Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner, through the company's 2015 first quarter earnings conference call, confirmed that Transformers 5 is happening. However, fans will have to wait until 2017 before the film is released.
Transformers community website TFW2005 listened in at the conference call, wherein Goldner confirmed certain rumors being floated around regarding the Transformers movie franchise.
In the conference call, Goldner confirmed that Akiva Goldsman, known best for winning the Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards in 2001 for A Beautiful Mind, has been hired to lead several writers to create a strategic plan for the Transformers franchise.
"We think there are any number of stories to be told from the brand that has been around for 30 years with amazing canon and mythology," Goldner said, before adding that the sequel to Transformers: Age of Extinction could be expected by 2017.
Goldner's statements contradict a previous one made by Paramount Pictures that the next installment in the Transformers franchise will be in 2016, though that information has been deemed inaccurate by producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura.
It seems that Hasbro and Paramount Pictures are now looking to build an entire cinematic universe based on Transformers, similar to what Marvel has done.
The last Transformers movie, Transformers: Age of Extinction, was released last year. The film became the first one in 2014 to rake in $1.091 billion at the box office despite little critical praise. The first four movies in the franchise were able to make a total of $3.7 billion.
Michael Bay, the director of the first four movies in the franchise, previously said that he would like to focus on other projects, which means that he might not be back to helm Transformers 5. However, Transformers: Age of Extinction stars Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz and Jack Reynor will likely be back, as the trio has been pegged as the new faces of the film franchise, replacing Shia LeBeouf. However, given the recent announcement, it is still possible that Hasbro and Paramount Pictures could take an entirely different direction for Transformers 5 with a different storyline and new characters.
Understandably, not much is yet known regarding Transformers 5 and the cinematic universe that is being created for the franchise, save for the very broad release date of 2017 for the next installment. If Bay does decide to hold out from directing Transformers 5, Goldsman and his team's efforts would be the first step to landing another director for the film franchise.
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