Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena star in the flashy new trailer for Bumblebee, the upcoming Transformers prequel. Steven Spielberg co-executive-produced the sci-fi/action film, which hits theaters on December 21st.
The clip opens in a California beach town in 1987, where the owner of a junkyard gifts Charlie Watson (Steinfeld) with a yellow Volkswagen Beetle for her 18th birthday. When she gets home, Charlie discovers the vehicle’s true identity as it expands into the bumbling autobot Bumblebee.
Charlie takes in Bumblebee after learning her transformer friend is in danger, and the two wind up in the crosshairs of an evil government agency called Sector 7, helmed by Burns (Cena). “People can be terrible about things they don’t understand,” Charlie says. “From now on, the only person you can show yourself around is me.”
Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings) directed Bumblebee, which co-stars Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Ortiz, Jason Drucker and Pamela Adlon. Michael Bay, who directed all the previous live-action Transformer films, served as a co-producer.