Just like Warner Bros would love to tie Christopher Nolan in to a 20-year film contract, tying him up for the rest of his career to make Batman movies that keep churning in the millions - likewise in an ideal world Paramount would be happy to keep throwing $200 million every two years to Michael Bay for his loud, offensive, totally mindless CGI robot battling fests. Paramount couldn't care less that critics loathe the franchise, or that Bay is of such Internet fanboy ridicule he is almost seen as the anti-christ of the summer blockbuster, as long as his films keep raking in the cash. In just 8 days Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has passed $200 million domestically and is very close to $500 million worldwide. That is phenomenal stuff. His films could score 0% on Rotten Tomatoes and the studio couldn't give two stuff's because like it or not, the film industry is a BUSINESS and the bottom line always wins. But just like Nolan has told WB he won't direct anymore Batman movies after The Dark Knight Rises, Bay has likewise hinted that the third movie in the Transformers series might be his last. Indeed it looks like he is taking on the low-budget movie Pain & Gain next, ending his six year association with the series that has made him a very, very rich man indeed. Also Shia LaBeouf has seemingly had enough of the series too, and now this week Hollywood's favourite franchise word has been making it's way around town. That of the 'reboot'. Could the retcon button be pressed on Transformers like it was Star Trek and James Bond? It seems not... Swiftly pouring cold water on that over-used problematic get-out maneuver has been Transformers producer Don Murphy who writes on his message board that it just ain't gonna happen;
What happens next? Certainly not a reboot... We havent lost the Transformers. They didnt grow up or become expensive like Toby Maguire . I dont know what happens next. Im pretty sure there will be a second trilogy. I am pretty sure it will kick ass. And I am pretty sure some of you will hate it because it wasnt all bots.
What we can take from the Tobey Maguire comment is that Paramount basically see Shia LaBeouf as unimportant to this series and if he wants to move on, they will let him go, just as quickly as they did Megan Fox. The selling point here is the robots and they can quite easily find any fresh face they want to carry on this series because they will never grow older or demand more money. Hell, even Patrick Dempsey could sell it and there's been quiet rumours lately of Jason Statham taking over the mantle. Like the Planet of the Apes saga in it's heyday, the actors aren't the selling point. So the second trilogy that Murphy speaks of probably hints at a new director taking over but I imagine they won't look much further than the McG's of this world who can basically turn in the same old, same old. They aren't going to go out there and hire a visionary like Guillermo del Toro and unless producer Steven Spielberg decides he wants to have a go with the characters (which may not be as far fetched as you might imagine, he was attached to a movie titled Robopocalypse last year, so interest is there) then don't get your hopes up for what a Transformers 4 might look like. Transformers 4 will happen, probably in 2013 or 2014. And it'll be what you guys have been paying to see for the past six years. And don't be surprised if Michael Bay does a U turn when he looks at his bank account and realises just how much money he can make by doing another movie...