I was gonna news an interview between David Beckel and Hasbro CEO Brian Godner that took place at the 34th Annual Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference, but I cant find a source. TFW doesnt give one on their news article:
http://news.tfw2005.com/2018/05/31/hasb ... ond-364648So I will leave this here for discussion since this is fun stuff but I will wait till I find an actual source to news it. And if anyone find the source, then let me know
Anyways, what I gather from this giant non answer from Hasbro is that regardless if the Bumblebee film is a reboot or even if reboot is the proper word, they are dropping the michael bay storyline. So no Unicron, at least not in connection to TLK.
“Question: Speaking of future production slate, just recently I think one of your Transformers films was removed from Paramount’s 2019 Release Schedule. What is the the rationale behind that and what should the investors read into that move?
Answer: So, really in some ways it’s just the fact that we were able to get Bumblebee movie out in 2018, so that’ll come out this Christmas; which means the home entertainment window will happen in 2019.
With the new [Paramount] management team and the partnership with Paramount gave us an opportunity to step back from the Michael Bay chronology of the films that have been out there in the market and look at new storytelling.
So, rather than putting another movie out to the market in 2019 we wanted to take a beat and develop across a couple different possible creative directions and then you’ll see, certainly, a raft of great Transformers films in the future. So I would read nothing into that except that Bumblebee will be in the market over the next year. We felt it was a good moment in time when we could again re-frame the creative direction of Transforms.
Question: What is it about the existing direction that is most needed to be re-framed, so to speak?
Answer: Look, I think what you’re going to see in the movie, which I’m thrilled about, we’ve already done some early testing around the movie, is the heart and humanity that comes back to the Autobots, in this in this case through Bumblebee who is one of the most beloved characters by both fans and kids around the world and you get a bit of a peak at his origin story. There’s a great relationship that exists between him and our star Hailee Steinfeld.
It gives us a chance to hearken back a bit to that first Transformers film that we all love; the awe inspiring nature of the boy and his car. The car’s turns out to be a robot involved in an alien war. It was a kind of a fun premise and we want to get back to that heart, humor and humanity. And we think we have a way to do that with this film. And I think that over time as films continue to build on themselves, you get a lot of action but you also want to make sure that you’re developing characters and story alongside of that and that’s what this intends to do.
Question: Is ‘Reboot’ the correct term?
Answer: I don’t think it’s a reboot because it is an alternative; a different chronology. So, rather than going to a sequel from what people had seen last time, this takes place in the 1980s. It’s a really fun era, people love the music, they love that time and place, and it was a great place to put Bumblebee because for our fans, everyone knows that the Transformers were originally created in the mid-eighties, so it gives you a chance to hearken back to the things that people loved about the brand. And a chance to enjoy the brand, kind of from the beginning again. But I wouldn’t really consciously go into it saying “Let’s reboot the franchise”. There wasn’t any of that. We just felt that the story naturally came as a result of some of the work that we have done.”
