New Transformers Movie In Development Separate From Main Franchise

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Paramount is developing a new Transformers movie that is separate from the main franchise. The first live-action Transformers movie came out in 2007. That film went on to become very successful, making over 700 million dollars at the box office. Since then, the Transformers franchise has gone to become a global phenomenon that has spawned 5 sequels and now 2 spin-offs. Michael Bay directed and produced the first 5 movies, while Laika's Travis Knight directed Bumblebee.

This popular series has produced huge hits like 2014's Transformers: Age of Extinction, which made over 1 billion dollars at the box office. Unfortunately, its follow-up movie, Transformers: The Last Knight, made much less with a little over 600 million dollars at the box office. The 2018 movie, Bumblebee, made even less with 469 million dollars. These declining sales made some critics suggest that maybe audiences were finally tired of the franchise.

However, now THR is reporting that Paramount is still developing more Transformers movies. This new film will take place separately from the established Michael Bay series. Marco Ramirez, the showrunner of Netflix’s Marvel show, The Defenders, will write the script. Manuel Soto, of Charm City Kings, will direct. As of now, little is know about the plot of the film. Paramount is also still making a seventh Transformers movie that will be directed by Creed II's Stephen Caple Jr.

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With two Transformers movies now in development, this signifies that Paramount is still committed to the brand despite declining interest. In today's Hollywood, franchises and recognizable IP is everything. It is what studios are bidding more for just to have on their streaming services. Franchise movies, after all, still dominate the box office compared to original fare. Paramount does not have as many of these megalith brands that competitors like Disney and Warner Bros. have. Transformers is one of the few huge IPs that Paramount does own, which is likely why the studio will not allow the brand to die out anytime soon.

Hiring Ramirez, Soto, and Caple also shows how Paramount is beginning to work with more diverse voices behind the camera. This comes as more and more studios seek diversity within their projects after years of controversies over the lack of representation from diverse creators in Hollywood. It is great to see a major studio like Paramount attempting to fix this issue and seek more representation behind the screen as well as on camera. The new Transformers movie would be the first in the series to have this kind of diversity, and it will interesting to see how they perform at the box office going forward.