WWE News: John Cena Lands Lead Role In Transformers Spinoff ‘Bumblebee,’ Is WWE Career Winding Down?
John Cena has appeared in a number of B-movies over his WWE career, but recent success as a minor character in major Hollywood films has finally opened a big door for Cena. The Hollywood Reporter revealed on Monday that Cena will play the lead role in the upcoming Transformers spinoff movie titled Bumblebee.
John Cena in Bumblebee
The Transformers movies have seen five major films released since Michael Bay took over the franchise in 2007. The first three starred Shia LaBeouf in the lead role and the last two featured Mark Wahlberg taking over the lead. Following this year’s Transformers: The Last Night, Collider reports that Michael Bay is stepping away from the franchise.
This puts the franchise on shaky ground as the biggest star in the WWE today arrives to take over the lead role in Bumblebee. The five Michael Bay Transformers movies have grossed over $1.447 billion domestically at the box office and $4.343 billion worldwide.
On the other hand, John Cena only has six movies to his name when it comes to theatrical releases. The best movie to date for the WWE superstar is Trainwreck, which made $110.2 million domestically. However, if his supporting roles are removed, his best movie as the lead actor was The Marine, which made $18.8 million domestically and $22.2 million worldwide.
One of the most exciting projects I've been fortunate to be a part of. Thrilled to join the #Transformers franchise! https://t.co/hdMUxuMcyA
— John Cena (@JohnCena) July 31, 2017
Universal has to hope that John Cena can eventually turn into a money draw like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. However, before Johnson hit it big as a leading star, his movies were still larger than John Cena films. The Rundown made $47 million domestically and even the critically lambasted Doom made $28 million.
However, since making it huge in Hollywood, movies that The Rock starred in have grossed over $2.8 billion domestically and that should help all WWE stars who want to give Hollywood a try after their careers end, including John Cena.
Another example is former WWE champion Batista, who has yet to become a leading man star but has been very successful in his film choices. In 13 movie appearances, Batista’s films have grossed $2.633 billion. Of course, that includes two Marvel movies and a James Bond role.
In Bumblebee, John Cena will star as the male lead alongside Hailee Steinfeld and the movie will focus on the yellow and black Transformer Bumblebee. This movie takes place in 1987 and shows where the Transformers have influenced the past, following up with recent turns of events in the main franchise films. Travis Knight, who directed the amazing animated film Kubo and the Two Strings, will helm this movie.
John Cena and his WWE future
This brings up the questions of John Cena and his WWE career. Cena just returned to the WWE on July 4 and has announced that he will work on both SmackDown Live and Monday Night Raw. However, Bumblebee will be a huge production and just started work this week.
There is no way that John Cena can be a major WWE player for the rest of this year if he is gone for the length of time it will take to make a movie as big as a Transformers film. It will also put his SummerSlam plans in doubt.
Interestingly, this comes just a couple of days after “Nature Boy” Ric Flair said that he doesn’t think that John Cena will break his world title record, one that the two men are tied at with 16 title wins each.
[Featured Image by WWE]
