OK, lets give at least a little bit of credit to the “Transformers” writing room, if only for being an experiment much more interesting than we expected. Turns out they paid a lot of writers a lot of money not to write a bunch of movies, but to sequester themselves for several weeks and refine pitches for possible “Transformers” sequels, prequels, spin-offs, and connected movies. Hey, at least its a different approach, and Hollywood generally doesn’t shake things up like that.
The dream team of writers — the ensemble includes producer/writer/“showrunner” Akiva Goldsman, Robert Kirkman (the creator of “The Walking Dead”), Zak Penn (“Pacific Rim 2”), Steven DeKnight (“Daredevil” season one showrunner and “Spartacus" creator), Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (“Iron Man”), Christina Hodson (the new "Fugitive" movie), Lindsey Beer ("How To Nail An Alien"), Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari (“Ant-Man”), Jeff Pinkner (“Lost,” “Amazing Spider-Man 2”), Ken Nolan (Black Hawk Down"), and Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Black List script “Hibernation”) — bounced ideas off the wall to see where the franchise would go next. The results?
READ MORE: ‘Transformers’ Origin Movie Could Be On The Way
Two movies are moving forward, and five out of nine pitches look like possible movies. The downside is the Spielberg/Bay/et al. braintrust have come upon the idea that the "Transformers" expanded universe isn’t as vast as they originally anticipated, but they still have lots of ideas to go forward with.
So what do they have? First and foremost, a “Transformers 5," which Goldsman himself will write and Michael Bay will direct (so much for ‘Age Of Extinction’ being his last in the franchise).
Idea two comes from “Ant-Man” writers Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari (they don’t have a credit, but they apparently contributed to the Marvel film). They will write an animated movie centering on the planet Cybertron and shows the origin of both the Autobots and Decepticons.
Evidently there’s also a working idea for a sixth “Transformers” film, to follow the fifth upcoming movie, that will again feature Mark Wahlberg, and will be the last one that Michael Bay directs (never say never — he said that one about that last movie, obviously).
Now, will any of these movies be good, especially considering that ‘Age Of Extinction’ was one of the more critically reviled movies of 2014? But let’s be honest, with a $1.4 billion gross worldwide, it doesn’t really matter. [Deadline]
Update: Michael Bay says he’s not yet committed to ‘T5.’
Re: directing TF5. No, it’s not official. I have not committed to any idea as of yet. Just met with Steven and we are discussing.
— Michael Bay (@michaelbay) September 17, 2015
