Michael Bay Wants To Direct A ‘Transformers’ Spinoff, Just Can’t Quit The Franchise
The firstTransformersfilm came out ten years ago, and ever since, directorMichael Bayhas been threatening to walk away from the franchise. It’s a tale as old as time: boy meets intellectual property, a boy blows stuff up in a movie based on said intellectual property, boy gets huffy about returning for the sequel, the studio offers boy money, boy caves and directs sequel. Rinse, wash, repeat.
Now he’s at it again. After hinting that the upcomingTransformers: The Last Knightwould be his final time behind the camera in this series, Bay says he wants to direct one of the14Transformersspin-offs that are currently in development. So let’s run through the greatest hits of Bay’s love/hate relationship with these movies, and then speculate about what a Michael BayTransformersspinoff could be.
Why Can’t He Quit This Franchise?
I won’t pretend to know what’s in the man’s heart and mind, but money can be very persuasive, and Bay has made alotof it during his reign as the king of theTransformersfilms. The director made $80 million on the backend from the first film alone, anda 2009 Forbes articlereported that Bay was second only to George Lucas when it came to lucrative toy deals: Lucas made 15% onStar Warstoys, and in ‘09, Bay got 8% of toy sales tied to theTransformersmovies. I can only imagine his fortune has increased dramatically in the past eight years.
But putting the monetary aspect aside, it’s probably tough for the filmmaker who launched such a mega-successful franchise to simply walk away after being the singular visionary behind it for a decade.
A History of Bay’s Threats to Leave
What Could The Michael Bay Transformers Spinoff Be?
It’s too early to know for sure which spinoff Bay wants to tackle, but in the interview withMTVin which he mentioned 14 movies are in the works, he did say, “I would like to do one of them though. ATransformersspinoff.”
Of the options Peter laid outin his article this morning, I have to assume Bay would be the most interested in aTransformersspin-off set in ancient Rome. He’s shown an affinity for traveling through time in these films, revisiting the moon landing inDark of the Moonand going back to mythological Arthurian England andWorld War IIinThe Last Knight. Ancient Rome doesn’t seem too outlandish, especially in a franchise as ridiculous as this one.
What do you think? Do you want to see a Bay-directedTransformersspinoff?
