Transformers' spinoff, Bumblebee, set to create a big buzz

As someone who grew up in that era, Knight thought about what influenced him at the time.

"Bumblebee was a way for me to try to weave together these things that I've loved-Transformers, Spielberg and the Amblin films of the 1980s."

Knight, who is also the CEO of Laika Entertainment, a US animation studio best known for its stop-motion feature films, such as Coraline, The Boxtrolls and Kubo and the Two Strings, also talks about his general approach to storytelling.

"We try to tell stories that are an artful balance of darkness and light, intensity and warmth, humor and heart, spectacle and emotion. We always try to find a fusion of those things."

Actress Hailee Steinfeld plays Charlie Watson in 2018's Bumblebee. She shot scenes with nothing in front of her, pretending to interact with the robotic bee.

"The idea that all of these objects around us could have inner life, that finding a car, making a discovery that it is actually a robot-a terrifying but completely innocent one-the whole idea and my understanding of Charlie's relationship with Bumblebee are enough to create an emotion or something to play to," says Steinfeld.

According to producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who also coproduced previous Transformers films: "This film shares some similarities with the Transformers series before, like big action. But it is a more emotional and intimate story set in 1987, so it's quite different from the former ones."

The character Bumblebee will turn 35 this year, but he is still loved by people all over the world.

"In many ways, he's nothing like us. And yet, in some other ways, he's as human as we are. That's why millions of people around the world love him. We see ourselves in Bumblebee. That's his real magic," says Knight. "That's what art does in its finest form. It allows us to see the world in a different way and from a different point of view."