Paramount Pictures has hired screenwriters Joby Harold (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, John Wick: Chapter 2) and James Vanderbilt (Zodiac, Murder Mystery) to write two more live-action Transformer movies.
So far it’s not clear if the new Transformers films they are working on will be connected to the Michael Bay series or a full-on reboot. There have been rumblings at least one may be based on the Beast Wars spin-off.
Hasbro Studios has expressed an interest in building its own cinematic universe, one with the potential to crossover with other Hasbro properties like G.I. Joe and Micronauts.
Transformers as a modern franchise has been pretty typical. The first film established a believable world and tolerable characters, but gradually devolved into pathetic cash grabs.
Starting with Transformers in 2007, the series has generated $4.3 billion in ticket sales over four sequels and one sort of stand-alone prequel.
Is There Still Potential?
Creatively? No, because Hollywood doesn’t really hire those types for this sort of thing anymore.
Expect more of the same, but with more of a focus on smaller stories.
Bumbling bad guys, sketchy CGI, bad acting, and lots and lots of ‘splosions!
Soooo Pretty Standard Right?
Right, I guess.
Bumblebee, the first spin-off in the series, came out in 2018 and made $467 million globally, so there is still profit potential. But Bumblebee was more of a Hailee Steinfeld driven, angsty teen drama, which hindered a pretty cool movie.
Though the formula wasn’t perfect, the old school robot designs in the film were a welcome look and it did go to show these sorts of movies can work on a smaller scale.
It was also an adequate distraction from John Cena’s attempts at acting, which is always a positive.
I still maintain the finest entry in the franchise was the animated The Transformers: The Movie from 1986.
That was a screenwriting clinic on how to get out with the old characters and in with the new.
Stay tuned for more…