Vusumuzi Dube
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
ZIMBABWE’s Tongayi Chirisa is one of the actors toasting up the success of the latest Transformers movie, after the blockbuster racked up US$171 million in movie theatres around the globe last weekend.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which debuted in theatres around the globe on 9 June, surprised all and sundry when it made US$61m in the American domestic box office and an additional US$110m in movie theatres around the world.
In the movie, Chirisa voiced the character of Cheetor, starring alongside other renowned actors including Peter Dinklage, Ron Perman and Michelle Yeoh.
The latest movie in the Transformers live-action series serves as a sequel to 2018’s Bumblebee and a prequel to 2007’s Transformers. The film takes place in 1994, seven years after the events of Bumblebee and 13 years before the first Transformers movie, and introduces the Maximals, a new group of Transformers.
The early totals for Rise of the Beasts are the best numbers a Transformers movie has made since Transformers: Age of Extinction in 2014.
The franchise’s fourth film brought in $100 million domestically and over $302 million worldwide during its opening weekend, whereas the fifth (Transformers: The Last Knight) and the sixth (Bumblebee) earned considerably less money during their première weekends.
The downward trend for Transformers movies at the box office was disheartening, but the opening numbers for Rise of the Beasts signal hope for the franchise.
Blockbuster roles have been coming in thick and fast for Chirisa, who in 2020 starred alongside Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, Peter Gallagher, and J K Simmons in Hulu and Neon’s critically acclaimed romantic comedy Palm Springs. The film debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and sold for a record breaking US$22 million rights deal.
Chirisa, who is represented by Domain Talent and Industry Entertainment, also starred opposite superstar actress and musician Janelle Monáe in Lionsgate’s thriller Antebellum.
Bongani Ndlovu