The first trailer has arrived for the 80s set Transformers spin-off, Bumblebee.

We all know it so let’s just get this out the way upfront, the Transformers franchise is a complete mess. Things started well enough back in 2007 with Michael Bay’s first entry in the series with a solid live-action blockbuster. However, the All Spark soon faded as the subsequent four sequels became more of an endurance test than entertainment. Filmmaking on this scale doesn’t have to be mind-numbingly dumb, loaded with mixed mythology, and A-list talent picking up paychecks. Michael Bay kept promising to leave the franchise after each movie, but he’s only just made good on that promise after the box office flop of The Last Knight.

Directed by Kubo and the Two Strings helmer Travis Knight, and written by Christina Hodson (Shut In, Batgirl), Bumblebee is something of a soft reboot for the Transformers. Set twenty years before the first movie, Bumblebee is smaller in scope with its thrifty (for a Transformers flick) $102 million budget. The Bay era of Transformers could cost more than $300 million a pop, so by all accounts; this is a ‘low budget’ affair.

Paramount is soldiering on with its Hasbro shared movie universe with plans in motion for a Micronauts, MASK, G.I Joe, Transformers crossover. We’ll have to wait and see how that pans out, but Bumblebee looks like it could be a step in the right direction.

Having been handed a lifeline with the success of A Quiet Place, and the inevitable hit on the horizon with Mission Impossible Fallout, Paramount is bouncing back after a rough couple of years.

Starring Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Jason Drucker, and Kenneth Choi, Bumblebee The Movie is released in the UK on December 26.