It's the kind of film franchise that Hollywood studios dream of: preposterously profitable, endlessly revampable and utterly critic-proof. Yet one rather important figure in the success of the Transformers series has made it clear enough is enough. Star Shia LaBeouf, who plays Sam Witwicky, says the newly released third instalment will be his final film in the hotseat.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon debuts across most of the world today, with box office analysts predicting another spectacular financial return for the Michael Bay-directed series' first 3D instalment despite damning reviews. The most recent film in the series, 2009's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, was also pilloried by the critics, yet ended up the year's fourth highest-grossing movie with $836.3m.
LaBeouf signalled his disinterest in further instalments of the series in an interview with MTV News.
"I just don't think right now there's anywhere to take Sam," he said. "I've learned a great deal from Michael, as a person, as an actor, as a person on set. And it's not that I don't enjoy working with Michael. I love working with Michael. I would do any movie Michael wants to do. I just don't think there's anywhere to take it with Sam."
LaBeouf would not be the first major Transformers cast member to leave the series. Megan Fox was fired last year after comparing Bay with Hitler, reportedly at the instigation of executive producer Steven Spielberg. Her replacement, British underwear model turned actor Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, has been candid about her lack of thespian experience. But that has not stopped the critics laying into her performance.
"Bay introduces her with a self-parodying shot of her barely clad bottom and it's all downhill from there," opined Empire's Chris Hewitt. "You'll believe a robot can fly, but you won't believe a Huntington-Whiteley can talk."
Meanwhile, Total Film's Neil Smith wrote: "British model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is awful – awful! – as LaBeouf's new love interest, sucking the life out of every scene she appears in like some pneumatic Dyson sexbot. Introduced with a leering pan up her Victoria's Secret pins, she achieves the unlikely feat of making Megan Fox look like a proper actress, particularly at moments where she is required to be in peril."
The Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye wrote simply: "Poor Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. She may be beautiful but she can't act for toffee."
