Great expectations

[Photo provided to China Daily]

The three roles are played respectively by teenage American actress Moner, Anthony Hopkins, the British veteran who won the Oscar for best actor for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), and English actress Haddock, known for The Guardians of Galaxy movies.

From the trailer released for Chinese audiences on June 13, the movie seems to be a hodgepodge of King Arthur's myth and a modern adventure.

Speaking about the movie, Bay says it is an epic with more roles and spectacles compared with the earlier films, and that it was shot in eight months.

He adds that the post-production work was completed just a few days ago, and says that the film is his swan song as far as the franchise is concerned.

"It's sad to say goodbye to Optimus Prime and Bumblebee," he says.

He adds the franchise will have a Bumblebee spinoff, but he cannot predict the future of the Autobots.

The 10-year-old franchise, which saw its launch coincide with the take-off of China's burgeoning film market, makes Bay among the most recognized Hollywood directors in the country.

Producer Mark Vahradian says the movie has a unique touch as a majority of the filming took pace in the United Kingdom, and includes Stonehenge and Oxford University.

"You'll see unusual scenes," says Vahradian, adding that the movie was shot in Imax 3D to make the visual effects as real as possible.

Unlike the last film, which starred Chinese stars Li Bingbing and Han Geng and had scenes filmed in China, the new movie has hardly any Chinese elements.