Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner made a presentation at last week’s 2015 Global Consumer Conference and took some time to discuss the future of the Transformers movie series. Long story short, there will be more. A lot more! Not content with a new film in the franchise every three years, they’re now looking to pull a Star Wars and start slotting spin-offs and origin stories into the mix. Via TFW2005.com:
“As we go forward, we would imagine several more Transformers movies. Not just in the current lineage but also spinoffs and focusing on certain key characters that a beloved by the world over. Many of you know Bumblebee; the yellow Camaro… formally [sic] known as a yellow VW Bug and he is a beloved character by kids all over the world. We could see stories told around Bumblebee and other characters. We are in a process of building the brand equity around the Comic Book Business, our TV Business, our Digital Gaming Business and adding to that our new movie business of Transformers“.
…
“We don’t pay to produce the Transformers movies. For us it’s really a reputational risk, it’s not a financial risk. Obviously they (Paramount) performed incredibly well”.
Well, that’s one way of looking at it. The Transformers movies continue to perform very well on a financial level, with the last two pulling in a billion dollars each. But they’ve been critical flops, with Rotten Tomatoes rating them at 35 percent and 18 percent fresh, respectively. So, I guess it comes down to whether Hasbro wants movies that have a reputation for being good or a reputation for making money.
Why not both? Can a series of terrible movies spawn a quality spin-off? I can’t remember it ever happening, but at least Paramount is pulling together some experienced hands to give it a try. Via ComingSoon.net:
The new writing team currently includes The Walking Dead and Invincible creator Robert Kirkman, the Iron Man writing pair of Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, Fringe and Lost scribe Jeff Pinkner, X-Men: The Last Stand and The Incredible Hulk‘s Zak Penn and Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari, a duo that worked together rewriting Marvel’s upcoming Ant-Man. I Am Legend‘s Akiva Goldsman will lead the group, each member of which was selected by Bay and fellow producers Steven Spielberg, and Lorenzo di Bonaventura.
Meanwhile, Transformers 5 rolls on with Mark Wahlberg starring and Michael “‘Splosions” Bay in the director’s seat, all but guaranteeing the main Transformers films will be more of the same overwrought, overlong ridiculousness we’ve come to expect from the series. I’m sure the next one will make an extra half billion dollars, too.
Source: TFW2005.com
