its release, becoming Wahlberg’s biggest hit.
While Michael Bay once again contemplated departing from the franchise that he didn’t care about like his other movies, Paramount brought him back for the fifth installment. But this would mark the ending for both Bay and the Ted Star, even though Wahlberg was supposed to return for a third movie, which most probably won’t happen ever.
No Michael Bay Means No Mark Wahlberg in the Transformers
Apart from the huge paycheck the actor earned for starring in the Transformers movies, the main reason he was on board with the critically panned franchise in the first place was Michael Bay. In the three-year gap between Transformer 3 and the Age of Extinction, the American auteur partnered up with Wahlberg for Pain & Gain, arguably his most interesting movie since Bay Boys 2. Following his experience with the director, Wahlberg was on board with anything that involved Bay.
And while he initially agreed to do three Transformers movies, following the box-office letdown of The Last Knight, which allowed Bay to part ways with the franchise, Wahlberg was also out. He said,
“This will be the last one in the series [for me]. [Transformers director] Michael Bay says it’s the last one, so that means it’s going to be my last one.”
In another interview with Collider, he said,
“I signed on to make these movies with Michael. After Pain and Gain, I was like, ‘Whatever you want to do. Anytime, anywhere, just let me know.’ So we’ll see. But usually, I’m going with Bay.”
Considering Michael Bay was adamant about leaving the franchise after the third movie, it’s pretty clear that the auteur is completely done with the IP for good, and so is Mark Wahlberg.
Transformers: Age of Extinction is available to stream on Paramount Plus.
