A few years ago it was looking like every single Hasbro game or toy that ever existed would become a movie, with Transformers tearing up the box office, Battleship in production, and Ouija, Stretch Armstrong and Candy Land movies all in the works. These days the situation is a lot quieter-- Universal killed the Ouija movie and abandoned Clue, and Michael Bay seemed pretty certain that the third Transformers would be his last.
But you know what Michael Bay is not? An idiot. And therefore it's no real surprise to hear from Hasbro (via THR) that they are in active discussions with Paramount, Bay and Steven Spielberg to make a fourth Transformers movie. Of course, Bay is probably only involved in this as a producer, but thats still probably fine with him-- he doesn't just get a cut of the movies that succeed, but of the Transformers toys themselves, which means there's a lot in it for him if the franchise keeps going.
Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner discussed a few other things in the conference call, including reasserting plans to make Stretch Armstrong and Candyland movies, and mentioning that the Micronauts toys are getting their own movie, with a script being written for J.J. Abrams and his crew at Paramount. It's unclear exactly how involved Abrams is with that, but don't get too excited. And I wish someone on the conference call had brought up Abduction, the first star vehicle for Stretch Armstrong lead Taylor Lautner that landed with a thud last month. Isn't it worth at least asking if Lautner's diminished star power is slowing that movie down?
I guess the big takeaway, though, is that we're far from done with Transformers, and that Bay will continue to be involved with them to some extent. Honestly, if they're going to keep the franchise alive, that's the only option that makes sense-- Bay has put his mark on the Transformers movies as much as Hasbro did in creating the toys, and it's hard to imagine them without them. Of course, it's easier to imagine them just going quietly into the good night, but come on, there's way too much money in it for that to ever happen.
