While each new Transformers causes critics to grind their teeth and hide behind their sofas, movie fans can’t seem to get enough. The four films currently in the franchise have made nearly $1 billion a piece. We already knew there was going to be a Transformers 5 but get ready for even more giant robot action, as Paramount just announced release dates for numbers six and seven, as well.
According to the studio, the next three Transformers films will be released at a rate of one per year beginning in 2017. Transformers 5, which had originally been planned as a 2016 release, is now set to break on June 23, 2017. Transformers 6 will hit June 8, 2018, and Transformers 7 will follow on June 28, 2019.
While you would think that planning that far out would be a safe bet, the current Hollywood landscape practically requires studios to plan this far out. As it stands, Transformers 5 will be opening on the same day as Warner Brother’s standalone Wonder Woman and number six will be going up against Godzilla 2 Do you prefer your giants destroying things to be robotic, or organic?
Michael Bay has said he’ll be directing Transformers 5, but that it would be his last film in the series. However, he also said that the last film we saw Transformers: Age of Extinction was the beginning of a new trilogy. If that’s the case, then this slate of release dates will finish off the second trilogy, and then possibly start a third. There's no guarantee these three are the end.
This trilogy release date announcement follows on the heels of a similar move from Universal, which recently set the dates for three more movies in the Fast & Furious series. While the next film in that series will also bow in 2017, they’re looking to only release their movies every other year, which will keep their series going until 2021.
It will be interesting to see if Warner Brothers blinks and looks at moving either Godzilla or Wonder Woman based on this move. We’ll know by the end of this summer just how popular the DC comics universe is for movie fans. If it’s big enough, they may be able to make Transformers change its mind. When Disney made the decision to push back Star Wars: Episode VIII, it resulted in a number of dominoes falling over that made significant changes to the release calendar for the surrounding year. How much faith does each studio have in their own franchise?
Are you excited to see three more Transformers movies on the schedule or is that many movies planned out this far in advance too much of a mediocre thing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
