Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) is the fourth main live-action Transformers film, directed by Michael Bay and starring Mark Wahlberg as inventor Cade Yeager, with Peter Cullen voicing Optimus Prime. It runs 165 minutes, cost $210 million and grossed more than $1.1 billion worldwide, and the story is set five years after the battle of Chicago.
Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014), directed by Michael Bay, is about a human government that turns on the Autobots while an alien bounty hunter hunts Optimus Prime. The film opens millions of years ago, when alien beings called the Creators wipe out the dinosaurs with metal-making devices called Seeds.
In the present day, five years after the battle of Chicago, humans see the Transformers as a threat. A secret CIA unit called Cemetery Wind, led by Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer), hunts the Autobots. A bounty hunter named Lockdown, who works for the Creators, offers Attinger a Seed in return for Optimus Prime.
Optimus, badly hurt, hides in Texas, where struggling inventor Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) finds and repairs him. Cemetery Wind then attacks the Yeager farm, and Optimus, Cade, his daughter Tessa and her boyfriend Shane escape. If you are catching up on the saga, the film follows Transformers Dark of the Moon and sits fourth among the main films in Transformers movies in order.
Cade YeagerMark Wahlberg
Joshua JoyceStanley Tucci
Harold AttingerKelsey Grammer
Tessa YeagerNicola Peltz Beckham
Shane DysonJack Reynor
Darcy TirrelSophia Myles
Su YuemingLi Bingbing
James SavoyTitus WelliverMore of the cast: Kevin Kent (Cemetery Wind Team), Ben Schwartz (Bumblebee (voice) (uncredited)), T.J. Miller (Lucas Flannery), Kenny Sheard (Cemetery Wind Team), Charles Parnell (CIA Director), Mark Ryan (Lockdown (voice)), Robert Foxworth (Ratchet (voice)), Reno Wilson (Brains (voice)), Michael Bay (Truck Passenger (uncredited)), John DiMaggio (Crosshairs (voice)).
| Market | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|
| US | June 27, 2014confirmed | the-numbers.com |
| UK | July 10, 2014reported | themoviedb.org |
| AU | June 26, 2014reported | themoviedb.org |
| Market | Subscription | Rent or buy |
|---|---|---|
| US | Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, Paramount+ Amazon Channel, YouTube TV, Paramount+ Roku Premium Channel, Starz Apple TV channel, Kanopy, Hoopla (Free) | Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, JustWatch TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Spectrum On Demand, Plex |
| UK | Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Sky Go, Now TV Cinema, Paramount+ Amazon Channel, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Basic with Ads, Channel 4 Plus | Apple TV Store, Rakuten TV, JustWatch TV Store, Amazon Video, Sky Store, YouTube |
| AU | Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Paramount+ Amazon Channel, Stan, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Basic with Ads | JustWatch TV Store, Apple TV Store, Amazon Video, YouTube, Fetch TV |
Streaming availability data from JustWatch, checked 2026-11-03.
| Director | Michael Bay |
|---|---|
| Writers | Ehren Kruger |
| Producers | Ian Bryce, Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Don Murphy |
| Music | Steve Jablonsky |
| Cinematography | Amir Mokri |
| Budget | $210 million |
|---|---|
| Domestic (US and Canada) | $245 million |
| International | $859 million |
| Worldwide | $1.10 billion |
| Worldwide, in September 2026 dollars | $1.57 billion |
Transformers box office for every film.
Steve Jablonsky composed the score for Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014), and the album "Transformers: Age of Extinction (Music from the Motion Picture)" arrived on May 9, 2014, with 11 tracks.
The headline song is "Battle Cry" by Imagine Dragons, written for the film. It plays during the final battle and again over the end credits. The credits also open with "Leave Planet Earth Alone", a second Imagine Dragons track built on the drum beat from "Battle Cry", so the band effectively bookends the closing stretch of the movie.
Several other songs are credited to the film, though no scene is documented for them:
The mix is unusually wide for a blockbuster: stadium rock, metalcore, a classic hip hop hit, and a track from Han Geng, which suits a film with a large China storyline. For the full run of composers and tracks across the saga, see Transformers soundtrack.
It plays during the final battle and again over the end credits.
It starts as the end credits begin, built on the drum beat from Battle Cry.
Sources: musicbrainz.org, themoviedb.org, en.wikipedia.org
The full plot runs from the Seed attack on the dinosaurs to the final fight, and it splits neatly into three stages: the hunt, the heist and the rescue.
The hunt comes first. The Creators use Seeds to turn Earth's surface to metal and kill the dinosaurs. Years after the battle of Chicago, Cemetery Wind hunts the Autobots with help from Lockdown, and Lockdown kills Ratchet while searching for Optimus Prime. Cade Yeager, a Texas inventor, finds the wounded Optimus and repairs him, which draws Cemetery Wind to his farm. Cade, Tessa and Shane escape with Optimus, and Optimus calls in the remaining Autobots.
The heist is the middle of the film. Cade sneaks into the Chicago headquarters of the tech company KSI and finds that its CEO, Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci), is melting down fallen Transformers to build drone soldiers for Attinger. One of these, Galvatron, is built from Megatron's remains and breaks free of Joyce's control.
The rescue takes over from there. Lockdown captures Optimus and Tessa, and Cade, Shane and the Autobots board his ship to save them. They seize a smaller ship that carries the Dinobots. Galvatron takes over the drones and builds a Decepticon army, and a battle in Hong Kong follows. Optimus frees the Dinobots and earns their loyalty.
In the final fight, Optimus kills Attinger to save Cade, and Lockdown pins Optimus down. Tessa and Shane free Optimus, who kills Lockdown with Lockdown's own grenade, and Galvatron flees.
Transformers: Age of Extinction held its world premiere in Hong Kong on June 19, 2014 at the Hong Kong Culture Center, which IMAX converted into an IMAX 3D theater.
The film opened in Australia on June 26, 2014 and in the US on June 27, 2014, the same day as its US IMAX release. The UK followed on July 10, 2014. The US opening weekend came to $100 million domestically, according to Box Office Mojo.
If you are tracking release dates across the saga, the Transformers timeline and Transformers movies in order show where this film sits in both release and chronological order.
The ending of Age of Extinction plays out in four moves: Galvatron escapes, Optimus hands the Autobots to the Yeagers, he takes a Seed into space, and he tells the Creators he is coming for them.
After the Decepticons are beaten, Galvatron retreats and swears he will come back. Optimus asks the Autobots to protect the Yeager family, then takes the Seed and flies into space, sending the Creators a message that he is coming for them.
Why does that matter? In my opinion, the finale turns the hero from a hunted refugee into the one doing the hunting. Early on, Optimus is badly hurt and hiding in Texas from Attinger and Lockdown, and the last scene reverses that, with Optimus choosing to take the fight to the beings who sent Lockdown. That is a bigger shift than it sounds, because in the three earlier Bay films the Autobots are mostly reacting to a Decepticon plan, whether it is the AllSpark in Transformers 2007, the Fallen in Transformers Revenge of the Fallen or the Ark and Sentinel Prime in Transformers Dark of the Moon.
The set pieces also earn the payoff. In Hong Kong, Optimus frees the Dinobots and wins their loyalty, so he leaves with an ally he did not have in act one. Then, in the last fight on Lockdown's ship, Optimus kills Attinger to save Cade, and Lockdown pins him down. It could be argued that the best beat is who finishes the job: Tessa and Shane free Optimus, and he kills Lockdown with Lockdown's own grenade. Handing the humans a role in the rescue keeps the Yeager family central, which is why Optimus asks the Autobots to protect them before he goes.
Galvatron is the loose thread. He is built from Megatron's remains, breaks free of Joshua Joyce's control and builds a Decepticon army, and his closing threat marks him as the Decepticon leader who survives. Paradoxically, the film's biggest antagonist, Lockdown, is the one it removes for good.
The ending sets up further stories involving the Creators and Galvatron. In Transformers The Last Knight, Optimus Prime has left Earth and meets Quintessa, while Mark Wahlberg's Cade Yeager is back, hiding outcast Transformers in a scrapyard. To see how the film sits among its neighbors, read Transformers movies ranked.
Transformers: Age of Extinction takes place across three main settings: Texas, Chicago and Hong Kong, with a prologue set in the age of the dinosaurs.
Texas is where Cade Yeager finds and repairs the wounded Optimus Prime, and where Cemetery Wind attacks the Yeager farm. Chicago is the home of the tech company KSI, whose headquarters Cade sneaks into. Hong Kong is where a battle takes place after Galvatron builds his Decepticon army, and it also hosted the film's world premiere at the Hong Kong Culture Center. The film also leaves Earth, because part of the rescue takes place aboard Lockdown's ship.
Transformers: Age of Extinction earned more than $1.1 billion worldwide on a $210 million budget, which makes it a financial hit, even though its domestic gross was lower than the two Bay films before it.
For the full series picture, see Transformers box office.
In the US, Transformers: Age of Extinction streams on Paramount Plus (Premium and Essential), through the Paramount+ Amazon Channel and Roku channel, and on YouTube TV and the Starz Apple TV channel, and it is free on Kanopy and Hoopla. In the UK it is on Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Sky Go, Now TV Cinema and Channel 4 Plus. In Australia it is on Disney Plus, Paramount Plus and Stan. It is not listed on Netflix in any of the three markets as of November 3, 2026, according to JustWatch via TMDB. See where to watch Transformers for every film.
The film is set in Texas, Chicago and Hong Kong, five years after the battle of Chicago, and it opens with a prologue in the age of the dinosaurs. Cade Yeager's farm is in Texas, the tech company KSI is based in Chicago, and a battle with the Decepticon army takes place in Hong Kong, where the film also premiered on June 19, 2014.
Jetfire is not among the credited characters in Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014), so the film gives no explanation for his age. The robots in the credits are Optimus Prime, Galvatron, Lockdown, Hound, Drift and Crosshairs, and the Dinobots join the Autobots late in the Hong Kong battle.
Shia LaBeouf does not appear in Transformers: Age of Extinction, and the film replaces Sam Witwicky with a new human lead, Cade Yeager, played by Mark Wahlberg. The credits give no reason for the change. TheWrap reported on October 6, 2026 that LaBeouf is not returning for the next Transformers film either.
It was a hit. The film grossed more than $1.1 billion worldwide on a $210 million budget, with $245 million domestic and $859 million international, according to Box Office Mojo and The Numbers. China was the biggest market at about $301 million. See Transformers box office for the other films.
The film has three antagonists: Lockdown, a bounty hunter who works for the Creators and is voiced by Mark Ryan, Harold Attinger, the head of the CIA unit Cemetery Wind, played by Kelsey Grammer, and Galvatron, the Decepticon voiced by Frank Welker.
