After three films that have grossed over $2 billion combined worldwide, Michael Bay plans to bow out of the Transformers franchise after the release of the upcoming fourth installment. This is, of course, not necessarily the first time he’s said such a statement. While on Dark of the Moon press tour, he stated he was done with the trilogy, but money calls.
The Transformers movies have had their fair share of controversy (including accusations of racism) over the years, but no one can deny the impact they have had on popular culture, for both better or worse. In May, a 3D theme park ride opened at Universal Studios, and a new video game is due later this summer.
Bay has claimed that the upcoming Transformers sequel will serve as a franchise reboot, and a possible jumping off point for yet another trilogy, much to the chagrin of cinephiles hoping more blockbusters based on original concepts would actually be on the horizon. It is hard to be considered quality in the first place when you’re idea is based off of a toy, but it is very possible that Bay could have some storytelling ambition for the first time in a long time, as crazy as it may sound. However, he could be going to back to something ambitious, as he’s currently wrapping up production on one of his comparatively “smaller” films, the action thriller Pain & Gain with Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson, due out next year.
Check out the full quote from Hero Complex below.
There’s plenty more Transformer action to come with a major new video game release, “Transformers: Fall of Cybertron,” due in August and another Bay movie in the works. (The director, by the way, says that the fourth film will include some redesign of the robots and an entirely new cast. He also said it will be his last and set the franchise up “for the next guy.”)
Is there anyone out there who is excited about the prospect of more Transformers movies? Do you believe that Bay leaving the series could actually do good for it?