‘Transformers’ Franchise Embarking On A New Course With ‘Creed II’ Director Steven Caple Jr.
At the beginning of the year, Paramount Pictureshired two different writersto pen two differentTransformersscripts that would be developed concurrently.Joby Harold, who wroteKing Arthur: Legend of the Sword, was one of the writers hired to pen a new installment of the franchise, and now that project is looking to bring inCreed IIdirectorSteven Caple Jr.
The Hollywood Reporterhas news on the nextTransformersmovie in the works at Paramount Pictures. Steven Caple Jr. only has two feature films on his resume: his breakthrough indie projectThe Land, and theRockyspin-off sequelCreed II. The latter was a solid sequel to the rejuvenatingCreed, but many felt it didn’t quite measure up to the greatness that director Ryan Coogler brought to the franchise. But even so, it proves that Caple Jr. can craft a serviceable sequel with established characters.
Even though Steven Caple Jr. is now boarding the project, we still know next to nothing about what this movie will be. The report mentions that Paramount Pictures is charting a new course for the series, but we’re not sure if that means this is a hard reboot that ignores the rest of the movies, or a soft reboot that picks up sometime after the events ofBumblebee, a movie which somewhat rebooted the franchise by taking the story back to the 1980s and using the original G1 character designs.
When the two newTransformersprojects were announced, it was said that Paramount Pictures wanted them to “build out multiple arcs and to also expand theTransformersuniverse.” That presumably means that any of the human characters previously introduced would have been left behind. While one of the scripts was said to be set in the same universe as the previous movies, the other was said to be a “grand-scale reimagining.” And here’s where things get confusing.
The other script being written byJames Vanderbiltwas said to be based onTransformers: BeastWars, with a story set in the future of the “original"Transformerscontinuity and followed the clash of the Maximals and the Predacons, descendants of the Autobots and Decepticons. So if theBeast Warsmovie is set in the future of the “original"Transformerscontinuity, then that could be the one set in the same universe as the previous movies. That would mean Harold’s script could be the “grand-scale reimagining,” and we could be heading into total reboot territory.
TheTransformersmovies already have quite the convoluted timeline, especially when it comes to their history with Earth. So all of this confusion is par for the course with the franchise. Keep in mind that in addition to these two movies,Toy Story 4director Josh Cooley is stillworking on an animatedTransformersfilmfocusing on Cybertron and the origins of the war between the Autobots and Decepticons. And that’s separate from the rest of theTransformersmovies.
Obviously theTransformersfranchise is a high priority for Paramount Pictures, and it’ll be interesting to see what they do with these characters after relying on the universe that Michael Bay built for so long.
