Peter Cullen’s Death Will Make The Transformers Movie Re-Release Hit So Much Harder

Peter Cullen’s death hit a lot of fans hard, as he was the voice of many childhoods. Cullen will always be best known for voicing Optimus Prime in the Transformers animated releases for almost 40 years, starting with The Transformers animated series in 1984 and finishing up with the live-action Transformers: Rise of the Beasts in 2023. However, there is still one more performance coming for Cullen, as the new release, Optimus Prime: Awakening, will arrive in theaters, accompanying the 40th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie. This will be bittersweet for fans, considering the fact that Cullen passed away shortly before the movie’s release.

When The Transformers: The Movie is re-released, it will now hit so much harder, which is saying a lot. This movie traumatized an entire generation of kids who grew up loving everything about Cullen’s Optimus Prime.

Peter Cullen’s Death Makes Transformers Re-Release a Memorial Release

When The Transformers: The Movie is released by Hasbro and Fathom Entertainment, it will present not only Peter Cullen’s big-screen debut as Optimus Prime, but it will also have his last performance with the add-on Optimus Prime: Awakening. When this was announced, it was an exciting moment for older fans to revisit the beloved movie and for a new generation of kids to discover it for the first time. Cullen was also very excited about its release, especially after recording a new voice performance for Optimus Prime: Awakening. Not only that, but Frank Welker also returned for the short as Megatron.

Sadly, Cullen didn’t live long enough to see the movie hit theaters, and now fans have a more mournful reason for going to see the re-release. Instead of a celebration of the old movie getting on big screens again and seeing a new addition to it, this has become a memorial and a celebration of life for Cullen and his contributions to the franchise. Fans will see the seminal Optimus Prime movie performance, and instead of rejoicing in the moment, they will realize that it will be the last time they ever hear Cullen voicing the Autobot leader again.

The original movie was a tough one for little kids, thanks to what happened in the film, but it seems that the new short added on might provide a bit of catharsis, although that might be even harder to accept with Cullen’s passing. Optimus Prime: Awakening will be attached to select screenings of the 4K release of The Transformers: The Movie. According to Hasbro and Fathom, who are distributing the re-release, this return meant “a great deal to him,” and Cullen called it a “homecoming.”

The Transformers: The Movie Was Already a Traumatic Affair

It is important to note that the original screening of The Transformers: The Movie was not a joyful experience for many kids of that era. There wasn’t the internet in the 1980s, so parents had no way to know what they were walking into unless they had friends who had already seen the movie. No one could have known that Optimus Prime was going to die in the movie, which was marketed for kids, and with no warning of the traumatic event.

When it was released in theaters in 1986, kids were shocked and heartbroken when Optimus Prime died, and it was something that took parents by surprise. This was a movie based on a toy line that became a TV show about robots who turn into cars and protect the world from other transforming robots. It was exciting and fun, and then the movie took it one step over the line and killed the most heroic member of the Autobots’ team. In the TV show, the Autobots got shot and blasted all the time, and none died. This was hugely impactful for the movie.

Now, adults who were traumatized as kids when they watched The Transformers: The Movie for the first time will have a chance to relive that trauma, but with an added twist. They will see Optimus Prime dying once again, but this time they know that Cullen has died as well. This might cause a few more tears to fall in theaters, and even the celebratory short at the end might not be enough to ease the sadness when people realize they have seen Cullen voice Optimus for the last time.

It is unclear what the Optimus Prime: Awakening short will be about, but there was a hint in the trailer for the re-release that makes it look like Optimus Prime might not be dead after all at the end of this movie.

The Transformers: The Movie hits theaters on September 17 and will run through September 22. Optimus Prime: Awakening will be attached to select screenings of the 4K release of the movie. Tickets are on sale at Fathom’s website.

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