The Energon Pub

The news has been breaking sporadically as whispers in Hollywood have finally gotten loud enough for us to get an idea of what is happening with the Transformers film franchise. After the poor performance of Transformers One, Paramount decided to not continue with sequels to that film. However, they are still actively developing multiple live action films.
- The GI Joe Crossover movie is still on the table, with a writer attached but no director.
- There is a live action film that Michael Bay is developing with Jordan VanDina, where the former would be directing and the later would be scripting.
- Paramount is also in talks with Josh Cooley, the director of Transformers One, to direct a live action Transformers film.

Those 3 different projects are all being developed at the same time, along with a few other rumoured Transformers projects which we have no info on. This comes to us from Puck News which is the only independent Hollywood news outlet (Variety and Deadline and the others all share the same sources and are owned by the same enterprise). The Michael Bay news was further corroborated by Jeff Sneider through his own sources.

We want to be very clear here, although the goal is of course for these movies to be made, these are all still at the development stage. With Transformers One, we first had news of this stage in 2018. So this will take time to happen and may not even happen, there is no confirmation of any project greenlit aside from the GI Joe crossover, though that too may never see the light of day. Also, Paramount has to have a film in active production by 2029 or else they lose the license. Below is the full reporting from Puck News on the matter.

Bay misses the ’bots (and the megabucks): Did you know that Michael Bay is developing a new Transformers movie at Paramount that he wants to direct? Bay, the auteur of explosions and up-skirt shots that defined the first five mega-grossers, had sworn off directing the franchise since his Shia LaBeouf–free Transformers: The Last Knight earned just $600 million in 2017—big, but about half the gross of the previous installment.(Paramount also tired of his astronomical fees.)

Yet the franchise has atrophied without Bay, and he himself has not reached those box office heights since—even complaining recently about not being able to get movies greenlit.

Bay approached the studio last year to come back as a hands-on producer and possibly director, and he’s got writer Jordan VanDina working on a script. It’s one of five or so Transformers projects in development that David Ellison and Skydance will inherit if/when the Paramount sale closes.

Josh Cooley, who made last year’s animated Transformers One, just closed a deal to pursue a live-action take. There’s also a possible G.I. Joe/Transformers crossover in development, and the studio has two separate ideas in early stages.

Hopefully the Bay project will come together; it really is the perfect match of filmmaker and material. And Paramount can take its time. The studio keeps the rights as long as a movie is in production by 2029.

I had less interest than paramount in transformers one or any sequels. I'd take them over another baynus universe film though :/ oh well.

I really hope this pans out because I’d love to see another Bay Transformers movie! The post-Bay films have just not hit the same.

I just hope Bay really wants to come back this time, AOE and TLK are super fun but it didn’t seem like the passion was there like it was for the first 3. Curious to see where this goes but I’m excited!

Transformers One failed their financial expectations because of unfortunate competition and especially bad marketing. (Heck, the latter was the chief reason I decided against watching it in the movie theater.)

Maybe not shoot yourself in both feet this time, Paramount?

I actually would like to see Bay finish the 2nd trilogy.

. . . because he just hasn't done enough brand damage already. I guess he's figured out a new way to contradict all the other movies that contradicted each other. I certainly hope Bumblebee will be back to talking through his radio until he doesn't for no apparent reason and back to the radio for the sequel because that wasn't annoying at all.

The first Bayverse movie was fun just for the novelty and the very first live-action spectacle. But it quickly became tiresome, crass, and predictable. I thought the whole reason why Bay left in the first place was because audiences had gotten tired of his boom-boom, camera-orbiting, bathroom-humor, cardboard cut-out approach to film-making. So what exactly about that has changed?

.....................No!

Just no.

There's plenty of potential with the right storylines. It's all about balance. And no misleading trailers!

snavej wrote:There's plenty of potential with the right storylines. It's all about balance. And no misleading trailers!

Dude.

It's Michael Bay.

Brokebot wrote:

snavej wrote:There's plenty of potential with the right storylines. It's all about balance. And no misleading trailers!

Dude.

It's Michael Bay.

He can change his approach if he wants to. He's not stupid.

snavej wrote:

Brokebot wrote:

snavej wrote:There's plenty of potential with the right storylines. It's all about balance. And no misleading trailers!

Dude.

It's Michael Bay.

He can change his approach if he wants to. He's not stupid.

No, but he IS Hollywood arrogant, which is worse.

I may strongly dislike Bay's style - +1 to everything Death said above, really - but it's very much his style and it's hard to argue it hasn't been very successful for him. Why would he see a need to change?

'Why would he see a need to change?'

If there are significant changes in the attitudes of the audience. He would follow the money.

snavej wrote:'Why would he see a need to change?'

If there are significant changes in the attitudes of the audience. He would follow the money.

You seem to be ignoring the current movie industry modus operandi: if your movie fails, it's the stupid, racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, fascistic, poorly educated audience's fault. Therefore, double down on everything people disliked and expect better results. Disney, Lucasfilm, Marvel, and practically every other studio has been burning money with their ideological blowtorches for the last decade with no sign of stopping. Warner Brothers is $50 billion in the hole. Paramount is trying to sell itself off to Skydance. There are more people watching Youtube videos mocking Star Wars than there are watching the actual content that's getting mocked. Hollywood does not learn from its mistakes, it blames us for them.

Let's be honest. The normies no longer give a crap about cinematic Transformers, and there aren't enough of us to make it profitable. TF1 was proof of that.

Brokebot wrote:You seem to be ignoring the current movie industry modus operandi: if your movie fails, it's the stupid, racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, fascistic, poorly educated audience's fault. Therefore, double down on everything people disliked and expect better results.

... lolwut.

This is literally never the industry's response.

Glyph wrote:

Brokebot wrote:You seem to be ignoring the current movie industry modus operandi: if your movie fails, it's the stupid, racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, fascistic, poorly educated audience's fault. Therefore, double down on everything people disliked and expect better results.

... lolwut.

This is literally never the industry's response.

Every Marvel movie and Disney+ Star Wars show since the girl power scene in Endgame says otherwise. If "the industry" had the capacity of the direction change you think it does, WB and Paramount wouldn't be swirling the toilet now. It is literally their ONLY response.

Yeah no, I'm not doing this again. Feel free to spend some time with google or, y'know, just listen to any actual creative talk about trying to get things approved by executives. Especially over the last eight months or so, for some reason.

If you want to talk about the actual topic, fine, but I'm not going to debate readily available facts.

Glyph wrote:Yeah no, I'm not doing this again. Feel free to spend some time with google or, y'know, just listen to any actual creative talk about trying to get things approved by executives. Especially over the last eight months or so, for some reason.

If you want to talk about the actual topic, fine, but I'm not going to debate readily available facts.

Feel free to point out my factual inaccuracies, but the studios' financial disasters are well documented and public record, as is the media's coverage and blame assignment to the mean ol' bigoted fan bases. I will give you the point about executive decision making. It's why we'll never see anything original anymore. If it isn't a prequel, sequel, reboot, remake, or spin-off, it's not likely to ever see the light of day.

We have entered the entertainment wasteland.

At this point, if TFOne's sequel is not gonna happen, I'd rather see TF sleep for a few good years (like, not before 2030's) at the box office unless:

Some non-Paramount studio is taking over,
+ Get Cooley's, and if possible Knight's, teams on the script & direction,
+ if Bay wants to get involved, he can have all the action sequences,
+ Simplify the bots' junk to BBM's level. Make them recognizable. Keep the cast small to save on CGI budget.
+ Tighten the script - don't leave too much plot holes, retcons and/or open-ended stuff like Bay did.

This is what seems to work.