New Years Message From Bay

Michael Bay has posted a New Years message for Transfans on his blog:

I want to thank Nelson for running such a good site!

For the millions of viewers that logged on this year I want to thank you for the support. Transformers 2 will be coming soon. The new robots are really really unique and there are a lot of them this time.

I WANT EVERYONE TO HAVE A GREAT HAPPY HEALTHY NEW YEAR.

Your friend,

Michael

More robots the merrier I always say. "Nelson" is site admin for Bay so good for "offical" confirmation of news and leaks.

On that note:
Happy New Years to all!

Transformers 2 Unslotted?

According to a Hollywood Reporter article, supposedly Transformers 2 is "as-yet-unslotted" film for Paramount Pictures and Dreamworks, counter to official statements from the companies and Michael Bay of June 24, 2009 being the intended release date for the film. This comes from an article about the success Paramount has had this year (in part thanks to Transformers) and year long rumors that Steven Spielberg (executive producers of Transformers) may be leaving Paramount owned Dreamworks.

So this article leaves the question, is the 6/24/09 date still a go? I say yes. The author (nor his editor) of the article was simply not up to date on the film and wasn't aware that a date had been announced. The current Writers' Strike and possible future actor or director strike may throw the film off schedule but its still too early yet for that to have occured. (source)

Transformers Animated Premieres Tonight

Just a reminder that Transformers Animated premieres tonight at 8:00PM EST on Cartoon Network in the US. I think the start date in Canada on YTV is January 5th or 6th on YTV but not 100% sure on that.

Transformers Bee-otch Lawsuit

With success comes lawsuits. At this point you can't call yourself a success until someone attempts to sue you for a piece of the pie. Now Transformers (the movie) can official call itself a success as the first lawsuit has come.

The lawsuit filed in Brooklyn federal court by Alia Madden claims copyright infringement for the use of a modified Bee-otch air freshener in the movie is somehow costing her business. She claims that people are refusing to buy her product because they think she stole the idea from Transformers. Her idea was from 2002. The lawsuit is asking for $850,000 in damages.

As far as a lawsuits go that is probably the most reasonable value heard in a while. Usually its millions and millions someone asks for. Also kind of annoying that something as simple as taking the Be-otch phrase, adding a "e", can make someone a ton of money. Anyway, I find it hard to believe that people are refusing to buy her product because they think she is ripping off Transformers. One, I doubt people memorize background dressing quite that well and also do people really "fact-check" product like that and then refuse to purchase something just because it might be used in a movie? I also find it amusing she accuses them of deleting her copyright notice. Because you can see those type of things in a movie. I don't know about you but I hit that pause button and zoom in anytime a product grabs my interest just to very its legit.

Anyway, the whole thing smells funky to me. On the other hand I am so sick of the MPAA/RIAA heavy handed tactics of late that I do get a little giggle out of one of their representatives being sued for copyright infringement. (source) (image)

Merry Christmas!

Just a post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or simply have a good and safe day. Below is video of Charlie Brown Christmas as performed by the cast of Scrubs. Because I like both.

Peter Jackson's The Hobbit Greenlit

Its not Transformers news but figured site readers wouldn't mind knowing.

Its official, Peter Jackson and New Line has worked out their disagreements and are now moving forward on The Hobbit, the prequel to Lord of the Rings. Actually the agreement is two Hobbit movies. The first based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien and the second serving as a bridge between the end of the Hobbit and the first Lord of the Rings based on the ancillary material in Tolkien's novels.

Jackson hasn't agreed to direct yet but I find it hard to believe he will not but the plan is to make both movies at the same time (similar to how the trilogy was done) starting in 2009 with release in 2010 and 2011.

The press release that makes it all official.

ACADEMY AWARD-WINNER PETER JACKSON AND NEW LINE CINEMA JOIN WITH MGM TO PRODUCE “THE HOBBIT,” EAGERLY-ANTICIPATED FANTASY ADVENTURE EPIC

NEW LINE AND MGM TO CO-PRODUCE AND SHARE WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS

PETER JACKSON AND FRAN WALSH TO EXECUTIVE PRODUCE TWO FILMS BASED ON “THE HOBBIT”

Los Angeles, CA (Tuesday, December 18, 2007) Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson; Harry Sloan, Chairman and CEO, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM); Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs of New Line Cinema have jointly announced today that they have entered into the following series of agreements:

* MGM and New Line will co-finance and co-distribute two films, “The Hobbit” and a sequel to “The Hobbit.” New Line will distribute in North America and MGM will distribute internationally.

* Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will serve as Executive Producers of two films based on “The Hobbit.” New Line will manage the production of the films, which will be shot simultaneously.

* Peter Jackson and New Line have settled all litigation relating to the “Lord of the Rings” (LOTR) Trilogy.

Said Peter Jackson, “I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is a legacy we proudly share with Bob and Michael, and together, we share that legacy with millions of loyal fans all over the world. We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth. I also want to thank Harry Sloan and our new friends at MGM for helping us find the common ground necessary to continue that journey.”

“Peter Jackson has proven himself as the filmmaker who can bring the extraordinary imagination of Tolkien to life and we full heartedly agree with the fans worldwide who know he should be making ‘The Hobbit,’” said Sloan, MGM’s Chairman and CEO. “Now that we are all in agreement on ‘The Hobbit,’ we can focus on assembling the production team that will capture this phenomenal tale on film.”

Bob Shaye, New Line Co-Chairman and Co-CEO comments, “We are very pleased we have been able to resolve our differences, and that Peter and Fran will be actively and creatively involved with ‘The Hobbit’ movies. We know they will bring the same passion, care and talent to these films that they so ably accomplished with ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Trilogy.”

“Peter is a visionary filmmaker, and he broke new ground with ‘The Lord of the Rings,’” notes Michael Lynne, New Line Co-Chairman and Co-CEO. “We’re delighted he’s back for ‘The Hobbit’ films and that the Tolkien saga will continue with his imprint. We greatly appreciate the efforts of Harry Sloan, who has been instrumental in helping us reach our new accord.”

The two “Hobbit” films – “The Hobbit” and its sequel – are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, with pre-production beginning as soon as possible. Principal photography is tentatively set for a 2009 start, with the intention of “The Hobbit” release slated for 2010 and its sequel the following year, in 2011.

The Oscar-winning, critically-acclaimed LOTR Trilogy grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide at the box-office. In 2003, “Return of the King” swept the Academy Awards, winning all of the eleven categories in which it was nominated, including Best Picture – the first ever Best Picture win for a fantasy film. The Trilogy’s production was also unprecedented at the time.

For more information about “The Hobbit” films, please visit http://community.thehobbitsite.com.

Transformers Short-Listed for Oscar Noms

Oscar's are coming next year and Transformers is already on the short lists for two categories for Visual Special Effects and Best Song.

According to Variety Transformers joins 14 other movies on a short list which will be reduced to 7 and then further reduced to the final 3. The whittling down process is that voting members have time to see the films before casting a vote, which is typically a problem for the Oscars where the voters don't really know anything about what they are voting for and so make choices either based on popularity or advertisments (hmm that sounds familiar). Visual effects specifically refers to computer generated or model work that is used in film. So for the Transformers, that work would be, well most of the film. For Die Hard 4, it might be the jet sequences which was a combo of real, CGI, and model work.

I guess the hope is that this will lead to a more solid line up of contenders rather then head-scratchers but then that doesn't explain some of the choices below. They all use VFX but to me the category should be about those that really use visual effects effectivily and move the quality bar a little further and of the list that is Transformers.

The entire list of 15 for Special Effects, in alphabetical order, is: “Beowulf,” “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “Evan Almighty,” “The Golden Compass,” “Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix,” “I Am Legend,” “Live Free Or Die Hard,” “National Treasure: Book Of Secrets,” “Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End,” “Ratatouille,” “Spider-Man 3,” “Sunshine,” “300,” “Transformers,” and “The Water Horse.”

For Best Song, the "short-list" is made up of 59 songs, one of which is "Before It’s Too Late (Sam and Mikaela’s Theme)” from “Transformers” by the Goo Goo Dolls. The complete list is here. From this list the final 3-5 songs will be chosen for Oscar contention. Hate to say it, but I don't think the song stands a snow balls chance. It was barely used in the movie (chords where used during the film) and it wasn't really all that impressive a song. Also its a big summer box office movie. Best Song nomonees rarely come from those.

Now remember this is just a short-list of possible Oscar contenders, not a finalized list of nomoniees for only those two categories. There are many other categories that its can still be nominated for. Usually the Oscars snub summer big boom movies for the main categories (those that air on TV) but they tend to get nominated in the technical rewards (effects, etc) so I wouldn't be surprised if Transformers gets a few more nominations in mid-January. (source)

Spielberg Out At Dreamworks?

The rumors continue that Spielberg may be outed from Dreamworks. The back and forth on this has been on going since Paramount bought the studio. It could become true as I am a bit surprised he is still around as usually when a corporation buys another they usually eliminate the top management, something not yet done by Paramount for Dreamworks.

"He's gone, and he's not going to be missed," one knowledgeable insider tells Radar. Word is, Viacom chief Sumner Redstone—who made headlines in 2006 for canning Tom Cruise after his off-screen antics became a liability—has struck again.

Later an update: Marvin Levy, spokesman for Spielberg returned Radar's call this morning and later got back to us to say: "This story is incorrect. Everybody who knows the DreamWorks deal and the Spielberg deal at Viacom knows that he is fireproof." Radar stands by its source.

If this rumor becomes fact, and when rumors like this stick around as long as this one has, there must be something fueling it, then the impact on Transformers is negligiable. He remain as executive producer, Bay and any other deals would remain in place and the movie would continue. I think the only real impact would be the loss of a buffer between the studio suits and production. Without Spielberg in that role and considering how important Transformers the franchise has become for paramount, the studio suits would be happily lining up to offer their (probably useless) input on the movie so can take credit for any success. So really the impact would be more headaches for Bay.

Thanks to Chris P. for the link.

Transformers: Animated Character Profiles

TFormers updated with more info on Transformers Animated, this time character profiles on many of the characters in the series.

AUTOBOTS
Bulkhead
Designed for demolition, Bulkhead is a one-bot wrecking crew. He's great in battle, but sometimes Bulkhead doesn't know his own strength. He may look like one mean machine, but he's really a softy at heart.

Bumblebee
Bumblebee is the youngest and least mature of the Autobots. He's a bit of a showoff and always acts on impulse. The fastest of the Autobots, Bumblebee is always rushing into situations without thinking.

Optimus Prime
Optimus is a young commander of the Autobots. He's a born leader who is humble, fearless, and friendly. Armed with a rocket-powered laser axe, Prime knows how to handle himself in battle.

Prowl
Silent and stealthy, Prowl prefers to let his actions do the talking. He's a natural spy that can infiltrate any location unseen and unheard. Prowl's jump jets allow him short bursts of flight.

Ratchet
He's short-tempered, grizzled and seemingly older than the AllSpark itself. Ratchet is the team's medic. He may be an expert healer, but his bedside manner is a bit rusty.

Sari
She's the outspoken daughter of the brilliant scientist Isaac Sumdac. Sari has a mysterious key that came from the AllSpark. The key gives her a special bond with the Autobots.

DECEPTICONS
Megatron
Megatron is the ruthless leader of the Decepticons. He demands unquestioning loyalty from those who serve him. Armed with a destructive fusion cannon, Megatron takes pleasure in the suffering of the Autobots.

Starscream
Megatron's scheming second-in-command would like nothing better than to take control of the Decepticons. Starscream's powerful nullray cannons and incredible speed make him a dangerous opponent.

Transformers Animated Episode Synopisis

From TFormers, below is the episode synopsis for the first season of Transformers: Animated. The season debuts in the US on December 26, 2007 at 8PM EST.

Episodes 1-3: Transform & Roll Out!
Optimus Prime & his small crew of Autobots come into possession of the AllSpark, a powerful Cybertronian artifact that attracts the attention of their long-forgotten enemies the Decepticons and sends them crashing to a strange & distant planet known as Earth. A three minute sneak peek can be found here.

Episode 4: Home is Where the Spark is
The Autobots settle into their new home base - an abandoned automobile manufacturing plant but the ancient assembly line machinery seems to have developed a mind of its own.

Episode 5: Total Meltdown
A bio-engineering genius experiments with some of Bumblebee's hydraulic fluid & accidentally transformers himself into Meltdown, whose corrosive touch can melt anything - including Autobots!

Episode 6: Blast From the Past
Professor Sumdac Upgrades a trio of animatronic dinosaurs from a local theme park, but the creatures develop minds of their own & become rampaging Dinobots, bent on destroying the Autobots.

Episode 7: Thrill of the Hunt
While Autobots encounter a mysterious muscle car creating havoc in Detroit, Ratchet keeps flashing back to his "tour of duty" in the Great Autobot-Decepticon Wars.

Episode 8: Nanosec
Bumblebee's self-proclaimed title as "fastest thing on wheels" is threatened by Nanosec, a super speedster crook on a deadly mission that could destroy all of Detroit.

Episode 9: Along Came a Spider
Bumblebee & Bulkhead's first Halloween turns even spookier when they encounter a giant spider that turns out to be the deadly Decepticon Blackarachnia.

Episode 10: Sound & Fury
Sari's new toy musical robot seems to have an evil streak - and the ability to control other machines - but Bulkhead is the only on who sees it.

Episode 11: Lost & Found
The Autobots clash with Decepticons Lugnut & Blitzwing, who come to Earth searching for their missing leader Megatron.

Episode 12: Survival of the Fittest
Sari is kidnapped & the evidence points to the Dinotbots. So Prowl & Bulkhead head to a mysterious island to investigate - with a highly suspicious Captain Fanzone on their tail.

Episode 13: Headmaster
A disgruntled Sumda employee seeks revenge & profit by taking control of one of the Autobots & sending him on a rampage.

Episode 14: Nature Calls
Prowl, Bumblebee and Sari get more than they bargained for when they head out to the remote woods to investigate a mysterious energy signal.

Episode 15: Megatron Rising, Part One
Prime begins to doubt his leadership abilities as the Decepticons mobilize for a big invasion of Earth.

Episode 16: Megatron Rising, Part Two
The Autobots are decimated by the Decepticon invasion, but still must rally to prevent the AllSpark from falling into their clutches.

Episode 17: The Elite Guard
The Cybertron Elite Guard arrives on Earth to retrieve the AllSpark & relieve Prime & his crew of their post, but they prove less than adept at blending in with the human world.

Episode 18: Return of the Headmaster
Optimus Prime is forced to team up with his rival Sentinel Prime after Sentinel has a humiliating - & potentially fatal - encounter with the Headmaster.

Episode 19: Mission Accomplished
Convince there are no Decepticons left on Earth, the Elite Guard prepares to take Optimus Prime & his crew back to Cybertron - unaware of the increasing Decepticon activity taking place under their very noses.

Episode 20: Garbage In, Garbage Out
AllSpark energy turns junk pile into a sentient robot who tries to help the Autobots, but ends up doing more harm than good.

Episode 21: Velocity
Investigating a mysterious race car, Bumblebee gets involved with an illegal underground street racing circuit, which also captures the attention of the Decepticons.

Episode 22: Rise of the Constructicons
Bulkhead befriends a pair of construction vehicles brought to life by AllSpark energy. But the Decepticons have their scanners set on the duo for their latest construction project.

Episode 23: A Fistfull of Energon
Prowl goes off on his own to capture the fugitive Starscream, but finds some competitions in the form of a Decepticon bounty hunter. Aided by a mysterious benefactor, Detroit's B-level villains team up to take down the Autobots once & for all.

Episode 25: Autobot Camp
On the trail of an escaped Autobot traitor, Bumblebee flashes back to a previous encounter with the traitor when he first met Bulkhead in Autobot Boot Camp.

Episode 26: Black Friday
Blackarachnia enlists Prometheus Black - aka Meltdown - to aid her with a dangerous experiment, while Prime & Dinobot Grimlock are force to team up to stop them.

Episode 27: Sari, No One's Home
Left along in the Autobots' home base, Sari must defend it against an intrusion by the Constructicons.

Episode 28: A Bridge Too Close, Part One
The Decepticons kidnap Bulkhead to aid in Megatron's ultimate plan to take over Cybertron.

Episode 29: A Bridge Too Close, Part Two
The fates of Cybertron & Earth lie in the balance as Optimus Prime & his Autobots battle Megatron & his Decepticons in a fight to the finish.

Transformers 2 On Schedule

Nelson, the site admin for Michael Bay's site, responded to Roberto Orci comments about Transformers 2 and the strike, "BTW, Bay just indicated to me that Transformers is still on schedule. The movie is still in heavy prep and 'will be released JUNE 24th 2009.'"

That is true, the strike is entering its 6th week and still plenty of time left. However, if the strike goes on to long and the actors and directors strike in June, all that changes. So hope things get sorted out before that happens.

Orci Comments on Strike, Transformers 2

Roberto Orci, one of the writers for Transformers 2, commented on Don Murphy's Message Boards about the strike and possible it may have on sequel.

An Apology (Strike Talk)

How are you?

As you know, all screenwriters are engaged in a labor dispute with the major studios and media conglomerates that subsidize much, but not all of the media content that we consume. It may go on for a very long time. All the other writers I've talked to on every level are ready to hold out FOREVER, all the while figuring out ways to make a living out of the internet without studios.

So now the hard part for me and Alex and Ehren and all fans of Transformers is that the movie may suffer (unless of course you hate the first one so much that you feel our inattention is a bonus). It may be pushed back or a host of other thing may happen to it. For that we apologize truly.

will keep you posted...

Later, in reference to a comment about scribbling down the occasional idea Orci said:

Even if we were doing that, we are contractually prohibited by the guild from handing those ideas in before the designated contract period of the initial deal. So if we signed the deal the day the strike started, we can't just hand everything in the day the strike ends. We HAVE TO WAIT the 14 weeks specified in the contract.

I have already analyzed the potential impacts the current and future strikes might have on Transformers here and here. Currently though its too soon to say if the strike will impact the release date or not. If an agreement between the studios and the guild isn't reached soon (say February to March) more then a few dominoes both related and unrelated to the movie may start to fall.

Michael Bay Comments on HD-DVD Again

Michael Bay has previously expressed his displeasure (before changing his mind) over Paramount's decision to go exclusive to HD-DVD (thanks to a $100 million payday from unknown source). He commented again on the issue on his official forums in a response to a poster blaming Bay for going to HD-DVD (even though he had no say on the matter).

What you don't understand is corporate politics. Microsoft wants both formats to fail so they can be heroes and make the world move to digital downloads. That is the dirty secret no one is talking about. That is why Microsoft is handing out $100 million dollar checks to studios just embrace the HD DVD and not the leading, and superior Blu Ray. They want confusion in the market until they perfect the digital downloads. Time will tell and you will see the truth.

Bay

Interesting theory. To a degree the theory is correct but Microsoft is just one player in the game and I don't think download services is the end game. Its way to early to declare a winner. In hardware sales, Blu-Ray is winning but only because the PS3 is included. Also, ironically because of Transformers, the HD-DVD has enjoyed sales that have proven it could be viable in the market, the same way 300 did that for Blu-Ray. Basically its way to early to call a winner in the format wars.

As for why there is a format war comes down to the usual reasons - money. Lots and lots of money. The studios and various tech companies have each chosen sides on the HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray battle mostly because the winner will have a lead on the next format and the financial boom that could bring while the losers will experience a temporary loss in customer confidence and idle products while transitioning to the winning format.

A large part of the equation is patent ownership and related license fees. If you are one of the 17 patent owners for Blu-Ray (CyberLink; Dell; Hewlett-Packard; Hitachi; Koninklijke Philips Electronics; LG Electronics; Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic); Mitsubishi Electric; Pioneer; Samsung Electronics; Sanyo Electric; Sharp; Sony; TDK; Victor Company of Japan; and Warner Home Video) then that means you are not paying a license fee and anyone of those companies wants to use the technology must pay a fee and possibly percentage of their profits to those companies. All this means greater profits. Also why PS3 is Blu-Ray based. On the HD-DVD side, the patent owners are Toshiba and LG who in turn inked a deal with Microsoft to develop the technology. Which is why the XBox 360 supports HD-DVD.

As far as the downloading of movies, not so much. The United States is actually behind most of the westernized worlds in delivering of high speed Internet and getting further behind. The telecoms don't want to pay out to update the infrastructure (which would have to be fiber optics) preferring government pay for it. Not such a big deal accept the average file size of good old fashion DVD is around 6 gigabytes. The average Blu-Ray file size is around 27 gigs and HD-DVD its around 20 gigs. To download just one movie on the current infrastructure would take days. I don't see the average consumer willing to do that. It will probably be 5-10 years before downloading Blu-Ray/HD-DVD quality movies over the Internet has the possibility of becoming commonplace assuming that infrastructure gets built.

All the talk about formats, it all comes down to storage capacity which is what all the format talk is about. The max capacity of a CD is 700mb, DVD is 8.5GB, HD-DVD is 51GB and Blu-Ray is 50GB. As the tech gets tweaked more then likely the numbers will climb for Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. The greater the storage capacity, the more detail per pixel and sound quality can provide. That was a reason why DVD's can only do so much, the simple lack of storage capacity to cram in all the data needed to give that high definition picture. Keep in mind, the technology is very new. That means that there is a learning curve to maximize the storage capacity for the greatest performance, something I don't think either format has achieved yet. A handy comparison chart is here that to me helps illustrate that to vaunted differences between the two formats is highly dubious at best and the race in quality is dead even.

Nope the grand conspiracy is simply about profit margins and patent ownership. Those that win the format wars stands to gain the most for the healthy lead it gives them. In my opinion, the format war will end a draw with the formats merging so that any player can play any format. The only real deciding factor on who wins will ultimately be sales of the discs and prices of the hardware which Blu-Ray is falling behind on.

Jazz Returns for Sequel?

Could Jazz, the Transformers ripped in half and declared dead by Ratchet, return? That is suggested in an article on BlackAmericaWeb.com with Darious McCrary who voiced Jazz.

Last summer, McCrary starred as Autobot Jazz in the 4th of July blockbuster "Transformers" and is currently in talks to return for the sequel.

"That was something I grew up watching, so to be a part of that was exciting," said McCrary.

McCrary says he was honored to be chosen as the first voice actor to take over the role of Jazz since the original voice, venerable actor Scatman Crothers, died in 1986.

"It was kind of cool because -- I know this may sound crazy -- when I was actually filming, I really did feel Scatman's presence," he said.

I suspect its more a bit of miscommunication. Not because I wouldn't mind the return of Jazz but with all the characters that are available to tap, why bother wasting story time to bring the character back. (source)