From “Toy Story” to ‘80s action figures, it appears that Josh Cooley just can’t keep his hands out of the toy box, as the filmmaker has just signed on to direct a new animated “Transformers” feature film.
According to Deadline, Cooley has signed on to helm an animated “Transformers” prequel film that will focus on the origins of the Robots in Disguise. Cooley has been brought on by Hasbro’s entertainment studio eOne and Paramount to tell a story of the relationship between the Autobots’ leader Optimus Prime and his nemesis Megatron. The untitled prequel film is said to be set on the robots’ homeworld of Cybertron.
The new film is co-written by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari. Previous to this, the duo helped write Marvel Studios’ “Ant-Man” and are credited for helping on “Ant-Man and the Wasp.” The “Transformers” prequel film is said to exist in a separate universe from the live-action film franchise that has already earned billions of dollars for Paramount and Hasbro.
As mentioned, Cooley is probably best known as the filmmaker behind “Toy Story 4,” which recently won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. He also has an extensive career working with Pixar, so his animation pedigree is pretty incredible. He’s also not the first animation director to recently step into the “Transformers” universe. For the “Bumblebee” live-action spin-off film, “Kubo and the Two Strings” director Travis Knight stepped up to the plate and delivered what might be the best live-action “Transformers” film of the series.
READ MORE: ‘Bumblebee’: ’80s Nostalgia Fuels A Comeback For The ‘Transformers’ Series [Review]
Obviously, “Transformers” has its origins in the animated sphere, starting as a TV series in the ‘80s. And over the decades, the franchise has continued to exist in some form in animation, most recently with a streaming series that is now on Netflix.
There’s no release date set for the “Transformers” prequel, but Cooley is said to be overseeing the latest draft of the script currently.