Tickets: the run opens 17 September 2026 on Transformers Day and plays through 21 September in the U.S. Our tickets page carries the full date window, every confirmed market and where 4DX is playing.

Update, September 1, 2026: the chapter now has a name and a running time. It is Optimus Prime: Awakening, a 12 minute CG animated short carrying Peter Cullen’s final original performance as Optimus Prime, with Frank Welker back as Megatron and Soundwave. Hasbro and Fathom also disagree in print about whether it plays after every screening or only selected ones, which that post sets out. The paragraph below saying neither company has described it was true when we wrote it and is no longer.

Hasbro and Fathom Entertainment have added something the original announcement did not include. When The Transformers: The Movie returns to cinemas this September for its 40th anniversary, the 1986 animated film will be followed by an all-new post-credits chapter created specifically for the theatrical event.

The reveal happened at San Diego Comic-Con on July 24, 2026, where attendees at a 4K screening of the film became the first audience to see the new scene. It plays after the film’s existing ending, following the destruction of Unicron. Neither Hasbro nor Fathom has described what happens in it.

“Beginning September 17, 2026, on Transformers Day, one of the most influential animated films of the 1980s returns to theaters in stunning 4K and premium large format 4DX in the U.S. and U.K.,” reads the official announcement. “This time, however, the story doesn’t end when the credits roll. For the first time ever, audiences will experience an exclusive addition that gives longtime fans and newcomers alike one more reason to see the film together on the big screen.”

Still from the 1986 animated film The Transformers: The Movie showing Rodimus Prime with his chest panels open and the Matrix of Leadership glowing blue at the centre of his body

Source: Hasbro / Fathom Entertainment press materials

Dates, formats and tickets

Fathom’s listing puts the U.S. run at September 17 to 21, 2026, a five-day limited engagement rather than an open-ended release, with the film rated PG. Tickets went on sale as scheduled on August 7, 2026, and theatre-level listings are now populated. Checked again on August 8, Fathom’s release page returns named venues and start times once a city or postal code is entered, each with its own Buy Now handoff to the theatre, in place of the email notification form it served before the on-sale. Fathom has still published no single ticket price, so the cost is whatever the participating theatre charges, and theatre locations remain subject to change.

The screenings are going out well beyond the U.S. Hasbro’s announcement names the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Germany and the U.S., with additional markets to be announced. The 4DX and premium large format presentations are specified for the U.S. and U.K.

Canadian dates are no longer just an announced market. An Ontario postal code now returns live 6:50 p.m. listings at Landmark Cinemas 24 Whitby, Landmark Cinemas 10 Pen Centre in St. Catharines and Landmark Cinemas 10 Waterloo, all inside the September 17 to 21 window. Listings are scoped to whatever location is entered, so the venues and times any given reader sees will differ.

Participating U.S. theatres will also carry exclusive collectible concessions, including popcorn buckets and specialty drinkware, while supplies last. Hasbro notes that purchase limits may apply, so collectors chasing the buckets should check with their local theatre rather than assume availability.

Where this sits in the Apology Tour

The screenings are the centrepiece of “The Apology Tour,” Hasbro’s year-long 40th anniversary campaign built around the death of Optimus Prime in the 1986 film. The theatrical return itself was announced back on May 18, 2026, but that announcement made no mention of new footage. The post-credits chapter is the piece that changed at Comic-Con.

The same campaign has produced a steady run of anniversary product through July. Hasbro’s Comic-Con slate included a Transformers: The Movie 40th anniversary Celebration of Life concert and an Optimus Prime and Autobot Jazz cereal box set, a licensed MESHUGGAH x Transformers shirt marking the same 40 years, and the reveal of Icons Megatron at the press breakfast. The Reformatted Edition soundtrack and an Image Comics deluxe hardcover of the film’s comic adaptation are already out.

For collectors, the practical note is the August 7 on-sale date. A five-day window across a limited theatre footprint means the popular showtimes in each market are likely to be the first to go, and the collectible concessions are explicitly limited to participating U.S. locations.

One clarification worth making: this is a re-release of the 1986 animated film, not a new production. The status of the next live-action Transformers movie and the Transformers x G.I. Joe crossover is tracked separately on our next Transformers movie hub.

Sources