Last week, when Paramount staked out annual dates for their next three Transformers films, we noted that some of those films would mostly likely be the spinoff films that were discussed last summer when the studio held a “writers room” style conference to map out the future of the franchise. Well, we are now learning that indeed one of those films is going to be a solo film featuring Transformers fan favorite Bumblebee.
The Hollywood Reporter is stating that the Bumblebee film is being scheduled for the June 8, 2018 release date that the studio has already planted a flag on. This will come a year after the currently in production, Michael Bay-directed Transformers 5 is released on June 23, 2017.
The trade also quotes Paramount chairman and CEO Brad Grey as saying –
There are characters in the Transformers universe that can be and should be made into their own movies. We will make the first movie with Michael and go right into a Bumblebee movie, which will be at a lower cost.
We’ve brought in a pretty strong writing staff run by Akiva Goldsman, and they have put together eight or nine interesting stories. So, between that group and [franchise executive producer] Steven Spielberg’s guidance on a story level, these characters are a big business for us to pursue.
There is still no word as to what story of those eight or nine mentioned by Grey the seventh Transformers film, currently scheduled for June 28, 2019, will be about. However there has been talk that one Transformers film in development is an animated “origins” story, so it is possible that could take that 2019 date. As it is, it looks as if the studio is gearing up to try and match Disney’s “a Star Wars film a year” franchise strategy.
