Transformers Transformers Universe

[Gabe99]

Paramount Appoints Akiva Goldsman As Its New TRANSFORMERS Czar!

Goldsman has a long and illustrious history of writing ****** tentpole movies. If you're a longtime reader of AICN, you've got to be excited that he's re-teaming with his old BATMAN & ROBIN buddy di Bonaventura on a whole slew of potentially awful TRANSFORMERS movies! This franchise is a license to print money for Paramount, so I can't fault them for bringing in the ultimate company man to protect one of their most valued assets. If they're smart, they'll cram the writer's room with a bunch of young, fanfic-happy screenwriters, pay them in toys and cackle all the way to a $1 billion worldwide gross. This is what the TRANSFORMERS franchise deserves. Bon appétit, mother****ers.

Paramount Enlisting Akiva Goldsman To Ramp Up ‘Transformers’ Output

EXCLUSIVE:
Paramount Pictures wants more Transformers. Taking a page from Fox’s incubation of three Avatar sequels and what Disney is doing to revive Star Wars with a sequels and spinoffs, the studio is negotiating with Akiva Goldsman to work with franchise director Michael Bay, exec producer Steven Spielberg and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura to organize a “writer’s room” that will incubate ideas for a potential multi-part Transformers sequel, and come up with potential spinoff films based on the billion-dollar franchise culled from the Hasbro toy line.

 

[Gabe99]

Paramount Hires ‘Fringe’ Writer To Turn ‘Transformers’ Into A Marvel-Like Cinematic Universe

It’s hard to say if there’s enough in the Transformers universe to warrant such expansion, but Latino-Review’s El Mayimbe offered this tidbit on Twitter when the news broke:

Here is a free tidbit, one of the TRANSFORMERS ideas they're spinning around has one of the films taking place all on CYBERTRON.

A Cybertron-set film could be cool, as it would take the franchise in a new direction it desperately needs to go. Then again, if the new writers room mandates every new film must contain Optimus Prime and other tired plot points, then all of this will have been pointless.

 

[Octoberist]

My issue is that there's no real characters in the franchise.

Bay looks like he's still involved for whatever reason, and his take on his franchises is so date: We don't need a human cypher. For the spinoff, I don't want to follow Marky Mark's neighbor 10 miles away, with his team of bots.

Trust the audience. Let the Transformers be the main characters. Give us their perspective because being CGI props.

After the new Apes movies, along with 'Guardians' people can accept these sort of characters as...characters, not just for quipping during CGI battles.

 

[Lord]

Bay's involved because he was one of the main reasons the film series has been this popular, yeah, the brand was always going to be successful, but Bay's style did bring some more "wow" factor due to the action and special effects, in least for the first 3 films, which always had some kind of hyped set piece. The 4th film had a cool first trailer, but even with the Dinobots, it didn't seem to be as talked about as the other 3 films.

I could see them being able to pull of a prequel, maybe even a Prequel Trilogy (focusing on the early days of Sentinel Prime training Optimus, Megatron being corrupted by the fallen, Fallen making a deal with Sentinel, an explanation about why Optimus has a face taking fetish, etc) but how can they pull an expanded universe with this? All the movies are going to be about the same, it would work better for them if they simply decided to connect TF with TMNT and G.I.Joe, Paramount has those franchises and they kinda have the same tone, with TMNT being produced by Bay himself and G.I.Joe already being rumored as having a crossover with TF.

If i was at Paramount and wanted to milk all of these properties here's what i think would be the best strategy:
-Just finish this new trilogy, if necessary, you could even milk the 6th film for all that's worth and turn it into a two-part Finale.
-Keep making a TMNT movie every two years and market it very well, so that kids will keep flocking to see those things, witht he cartoon also maintaining the strength of the brand. If you can, maybe start trying to deliver some better scripts, if the films stop making money, then a positive critical reception could bring in some interest back, but that's most likely not gonna happen for as long as Bay's team controls the project.
-Make a G.I.Joe film every 3-4 years, bring Channing Tantum back and make one of the next films seem like an event, as you have both him and the Rock starring in the last stand against Cobra.
-Once the TF Sequel "Trilogy" is over, do a prequel trilogy focusing on the past of Optimus Prime, etc. and at the same time, you do a Transformers/ G.I.joe Crossover.
-Then some time after, you insert the TMNT in there too.

I think that's the best way you could make an expanded universe with TF, this would give a boost to the 3 franchises involved and then they could start seeing which characters they could spin-off in order to expand their universe.

Either way, the reception of these properties has been terrible, they realy need to start investing more on quality than simply fast action, if this goes on, they may end up pulling an Amazing spider-man 2 and have to reboot before they even finish this new storyline of theirs.

 

[Gabe99]

‘Ant-Man’ Scribes Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari Join ‘Transformers’ Writers Room: Cybertron Pic In Offing?
I’m hearing that one of the ideas in the works has a working title of Transformers One

EXCLUSIVE:
Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari, who spent half a year doing the production rewriting on Marvel’s Ant-Man, have become the latest to join the Writer’s Room that Paramount Pictures and director Michael Bay have organized to hatch sequels, prequels and spinoffs on their billion dollar Transformers franchise. I’m hearing that one of the ideas in the works has a working title of Transformers One, and that it is more or less an origins story that takes place on Cybertron, the planet where the good guy and bad guy robots hail from. Those talks originated with rights holder Hasbro. I’d also heard that this might be an animated feature, but that Barrer & Ferrari are also going to the writer’s room with the expectation they’ll write a live action Transformers movie, as well. Paramount insiders said that they haven’t gotten that far on the specific projects, but I am told this is the plan. A Cybertron movie sounds like fertile ground for a feature, to me.

The goal is to have a sequel ready for when Bay completes directing the Benghazi drama 13 Hours, and other projects to come right behind that one. The Transformers mythology is deep enough to sustain this, I’m told, so it might well turn out to be a smart play for Paramount, which needs big pictures. Transformers: Age Of Extinction was last year’s most profitable blockbuster, as named in Deadline’s analysis.

 

[Lord]

That makes it seem like Bay will come back for TF 5. Would make sence though, he keeps Directing the main instalments, while the studio tests other Directors with spin-offs.

 

[harryoscop]

Now Transformers is going for the "shared universe" angle...

EVERYBODY is trying to cash in on The Avengers success..

First WB with the DC Cinematic Unverse (which is great, because they can actually compete with Marvel and they have a vast amount of characters cross them off)

Then Fox with the X-Men Cinematic Universe

Then Sony with their Spider-Man Cinematic Universe (which thankfully backfired, seriously who cares about SS with no set up?)

Now Universal trying to revive their Monsters shared Universe

And NOW Transformers is trying create a shared universe....

Can't Studios come up with any original ideas instead of aping other Studios?? it's getting so annoying to hear someone trying to create a shared movie universe every few months..

 

[Lord]

There's also that planned Robin Hood shared universe...

After what happened to SONY, i think studios should be more careful, forcing a cinematic universe may just hurt how much their films can make. The Transformers films for example get a lot of advantage for playing like "cinematic events", but if you turn that into an annual thing, it will lose its effect.

 

[titansupes]

Any further word on all this? First thing that's interested me about the TF franchise since like 2007!

 

[TheVileOne]

To me, there is no shared Transformers universe. It's just Transformers. To me a shared universe would be bringing things like Transformers and GI JOE together.

The way they've set up these movies, I don't see how it is possible. But I guess we will see.

 

[Gabe99]

Hasbro Confirms Transformers 5, 6, 7 And 8 Live Action Movies
In fact, the whole idea of having a Writers’ Room is to generate stories till 2025.

 

[Gabe99]

Actually, Hasbro's been trying to fold these two into the Transformers franchise - Rom got converted into an Autobot for an unproduced Bot Shots toy a couple years back (right down to the store registry listings before the line ended identifying him as ROM THE SPACE KNIGHT), and at their recent Investory Day Hasbro just announced that they've got plans to incorporate Micronauts into the TF brand (complete with preliminary promo art of Movie Optimus holding what's clearly Acroyear and a couple other people in his hand, and a small pic of what MAY be a new Biotron figure on their slideshow - so that may end up coloring any attempt at bringing these characters to the screen.

At the very least, Marvel may own the Spaceknights as a concept, but not the character who spearheaded them, so if a ROM movie gets made I'm not sure it'll sport that much resemblance to Marvel's version of him. And if Marvel ever does a Spaceknights movie, Rom probably won't be one of them (heck, Marvel couldn't even use him about a decade ago when they did that SPACEKNIGHTS mini - they had to give him a now-grown son as the protagonist and couldn't even refer to Rom himself by name).

Newsarama 17 November 2015:
Report: TRANSFORMERS & MICRONAUTS To Crossover

At its annual Investor Day presentation (via TF2005), Hasbro reportedly revealed that the Transformers and Micronauts franchise will be crossing over in a new "initiative." No details outside of the crossover itself and a graphic were stated according to TF2005, but it's described as a new brand by Hasbro.

Seibertron February 18th, 2014:
ROM The Spaceknight Coming to the IDW Transformers Universe?

 

[Gabe99]

Akiva Goldsman ‘Transformers’ Writers Room Leads Paramount & Hasbro To Set One For ‘G.I. Joe,’ ‘Micronauts’

EXCLUSIVE: After their Akiva Goldsman-led Writers Room experiment led to at least three movie ideas to extend Transformers, Hasbro and Paramount have set Goldsman to supervise a Writers Room for their G.I. Joe movie series. And they will go the same route with Goldsman to draft ideas for the Hasbro property Micronauts, with Goldsman supervising that as well. This change of duties means Goldsman will supervise but won’t write the next Transformers installment. Paramount is now negotiating with Writers Room participants Art Marcum & Matt Holloway (Iron Man) and Black Hawk Downscribe Ken Nolan to write the script together. That course change was cemented by Paramount, Hasbro, Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg and producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Don Murphy.

The Writers Room experiment was hatched as a way to inject the collaborative exchange of ideas that happen in the development of TV shows to flesh out theTransformers universe and create a steady flow of product after Transformers: Dark of the Moon grossed $1.12 billion. Among those who took part were Christina Hodson and Lindsey Beer, Barrer & Ferrari, Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), Zak Penn, Jeff Pinkner, Steven DeKnight (Spartacus creator and Daredevilshowrunner), and Geneva Robertson-Dworet.

 

[Duke]

If this involves more of Michael Bay & his version of Transformers, I'm not interested.

 

[Gabe99]

io9:

Yes. You read that right. A movie about Transformers in Ancient Rome. If they do not fight for the entertainment of the masses in the Coliseum, it will be a travesty.

Empire has a story out about the writer’s room that has been assembled to keep Paramount in Transformers scripts for centuries to come. Via the Transformers fan site Transformer World 2005, we now have this information:

A Bumblebee spinoff, conceived and written by Christina Hodson, is being directed by Kubo and the Two Strings’ Travis Knight for a 2018 release. Set in the 1980s, it will feature significantly fewer Transformers, concentrating on the big, yellow star (who in the movies so far can only talk in snippets of radio broadcasts) and likely pitching a little younger, tonally. Also coming is an animated prequel about the origin myth of the Transformers’ home planet Cybertron, written by Ant-Man’s Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, set billions of years ago. And discussions have been had about one set in Ancient Rome.

Empire Magazine Article On Transformers Cinematic Universe

You may remember that Empire promised us an article on Transformers Cinematic Universe Writers’ Room. The article is out now and 2005 Boards Member Temenos was kind to scan it for all of us to read.

To sum things up:

• Michael Bay met with the writers of TFCU during the principal photography of 13 Hours: Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi.

• Ken Nolan, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway wrote the story for Transformers: The Last Knight.

• Every iteration, every era was considered for the Cinematic Universe.

• The story of TLK is a combination of Nolan’s pitch on a story based on Transformers and King Arthur and Marcum/Holloway’s story based on World War II. However, the article states that three stories were consolidated into the movie.

• The Bumblebee Movie story is set in 1980s.

• The Bumblebee Movie will have less robots and the main focus is [obviously] Bumblebee.

• The tone of The Bumblebee Movie is pitched for the younger audience it seems.

• An Animated prequel is in the works. The story takes place in Cybertron regarding the origin myth of the Transformers millions of years ago. Ant-Man writers are working on the project.

• Transformers movie set is ancient Rome is also in the works.

• You can read more via the attached scans on this news post.


P.S: Additionally, we’ve included an image of the 6 Editors working on the new movie to be delivered in less than 5 weeks.

 

[Gabe99]

Collider 07/31/2017: ‘Bumblebee’ Spin-off to Open Same Day As ‘Aquaman’
‘Bumblebee’, is set for release on December 21, 2018.

Hasbro confirms new Transformers animated movie and TV series

During its annual Media & Investor Day, Hasbro has confirmed that an animated Transformers feature film is in development for theatrical release, as well as a new animated series to follow Transformers: Robots In Disguise.

The theatrical film, the first since 1986’s The Transformers: The Movie, will reportedly explore the origin myth of the Transformers and will take place within the continuity of the live-action movie series. Hasbro also intends on releasing a theatrical animated movie each year, based on properties including Transformers, My Little Pony and Stretch Armstrong.

According to TFW2005, the new animated series will be titled Transformers: Cyberverse, and is a “redux” of Transformers G1, with a first season arriving in 2018 followed by a second in 2019.

Next up from the Transformers movie franchise is Transformers Universe: Bumblebee, which is set for release on December 21st 2018.

 

[Gabe99]

AICN March 27, 2015:
Paramount Appoints Akiva Goldsman As Its New TRANSFORMERS Czar!


Deadline March 27, 2015:
Paramount Enlisting Akiva Goldsman To Ramp Up ‘Transformers’ Output

Collider August 2, 2017:
Akiva Goldsman Done with ‘Transformers’; Alex Kurtzman May Exit ‘Dark Universe’ Franchise

Cinematic universe writers rooms were supposed to be the answer to crafting reimagined mythologies for massive, unwieldy properties like Transformers and Universal’s monster movie-verse, “Dark Universe.” The idea was to bring together talented, creative, and experienced screenwriters in order to hash out a framework for years upon years of major feature films, all connected through a central brand, theme, or intellectual property; this would also allow for diverse points of view and styles for the final films themselves since they weren’t beholden to one singular creative vision. While that may work in some instances (the early days of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, for example), it’s clearly not a cure-all. Relatively poor box office and critical performances for both Transformers: The Last Knight and The Mummy may have the studios rethinking their writers room experiment.

Transformers was humming along just fine as a multibillion-dollar franchise until Paramount Pictures decided to take a page from the Golden Age of Television and put together a writers room to expand the brand’s mythology, one that was headed by Oscar-winning writer, Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind). But with Transformers: The Last Knight currently occupying the worst opening weekend, the worst domestic tally, and the worst international total by far among other Transformers films, it’s little surprise that Goldsman appears to be done with the franchise.

/Film had a very brief chance to chat with Goldsman during the ongoing TCA 2017 event and ask him if he was still involved with Transformers. His simple answer? “No.” While Transformers: The Last Knight was the first product of Paramount’s writers room, the next project is the standalone Autobot film Bumblebee, directed by Travis Knight of LAIKA fame and opening opposite Warner Bros.’ Aquaman (for the moment) on December 21, 2018. Christina Hodson (Shut In, Unforgettable) holds the sole screenwriting credit for that film, and we’re hoping something more focused than Transformers: The Kitchen Sink arrives for that telling, one that should be a slam dunk.

Universal Pictures is struggling with their own writers room, one that was supposed to kick off in spectacular fashion with Alex Kurtzman‘s The Mummy, anchored by Tom Cruise and bolstered by Russell Crowe, Annabelle Wallis, and Sofia Boutella. (Fun fact: I’m one of the very few people in the world who actually enjoyed The Mummy and the direction they looked like they were taking Dark Universe. ¯_(?)_/¯ ) IGN caught up with Kurtzman, also a former Transformers writer, to ask about his future with Dark Universe:

“You know the truth is, I don’t know. I really don’t know. I haven’t really decided. Is the honest answer. I have to stay interested in it. I have to feel like my passion is there for it. I think … if your passion isn’t there you shouldn’t be doing it.”

Perhaps the withering critical reception has taken some wind out of Kurtzman’s sails. After taking in a disappointing $79.7 million at home for a respectable, but by no means preferred, total of almost $400 million, The Mummy is not the Dark Universe start that Universal was looking for. That’s a problem. This isn’t just one film’s critical and financial failure, but the unsteady foundation of what’s intended to be an entire cinematic universe. Universal’s been down this road before with films like 2004’s Van Helsing and 2014’s Dracula Untold, both of which failed to ignite a franchise. Are audiences just tired of classic monster movies, or is it just that these attempts have been a mess?

I think it’s the latter, but that might not change anytime soon. Since China accounted for nearly 25% of the total box office, there’s the potential for future Dark Universe films to be tailored to their market. Kurtzman dodged a question along those terms:

“It’s hard for me to know, is the truth. I think every movie will be different. I certainly know that the legacy of the monsters have endured across the world throughout the years. Almost a century. So I have to believe American audiences will find it too with the right ingredients.”

Call me crazy, but perhaps a cinematic universe based on classic monsters and steeped in horror history should, I dunno, return to horror roots. I enjoyed The Mummy as a nonsensical action-adventure spectacular, but the parts where it blazed ever so briefly were the moments of horror: When Ahmanet is attempting to recoup her strength, she and her newly resurrected followers have a delightfully gruesome appearance, design, and way of moving. It was but a glimmer of past horror films, but it’s something the Dark Universe could build around if they choose to do so. Whether or not they’ll do it with Kurtzman on board remains to be seen.

 

[Gabe99]

Deadline November 3, 2017:
Paramount And Hasbro Seal New Deal For Production & Distribution

Paramount Pictures and Hasbro, Inc. will team to produce and distribute content based on Hasbro brands, as well as original stories. The pact was announced today.

The two companies will collaborate on live action and animated films, with Hasbro’s Allspark Pictures and Allspark Animation playing an active role alongside Paramount Pictures in development and production.

The new deal expands upon the existing relationship between the two companies that’s resulted in five Transformers movies, two G.I. Joe films, and the first Transformers spinoff, Bumblebee, set for a December 2018 release.

“Paramount has been a valuable partner of Hasbro’s for more than a decade, and we’re looking forward to taking our relationship to the next level,” said Brian Goldner, Chairman and CEO, Hasbro. “Storytelling, in its many forms, is revolutionizing our business and differentiating Hasbro in all sectors where we operate. We look forward to collaborating with the talented team at Paramount to create powerful new stories for kids, fans and families globally.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Paramount and Hasbro will partner on financing projects at varying levels of investment, and Paramount will distribute the projects produced during the pact’s five year term worldwide. Paramount and Hasbro will also collaborate on television programming.

“Hasbro has an enormous array of exceptional brands, so this expansion of our relationship is incredibly exciting,” said Paramount Pictures Chairman and CEO, Jim Gianopulos. “We look forward to working with Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis and the Hasbro and Allspark teams to create extraordinary film properties for all audiences.”

Hasbro recently hired Greg Mooradian as president of Allspark Pictures, with responsibility for live action film and television. Allspark Animation, the company’s label for animated film and television content, is led by Hasbro’s Meghan McCarthy. Hasbro acquired Boulder Media in 2016, a leading
animation studio based in Dublin, Ireland, to produce its television and film animation.

Hasbro Studios, its distribution arm which the company founded in 2009, distributes TV and digital content to more than 190 territories globally. The entertainment division reports to Hasbro’s Chief Content Officer, Stephen Davis.

Varitey 11/03/17:
Paramount, Hasbro Sign Five-Year Distribution, Production Pact

The move comes as newly minted Paramount Chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos is looking to rejuvenate the studio after a bruising period at the box office. Gianopulos replaced Brad Grey as studio chief last spring. In recent years, the studio has suffered a string of commercial disappointments, with the latest “Transformers” film, “The Last Knight,” underperforming at the box office. Other recent movies such as “Baywatch” and last weekend’s “Suburbicon” failed to resonate with audiences. Gianopulos has made several notable moves since taking the reins, extending a partnership with key financial partner Skydance Media and convincing “The Fast and the Furious” producer Neal Moritz to come to the Paramount lot.