Michael Bay is officially finished with theTransformersfranchise and a direct sequel toThe Last Knightis no longer happening. Franchise producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura confirmed the news, which is much different from his words just a few weeks ago. Back in March, Bonaventura revealed they were working on scripts for both aBumblebeesequel along withThe Last Knightsequel. However, the plans look like they have changed quite drastically in the past few weeks.
In a new interview, Lorenzo Di Bonaventura spoke about the future of theTransformersfranchise, which is currently riding high again off of the success of last year’sBumblebee. Everything took a pretty big dip when 2017’sThe Last Knighthit theaters and tanked, so the latest installment was a welcome change of pace. When asked about making a newTransformersmovie with Michael Bay, Bonaventura had this to say.
“I think Bay has made it really clear that he loved what he did and he’s not doing anymore. So I think the answer is we’re writing a script. At that point, once we get script we have a strong belief in, then we’ll begin to debate that. Michael’s made it really clear that he didn’t want to do it. I don’t blame him. He spent a hell of a lot, a decade of his life, shooting them.”
Lorenzo Di Bonaventurawas then asked aboutThe Last Knightsequel, which seemed to be in development not so long ago. The interviewer asked if there was a direct sequel in the works and Bonaventura simply said, “no.” There will be otherTransformersprojects down the line, but it looks like the days of Michael Bay’s style are over, which could be a positive for the franchise moving forward.
Bumblebee 2is a top priority at the moment for the studio and fans are hoping to see Optimus Prime show up. Travis Knight’s take on the franchise was generally well-received by critics and it did pretty well at the box office. In comparison,The Last Knightwas trashed for having practically no storyline and being just a bunch of explosions and action sequences. Knight was able to bring some heart to the story, which also brought the franchise back to its 80s roots.
It' going to be very interesting to see where theTransformersfranchise goes next.Michael Bayhad a pretty successful run, but it is time for some new blood to come in and see where they can take it. There’s plenty of stories left to tell and people are still excited to see whereBumblebeegoes next. With that being said, it looks likeBumblebeewill be the focus for the foreseeable future with some new updates hopefully coming down the wire soon. The interview withTransformersproducer Lorenzo di Bonaventura was originally conducted bySlash Film.
