2019 Transformers Movie could be a new universe

[griffin]

At the European Licensing trade show in October, Hasbro have announced that the 2019 Movie will "unveil an entirely new, exciting storyline for Transformers"... and doesn't note it being TF6 or TF7, or any number in the series.

This doesn't necessarily mean that the Bumblebee movie is the last one in the Bay-verse, as the 2019 could be the one that had once been noted as being an offshoot or CG movie.
Then again, the Bumblebee movie could make sense as a reboot movie, or a partial reboot like X-men and Star Trek, with the timeline being reset, allowing future movies start fresh without all the contradictions of the first five.

The link above has scans from the Hasbro brochure about Transformers, which has some other details about how the brand has been doing in Europe, and what licensed merchandise we can expect in 2018 (that could show up here as well).

[UltraMarginal]

That's certainly an interesting way of wording it.

I expect there will be a lot of 'now they can do a transformers movie right' proclamations across the interwebs.

As much as I've enjoyed these movies for what they are and I've generally really enjoyed the toys from the movie lines. If they do restart/design these movies to have more of a traditional transformers Aesthetic with less jaggedy edges I will be pretty excited and happy.

[BigTransformerTrev]

Originally Posted by UltraMarginal

That's certainly an interesting way of wording it.

I expect there will be a lot of 'now they can do a transformers movie right' proclamations across the interwebs.

As much as I've enjoyed these movies for what they are and I've generally really enjoyed the toys from the movie lines. If they do restart/design these movies to have more of a traditional transformers Aesthetic with less jaggedy edges I will be pretty excited and happy.

^Totally this

The only thing that would slightly disappoint me is not seeing where they will be going with the Unicron angle - it would be nice for the movies to have some closure and after having the storyline going for a decade some kind of final resolution.

[griffin]

Originally Posted by UltraMarginal

As much as I've enjoyed these movies for what they are and I've generally really enjoyed the toys from the movie lines. If they do restart/design these movies to have more of a traditional transformers Aesthetic with less jaggedy edges I will be pretty excited and happy.

I agree with this as well... I mean, just look at how organic the robots have been getting with each movie, with almost no vehicle kibble at all now. The first movie had vehicle bits all over the bots, to be able to guess what it turned into for most of them with Earthen modes, but now... who could tell on any of the bots in the last couple of movies.
It's supposed to be robots *in* disguise, not robots disguising what they turn into.
It certainly makes the toy designers jobs a lot harder, resulting in more panels, shells and/or backpacks of kibble... or robot modes that don't look much like the ones on screen. (okay, the original series cartoon also had toys that looked different to the cartoon robots, but that was the animators improving the "immobile bricks" of toys - here it is the other way around, with the animators creating the design first, for the toy designers to then somehow replicate).

[Sunsurge]

Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev

^Totally this

The only thing that would slightly disappoint me is not seeing where they will be going with the Unicron angle - it would be nice for the movies to have some closure and after having the storyline going for a decade some kind of final resolution.

I do see what you're saying. It is a bit of a bombshell to drop and then just leave it hanging, but I've got to say that Michael Bay leaving the franchise is all the resolution I need

[BigTransformerTrev]

Originally Posted by Sunsurge

I do see what you're saying. It is a bit of a bombshell to drop and then just leave it hanging, but I've got to say that Michael Bay leaving the franchise is all the resolution I need

Yeah he says every movie that its his last and he wont be director for the next one - I wouldn't count my protoforms before they've hatched

[Paulbot]

Film publication Variety have published this today that the next movie now has no release date:

Paramount has pulled the seventh “Transformers” movie from its 2019 schedule.

The film was set for release on June 28, 2019. The studio will still open the spinoff “Bumblebee” on Dec. 21.

[UltraMarginal]

Isn't this something that was revealed in the last couple months, that they were going to cancel the 2019 movie and prepare for a proper restart? Almost like Bumblebee is a soft start to a complete reboot

[Paulbot]

It was rumoured and hinted at but the date was still on the calendar - only in the past days that it was officially "pulled".

[griffin]

Hasbro's CEO has since commented further on the change of direction for the Transformers Movie franchise.

“Question: Speaking of future production slate, just recently I think one of your Transformers films was removed from Paramount’s 2019 Release Schedule. What is the the rationale behind that and what should the investors read into that move?
Answer: So, really in some ways it’s just the fact that we were able to get Bumblebee movie out in 2018, so that’ll come out this Christmas; which means the home entertainment window will happen in 2019.
With the new [Paramount] management team and the partnership with Paramount gave us an opportunity to step back from the Michael Bay chronology of the films that have been out there in the market and look at new storytelling.
So, rather than putting another movie out to the market in 2019 we wanted to take a beat and develop across a couple different possible creative directions and then you’ll see, certainly, a raft of great Transformers films in the future. So I would read nothing into that except that Bumblebee will be in the market over the next year. We felt it was a good moment in time when we could again re-frame the creative direction of Transforms.


Question: What is it about the existing direction that is most needed to be re-framed, so to speak?
Answer: Look, I think what you’re going to see in the movie, which I’m thrilled about, we’ve already done some early testing around the movie, is the heart and humanity that comes back to the Autobots, in this in this case through Bumblebee who is one of the most beloved characters by both fans and kids around the world and you get a bit of a peak at his origin story. There’s a great relationship that exists between him and our star Hailee Steinfeld.
It gives us a chance to hearken back a bit to that first Transformers film that we all love; the awe inspiring nature of the boy and his car. The car’s turns out to be a robot involved in an alien war. It was a kind of a fun premise and we want to get back to that heart, humor and humanity. And we think we have a way to do that with this film. And I think that over time as films continue to build on themselves, you get a lot of action but you also want to make sure that you’re developing characters and story alongside of that and that’s what this intends to do.


Question: Is ‘Reboot’ the correct term?
Answer: I don’t think it’s a reboot because it is an alternative; a different chronology. So, rather than going to a sequel from what people had seen last time, this takes place in the 1980s. It’s a really fun era, people love the music, they love that time and place, and it was a great place to put Bumblebee because for our fans, everyone knows that the Transformers were originally created in the mid-eighties, so it gives you a chance to hearken back to the things that people loved about the brand. And a chance to enjoy the brand, kind of from the beginning again. But I wouldn’t really consciously go into it saying “Let’s reboot the franchise”. There wasn’t any of that. We just felt that the story naturally came as a result of some of the work that we have done.”