Michael Bay’s Transformers movies didn’t get much love from critics, but there’s no denying that they had a huge fanbase, with the director’s five installments earning almost $4.5 billion at the box office. However, after Bay’s The Last Knight massively under-performed commercially, earning $500 million less than predecessor Age of Extinction, it seemed as though the Transformers franchise had peaked in terms of popularity.
Travis Knight’s Bumblebee went down the prequel route, becoming the first entry in the series to receive widespread critical acclaim in the process, and due to the film’s strong performance at the international box office, a sequel was reportedly said to be in the early stages of development. However, according to sources close to We Got This Covered – the same ones who told us an Aladdin sequel was in the works, Bill Murray would return for Ghostbusters 3 and that Robert Pattinson had clinched the role of Batman, all of which turned out to be true – Paramount are set to hit the reset button and reboot the Transformers franchise entirely.
From what we understand, Michael Bay’s movies will be wiped from continuity completely, with the rebooted films launching an entirely new narrative on the big screen. To be more specific, our sources tell us that “they’ll focus on the Transformers in the 80s after Bumblebee and reboot it from there.” And while we don’t have any more details just yet, given that the plots of the first five installments are virtually incomprehensible anyway, it’s doubtful that many people will be mourning the loss of their favorite characters like Miscellaneous Evil Businessman #17, Stoic Military Guy and Loud Human Sidekick.
As is the case with much of his output, Bay’s Transformers were all style over substance, although Bumblebee went a long way to remedying this by featuring a story that had relatable characters and actual dramatic stakes. With 1980s nostalgia still currently all the rage, Paramount are also reportedly considering more faithful designs for the Autobots and Decepticons, which may have something to do with how well fans reacted to Bumblebee’s Cybertron-set prologue.
While it isn’t the most original idea to simply reboot a franchise when it appears audiences have lost interest, in the hands of the right filmmaker, Transformers could certainly turn out to be something special and once we learn more about the studio’s plans, we’ll be sure to let you know.
