2011 film by Michael Bay
Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a 2011 American science fiction action film based on Hasbro's Transformers toy line. It is the sequel to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) and the third installment in the Transformers film series. Like its predecessor, the film was directed by Michael Bay, and written by Ehren Kruger. Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Kevin Dunn, and Julie White reprise their roles from the previous films, with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, John Malkovich, and Frances McDormand joining the cast. In the film, Optimus Prime and Sam Witwicky must lead the Autobots against Megatron and the Decepticons as they battle to possess powerful technology abandoned on the Moon in order to restore Cybertron.
Development of a third Transformers film began in May 2007. The film employed both regular 35 mm film cameras and specially developed 3D cameras, with filming locations in Chicago, Florida, Indiana, Milwaukee, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. The visual effects involved more complex robots than the previous films, which took longer to render. The release date was moved from July 1 to June 29, in order to monitor an early response to footage.
Early screenings took place on June 28, 2011, one night before worldwide release by Paramount Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $1.124 billion worldwide, becoming the fifth highest-grossing film in history at the time, and the second highest-grossing film of 2011. Like the first film, it was nominated for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards. It was followed by Transformers: Age of Extinction in 2014.
Plot summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.