Age of Extinction may have brought another billion dollar boon to Paramount’s lucrative Transformers franchise, but perhaps the more intriguing development to emerge from the series over the past two years is news of the studio hatching a star-studded writer’s room, with everyone from Zak Penn and Christina Hodson to Lindsey Bee and Osacr-winning scribe Akiva Goldsman dabbling with Paramount’s juggernaut.
Fast forward to today and we’re now beginning to see the fruits of that labor, with The Hollywood Reporter bringing word that the studio has nailed down release dates for a new Transformers trilogy over the next three years.
[zerg]As many had already anticipated, Michael Bay will take point for Transformers 5 when it blasts into theaters on June 23, 2017, quickly followed by new installments on June 8, 2018 and June 28, 2019. No word yet on whether Bay will return for each new chapter in the rebooted trilogy, though we imagine Paramount will set up production on Transformers 6 and 7 simultaneously given the accelerated timeline.
Announcing not just one, but two sequels beyond Transformers 5 is a bold statement of intent – particularly for a franchise that has for so long teetered toward franchise fatigue. Even still, by aligning the three new installments back-to-back-to-back, Paramount will surely bring in some fresh blood to shake up the franchise. Not only to reflect the diversity of ideas that have been hatched in the writer’s room, but to give Michael Bay the chance to finally – finally – pass down the torch once and for all.
