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1986’s Definitive Sci-Fi Cult Classic Officially Returns to Theaters This Summer

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Two years after the latest film entry in one of the greatest robotic sci-fi franchises hit theaters, confirmation has emerged that the franchise is set to return to theaters soon. When it comes to robotic sci-fi franchises, the likes of Star Wars, The Terminator, and Transformers are among the genre’s biggest names. However, the franchise currently making headlines is the latter, whose most recent installment, Transformers One, was released in September 2024 to positive reviews from critics, though it underperformed at the box office.

As one of the most popular franchises of all time, Transformers is produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy, with ownership currently shared between the two companies. Since the 1980s, the franchise has expanded across multiple film installments, one of which is set to return to theaters this fall. Titled The Transformers: The Movie, it was the franchise’s first feature film and was released in 1986 to generally negative reviews and a disappointing box-office performance. To make matters worse, the film upset audiences by killing off the Autobots’ leader, Optimus Prime, sparking backlash and even leading to a letter-writing campaign.

Now reports confirm that Hasbro and specialty distributor Fathom Entertainment have teamed up to theatrically re-release The Transformers: The Movie, which has since developed a cult following. The screening is timed to its 40th anniversary. Beginning September 17, 2026, the sci-fi classic will roll out in theaters across the U.S. through September 21. It will be presented in 4K while select international markets are expected to launch day-and-date with the U.S.

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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz
Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like?
Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky

Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🏜️Paul Atreides

🖖Capt. Kirk

Princess Leia

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🔦Ellen Ripley

🔥Max Rockatansky

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01

How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher?
The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.





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02

What is your greatest strength in a crisis?
The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.





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03

What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for?
Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.





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04

How do you relate to the people around you?
Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.





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05

You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do?
How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.





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06

What has your heroism cost you personally?
Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.





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07

How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in?
Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?





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08

When everything is on the line, what keeps you going?
The answer is the most honest thing about you.





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Your Hero Has Been Identified
Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…

Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.

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Arrakis · Dune

Paul Atreides

You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.

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  • You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
  • You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
  • Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
  • That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.


USS Enterprise · Star Trek

Captain Kirk

You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.

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  • You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
  • Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
  • Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
  • That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.


The Rebellion · Star Wars

Princess Leia

You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.

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  • You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
  • You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
  • Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
  • That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.


The Nostromo · Alien

Ellen Ripley

You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.

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  • You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
  • Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
  • You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
  • When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.


The Wasteland · Mad Max

Max Rockatansky

You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.

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  • You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
  • Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
  • Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
  • That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.

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Did the Transformers Franchise Have a Strong First Film Entry?

As the first film entry in the Transformers franchise, The Transformers: The Movie delivers the familiar conflict between the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons. At the same time, it aimed for something far more ambitious and unexpected by taking bold creative risks, including killing off several well-known characters — most notably one of the franchise’s most beloved heroes, Optimus Prime. This year, Hasbro embraced the film’s infamous reputation and the nostalgia surrounding it by launching an Apology Tour packed with exclusive merchandise and new toy lines, seemingly in an effort to make amends with longtime fans.

Featured in the stellar voice cast of The Transformers: The Movie are franchise veterans Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime and Frank Welker as Megatron, alongside Orson Welles as Unicron, Judd Nelson as Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime, Leonard Nimoy as Galvatron, Eric Idle as Wreck-Gar, and Robert Stack as Ultra Magnus.

The first Transformers film re-releases in theaters this September.


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Release Date

August 8, 1986

Runtime
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84 minutes

Director

Nelson Shin

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Writers

Ron Friedman

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Producers

Joe Bacal, Lee Gunther, Margaret Loesch, Tom Griffin

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  • Norman Alden

    Hot Rod / Rodimus Prime (voice)

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  • Jack Angel

    Optimus Prime / Ironhide (voice)

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  • Michael Bell

    Soundwave / Megatron / Rumble / Frenzy / Wheelie (voice)

  • Gregg Berger

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    Galvatron (voice)

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