The much anticipated Transformers spinoff finally has a director that can hopefully steer the Bumblebee-centered story to success. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kubo and the Two Strings director Travis Knight will be the man in charge for the high-profile, universe-expanding flick. While Knight is a talented animator, the Oscar-nominated Kubo was his directorial debut so the choice could be risky for Paramount. It follows in the footsteps of other green directors being given the keys to the Ferrari after only proving them once or twice and it could go well (Colin Trevorrow directing Jurassic World and Star Wars: Episode IX) or downright terribly (Josh Trank directing Fantastic Four).
There are upsides and downsides to this choice, even beyond Knight’s relative inexperience. Josh Spiegel, Editor-In-Chief of Movie Mezzanine, said it best on Twitter on Thursday night when he outlined some concerns about the hiring.
https://twitter.com/mousterpiece/status/837474041631891457
https://twitter.com/mousterpiece/status/837474354258558977
https://twitter.com/mousterpiece/status/837478996153552898
Laika, of course, is the studio where magical and truly breathtaking projects like Kubo, The Boxtrolls, ParaNorman, and Coralineare allowed to flourish. Those four films are the studio’s only output, and based on the effort it takes for each one to come to fruition the profit margins aren’t exactly overly impressive. One of the studio’s biggest rising stars leaving to take on a lengthy directorial project for Paramount isn’t the best writing on the wall for the small but mighty Laika.
Or, this could just be a well-deserved and successful transition to live-action directing for Knight and he could go back to animating something else beautiful right afterwards.
Bumblebee’s big solo adventure is expected to arrive in theaters early in the Summer of 2018.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
