Shia LaBeouf: This is my last 'Transformers'

Cast member Shia LaBeouf poses at a news conference before the premiere of Transformers: Dark of the Moon in Moscow June 23, 2011.[Photo/Agencies]

MOSCOW (AP) — Shia LaBeouf's days of battling the Decepticons look to be over, with the Transformers star saying he has nothing more to offer after three films playing kid-next-door Sam Witwicky.

The 26-year-old American actor said he was through with the action-packed franchise.

"I'm done," he told The Associated Press at the recent opening of "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" at the Moscow International Film Festival. " I'm sure they will make more of them. It's still a very hot franchise."

He added "I love making them (the movies). I love the crew. I love Michael (Bay). I love the cast. I love Sam ... but I don't have anything new to contribute and I don't think there's anywhere to take Sam really."

LeBeouf's nerdy character helped one alien race of robots, the Transformers, overpower another race, the evil Decepticons, with Earth as the battleground.

Directed by Michael Bay, "Transformers 3" also stars Patrick Dempsey, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich and Victoria's Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whitely. Paramount Pictures said the movie earned $37.3 million Wednesday in the U.S. on its first day — a 40 percent drop from its predecessor, "Revenge of the Fallen."

LaBeouf explained Witwicky's role in the latest movie.

"Nobody really cares about Sam anymore. He has no purpose. He saved the world twice and has sort of been thrown to the side. This is a dude who used to validate himself on his involvement with these robots, (but) these robots no longer need him," he said in the AP interview. "This is like the most broken Sam's ever been in the three movies ... and he sort of builds himself up through the course of the film."

In addition to the Transformers series, the talented actor also starred in the 2010 film "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," "Eagle Eye" in 2008 and "Disturbia" in 2007.

The Transformers trilogy was based on the cartoons of 1980s that were themselves inspired by the Marvel Comics comic book of the same name.