TRANSFORMERS 6 Will Be a Cheaper Bumblebee Spinoff

A few days ago, word came out that Paramount had pencilled in release dates for three more Transformers films over the next three years. This shouldn't have surprised anyone, because if you've been paying attention, you know that Batman & Robin writer Akiva Goldsman led a writer's room last year that produced enough ideas to generate more Transformers films for the next ten years. Michael Bay is returning to direct Transformers 5, which hits theaters on June 23rd, 2017 and sees Mark Wahlberg returning to the role of the inventor/mechanic he played in Age of Extinction, and now we know that at least one franchise character will make it to Transformers 6: the radio-voiced yellow speedster Bumblebee.

As Paramount CEO Brad Grey told THR:

“There are characters in the Transformers universe that can be and should be made into their own movies,” Paramount Pictures chairman and CEO Brad Grey told The Hollywood Reporter. “We will make the first movie with Michael and go right into a Bumblebee movie, which will be at a lower cost.”

Bay claims he won't be coming back for another movie after T5, so it looks like the studio will need to find a different (cheaper) director to tackle this Bumblebee-centric spinoff. Get used to it, because regardless of Bay's involvement, these movies are not going to stop any time soon. Grey continued:

“We’ve brought in a pretty strong writing staff run by Akiva Goldsman, and they have put together eight or nine interesting stories,” said Grey. “So, between that group and Steven Spielberg’s guidance on a story level, these characters are a big business for us to pursue.”

After the utter embarrassment of a movie that was Age of Extinction, I think I'm pretty much done with live-action Transformers movies. Unless they bring in a really interesting filmmaker to tell a story that's wildly different than anything Bay has done, I'll be perfectly content missing out on the rest of the entries in this film franchise. I know 100% that I won't be going to see Transformers 5, but I'll leave the door barely cracked for the possibility that they might be able to lure me in with a tantalizing hire for future movies down the line.