Next week, the Transformers film series is continuing with the prequel spinoff Bumblebee, but the future of the franchise after that is shrouded in mystery. Earlier this year, it was rumored that Paramount Pictures was going to reboot the robots in disguise, although the report was debunked days later by a Hasbro executive. Transformers producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura has now confirmed that a reboot isn't on the way, though there are still changes in store for upcoming Transformers movies. Di Bonaventura said:
Reboot, I always hate that word because for one, I'm not sure I really understand what it means. We are going to do another big Transformers movie. It is going to be different than the ones that we've done before.
Although the Transformers movies have usually been box office heavyweights, last year's Transformers: The Last Knight only made $605 million worldwide, making it the lowest-grossing entry of the franchise. Couple that with the poor reviews (though admittedly, the Transformers movies have never been critical darlings), and it's understandable why the producers are interested in making a course correction. Lorenzo Di Bonaventura described these upcoming changes as an evolution, though noted the difficulty of keeping the elements that fans love without giving them the same kind of product over and over again, which results in boredom.
During his interview with Slashfilm, Lorenzo Di Bonaventura also mentioned that Bumblebee is the key to the future of the Transformers movies, as it showed you can take this franchise in a different direction in terms of scale and tone. Di Bonaventura continued:
I think we've learned something in this movie about tone that I would think the next big Transformers movie is going to have. It's not like we're going to copy it but we've learned something. There's more freedom than I think we originally thought in terms of what we can do.
Of course, if the Transformers franchise were to press the reboot button, it would leave the main film series on a cliffhanger, as The Last Knight ended with Quintessa having survived and, in human form, offering to aid a group of scientists with destroying Unicron. However, Lorenzo Di Bonaventura isn't as concerned with wrapping up that particular plot thread, noting that he's not a fan of Unicron. That's not to say the character won't appear again, but the main concern is simply making sure future Transformers movies are good.
Although Transformers 6 was originally originally dated for June 28, 2019, it was taken off the calendar back in May, leaving it unclear when the next main Transformers installment would arrive. Judging by Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, fans don't need to worry about the existing cinematic continuity being wiped away, but rest assured, there will be a variety of creative shifts to ensure that this franchise keeps going.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates concerning the entire Transformers franchise. In the meantime, Bumblebee, which is winding the clock back to 1987 and showing the eponymous yellow Autobot arriving on Earth for the first time, rolls out into theaters on December 21.
