The popular robot film Transformers made a comeback Wednesday when the greatly anticipated Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opened to audiences worldwide.

The movie, directed by Michael Bay, is the sequel to the 2007 blockbuster film and has again turned out to be a huge draw for Chinese Transformers fans.

At Capital Cinema in Beijing, hundreds jostled to get a ticket to the premiere, and Transformers commemorative stamps were issued.

“Over 1,700 premiere tickets have already been sold. The movie is expected to be a blockbuster,” said a spokesman for Capital Cinema.

At Wanda International Cinema, also in Beijing, seven of the nine screens are showing the movie, with seats nearly fully booked.

“It’s been the biggest promotion event for a movie at Wanda, and since its debut, up to 90 percent of prime-time tickets have been sold out in advance,” said Li Yan from Wanda Cinema’s marketing department.


The popular robot film Transformers made a comeback Tuesday when the greatly anticipated Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opened to audiences worldwide. (Photo Source: Global Times)

“The sequel is even better than the last one, with a better plot and special effects,” said cinemagoer and Transformers fan, Kong Xiaozhan, a student of University of International Business and Economics.

However, film critic Bi Chenggong said the film relied too much on special effects and was not likely to attract an audience who had not watched the 1980s cartoon version or seen the first Transformers film.

Ella Shi, a sales planner of a social networking website, agreed, saying that not watching the first film made it difficult for her to follow the story, and she fell asleep halfway through the film.

Many of the moviegoers, however, said they were born in the 1970s and 1980s, and had watched the animated TV series while growing up. During the 1980s, merchandise sales boomed, as a generation of Chinese kids became fans, like other children around the world.

The new film is likely to make Transformers just as popular as they were 25 years ago, with fans queuing up for tickets and seeking out memorabilia.

Source: Global Times