1) Michael Bay is in discussions with Paramount to direct a new Transformers film from a script written by Jordan VanDina (Animaniacs, Dodgeball 2).
2) Josh Cooley (Transformers One) is signed to direct a live action movie
3) The G.I. Joe/Transformers movie is still a possibility.
4) There are two other movie ideas being explored.
None of this has been confirmed by anyone that isn't in the Hollywood gossip business.
From Puck News as transcribed from Seibertron:
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 have a problem believing these rumors. The Hasbro Transformers license apparently does have a clause that Paramount has to have a movie in production (vs released) every five years or lose the license. Transformers One finished production in 2024 so that means they have until 2029 to get something going. Something as complicated as Transformers need lead time but not four years of it. There is a clock but there is also no rush.
Now if the last three movies killed it at the box office that would be one thing but they didn't. It was a series of diminishing returns where the movies might have made a small profit or broke even.
Not making enough money wouldn't necessarily prevent another movie. In this case part of the reason the movies kept coming is the risk was being split between Paramount and Hasbro.
That will no longer be the case as Hasbro is under financial strain due to over all toy sales, including Transformers, dropping quarter after quarter. They announced late last year that they are no longer co-producing any films so the risk is now 100% on Paramount.
This by itself is pretty normal for movies except Paramount is not exactly on financially strong grounds either. Add to that it is stuck in merger limbo waiting on approval from the US government to merge with Skydance. It seems like a franchise as expensive and previously important to the company as Transformers would be waiting on new owners to dictate its future.
Result is timing wise this news makes no sense to me but Hollywood does beat to its own drum so who knows for sure. Guess will fine out for sure eventually.
