Paramount Turned Down Pitch For 'Transformers'/'G.I. Joe' Crossover

We live in an age where studios are looking to forever expand their franchises outward, and the next big step will be crossover movies. Paramount is certainly getting prepared, setting the wheels in motion last year on a Hasbro cinematic universe that will include G.I. Joe, Micronauts, Visionairies, M.A.S.K., and ROM in a series of interconnected movies. However, the studio’s big blockbuster baby remains “Transformers,” which is getting another installment, with plans for more sequels and spinoffs down the road. It’s a remarkably healthy franchise, but at one time, there was some consideration given to crossing it over with the less successful “G.I. Joe” movies.

Director D.J. Caruso, who was once attached to a mooted “G.I. Joe 3” that at one time was scheduled to be released in 2016, tells Collider that one of his initial ideas involved bringing the Real American Heroes in touch with Autobots and Decepticons.

“…they’re not ready to do [G.I. Joe meets Transformers] yet. That’s exactly what they should do but they’re not ready to do that because in fact the script that I was developing, the two worlds sort of collided at the end and when they read it they were like, ‘We’re not ready to do this yet.’… They will eventually collide those two worlds and it’s probably when [Michael] Bay decides he’s done with Transformers,” the director said.

“It came close but I think what the studio was trying to do was reassess it and so now they’re back to the drawing board, and we’ll be talking again about it. It’s a valuable franchise—[it’s] not that they didn’t get it right, they just wanna really get it right and see if they can push it to the next level,” Caruso added.

It makes sense that when “Transformers” movies are now hauling in a billion dollars each time out at the box office, you don’t dilute the brand by tossing in something else. But as Caruso suggests, it’s probably an inevitability that at some point, the two properties will collide as they have in the comics and elsewhere.

Thoughts? Should these two brands rumble in the same frame or would it just be a mess? Let us know in the comments section.