Michael Bay will return for TRANSFORMERS 4 in 2014.

Michael Bay will return for TRANSFORMERS 4 in 2014.

During the press rounds for TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, director Michael Bay and star Shia LaBeouf both made it clear that they would not be returning for another installment of TRANSFORMERS.  That of course was prior to T:DOTM taking the summer of 2011 by storm and racking up an impressive $1,123,746,996 in world wide gross which brought the trilogy’s world wide gross profits to a staggering $2,669,760,469.  Back in July, we reported that producer Don Murphy had taken to his own message boards to talk about the future of TRANSFORMERS.  By his own words, we already knew we were in for more Cybertronian movie magic, but as to who would helm and who would star, nobody at that time knew for sure.

Fast forward to now and we can now shed some light on what is to come.  What we do know is that Michael Bay will indeed return after he has finished directing his small film, PAIN AND GAIN starring Dwyane Johnson and Mark Wahlberg about the true story of some Florida bodybuilders who went on a crime spree.  Will Shia return?  That is not known for now.  There have been tons of rumors about Jason Statham taking over, but even he has shot down those rumors.  You know, put a man’s girlfriend in a flick and all of a sudden, he becomes the future star of the franchise.  He is dating Rosie Huttington-Whiteley for the uninformed.

The one thing that stands out to me from an interview that MTV did with Lorenzo di Bonaventura is that this will be a sort of a reboot yet it will retain continutity with the first trilogy.  What that means, according to di Bonaventura, is that there will most likely be a lot of new cast and new robots, with some carrying over from the original like Optimus Prime and Bumblebee so this will not be a reboot in the sense of this summer’s THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.

“I think the challenge there is we really are going to do a reboot,” producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura says of the next film in the “Transformers” franchise.

You can read the official press release from Paramount Pictures below.

HOLLYWOOD, CA (February 13, 2012) – Paramount Pictures announced today that director Michael Bay has signed a two-picture deal with the studio, which will commence this spring with the filming of “Pain and Gain,” and will be followed by the next installment in the hit “Transformers” franchise.

Based on a true story, “Pain and Gain” follows a group of bodybuilders who engaged in a campaign of kidnapping, extortion and murder in Florida. First told in an article from the Miami New Times, “Pain and Gain,” will be directed by Bay and will star Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Expected to begin production in early spring, the movie’s producers include Bay, Donald De Line and Ian Bryce.

Following “Pain and Gain,” Bay will bring audiences a new take on the “Transformers” franchise as he begins production on the fourth installment in the hit series of movies based on the best-selling Hasbro toyline. The third, and most recent installment of the franchise, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” is the fourth highest global grossing film of all time with 1.24 billion dollars of worldwide box office success. Directed by Bay, the movie will re-unite the filmmaking team from the hit franchise, including producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Don Murphy, Tom DeSanto and Ian Bryce; and executive producers Steven Spielberg, Bay, Brian Goldner and Mark Vahradian. Paramount Pictures will release the film on June 29th, 2014.

“Michael has been working on PAIN AND GAIN for a number of years but has patiently waited for the perfect casting to trigger a start,” said Adam Goodman, President of Paramount’s Film Group. “Clearly his patience has paid off as we couldn’t be more excited about this combo. His passion for this project is just awesome.”.

TRANSFORMERS 4 is set to hit theaters on June 29, 2014.

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About the Author

Jim is an avid movie enthusiast, representing the general movie going audience, looking at movies for their entertainment value as opposed to their critical weight. He enjoys the escapism that movies provide. He is a fan of all genre's of movies, but gravitates toward comic-based movies, summer "popcorn" flicks and over-the-top comedies as his preference.