The "Transformers" franchise has seen great success in box offices across the United States and around the world. Now Paramount Pictures is thinking of dividing the next sequel into several films.
According to Mike Fleming Jr. of Deadline, Paramount Pictures is negotiating with Akiva Goldsman to work with franchise director Michael Bay, executive producer Steven Spielberg and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. The studio hopes all of them will be able to "incubate ideas for a potential multi-part 'Transformers' sequel."
"Though Goldsman is the Oscar winning writer of 'A Beautiful Mind' and many other big pics, I don't get the impression the deal being negotiated calls for him to write one of these films," Fleming wrote. "His will be an oversight role to secure writers and hatch the movies they'll script."
According to Fleming, Paramount is trying to follow in the footsteps of Fox, which has slated sequels for the "Avatar" films, and Disney, which is attempting to revive the iconic "Star Wars" franchise. That's because it could generate more revenue for the studio.
"The most recent, 'Transformers: Age of Extinction,' grossed nearly $1.1 billion, and became the top grossing release ever in China," Fleming wrote. "Despite gross payouts that included Bay and the film's star Mark Wahlberg, the film still generated $250 million in net profits to Paramount and was named Most Valuable Blockbuster in Deadline's annual breakdown of top domestic grossing tentpole films."
Wahlberg told Alex Zalben and Josh Horowitz of MTV News back in December 2014 that he has plans to do another "Transformers" film or two.
"Yeah, I committed to doing a couple more," Wahlberg said.
The actor also indicated that Bay could reprise his role as director of the blockbuster franchise.
"I can't speak for Mr. Bay, but something tells me we'll be on that set soon," Wahlberg said.
However, not everyone is looking forward to another 'Transformers' sequel. Ashley Lee of the Hollywood Reporter noted that Shia LaBeouf, who starred in three of the films, had some harsh words for the blockbuster franchise.
"Bumblebee never sounds real," LaBeouf said, citing one of the characters in the film series. "The name alone you can never make real, no matter how much you put into it, because on the other side, you have a director who doesn't believe it either."
LaBeouf then elaborated on his views on acting in life. Lee noted that he also quoted Oscar Wilde in his comments.
"We're all performers, on our Twitter, we perform. We're constantly performing; that's why people don't pick their nose on CNN. ... [But] you can have two selves," LaBeouf said. "You can have multiple selves that are just as true; one doesn't negate the other."
LaBeouf then disclosed to Lee that he was released from rehab nine months ago, which has left an influence on his outlook.
"In rehab you do this kind of operatic therapy, where you go in and sit with your small little group," LaBeouf said. "Somebody will play your father, somebody will play your mother, and there's literally like an action/cut thing and you go all the way there. For me, it's like method acting. The only way you can actually have something like that go on is when everyone agrees that that's what the reality is."
According to IMDB, "Transformers 5" is scheduled to make its debut in U.S. theaters on June 24, 2016.
