Peter Cullen’s Final Optimus Prime Performance Features in New Transformers Short
The 12-minute short will accompany every Fathom screening of the film’s 40th-anniversary 4K re-release.
Fathom Entertainment and Hasbro revealed the poster, cast, staff and additional screening regions for “Optimus Prime: Awakening.” The short stars the late Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime and Frank Welker as Megatron and Soundwave.
Fathom Entertainment, formerly Fathom Events, and Hasbro unveiled a poster, cast, staff and additional screening regions for “Optimus Prime: Awakening” on Tuesday. The new 12-minute animated short will accompany theatrical anniversary screenings of the upcoming 4K re-release of The Transformers: The Movie.
Fathom confirmed to Anime News Network that every screening it holds for the film’s 40th anniversary will include the short.
The late Peter Cullen voices Optimus Prime in his final performance. Frank Welker voices Megatron and Soundwave.
The short’s staff includes:
- Director: Josh Wassung
- Scriptwriter: Ryan Parrott
- Composer: Bobby Krlic
- Animation: The Third Floor
The theatrical release opens September 17 in these newly announced regions:
- France
- Singapore
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- El Salvador
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Panama
- Peru
Previously announced screening regions include:
- United States
- United Kingdom
- Ireland
- Canada
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Mexico
- Germany
The Transformers: The Movie’s 4K re-release will also include previously unseen footage presented as a “cinematic chapter” after the credits. Select U.S. theaters will offer collectible popcorn buckets and drinkware.
Fathom’s synopsis follows the heroic Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, voiced by Cullen, through their millennia-long war against the evil Decepticons. Megatron, voiced by Welker, leads their enemies.
As fighting continues on Earth, a greater danger approaches Cybertron, the Transformers’ homeworld. Unicron, voiced by Citizen Kane’s Orson Welles, is a gigantic transforming planet that consumes everything in its path.
Unicron intends to devour Cybertron and erase both factions from existence. Their sole hope lies in the Autobot Matrix of Leadership.
Pursued by new enemies and facing threats throughout the galaxy, the Autobots undertake a dangerous mission to save their world. The journey will change their destiny forever.
The companies previously brought the film back to U.S. theaters in September 2021 to mark the franchise’s 35th anniversary.
Shout! Factory issued a limited-edition 35th-anniversary steelbook in August 2021. That release brought the movie to 4K UHD for the first time, using a newly created 4K transfer from the original 35mm film.
Toei Animation animated the 1986 movie as a sequel to the first seasons of The Transformers animated television series. The series adapts Hasbro’s toy line, which imported toys from Takara’s Diaclone and Microman lines, among others.
According to his agent, Cullen died at his Los Angeles home on August 26. The Optimus Prime voice actor was 85.
