Even though the Transformers films are criticized by critics for plot-holes as well as a constant barrage of special effects and explosions from its director Michael Bay, the films make a lot of money and a Transformers 5 just makes sense. This is what is known about Transformers 5 with its release date, spoilers, update, and cast.
According to Parent Herald, it looks like Michael Bay will be back as the director for Transformers 5, in spite of reports to the contrary. The sequel was planned for a release date in the summer of 2016, but this has also been moved to 2017.
This was confirmed at a Hasbro earning conference call on April 20th, when CEO Brian Goldner said: "We think there are any number of stories to be told from the brand that has been around for 30 years with amazing canon and mythology. We would expect the sequel to the Transformers movie to happen in 2017."
As to what the fifth film will be about, there is a lot of speculation, but there is a lot of pointing to the demise of Optimus Prime. According to Vine Report, Transformers 5 will introduce Ultra Magnus, a second-in-command character that was introduced in another Transformers movie, the animated one from 1986. In that film, he was a car carrier that took on the mantle of leader after the Autobots' usual leader, Optimus Prime, was killed by Megatron.
There are also reports that Unicron will appear, who also first appeared in the first Transformers animated movie. The Day Herald reports that Unicron was a "Decepticon Leader", but in actuality, Unicron didn't take any side. Unicron was a planet that would eat other planets, and he could transform himself into a massively gigantic robot.
The true leader of the Decepticons is Galvatron, who was originally Megatron. Megatron was finished off in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but he was then brought back to life in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. He didn't really have much of a role in that fourth Transformers film, but it was clear they were setting him up for a fifth film.
Also set up for the fifth film was Optimus Prime going into space, presumably to meet the Quintessons, the original builders of the Autobots and Decepticons. This race was also introduced in the 1986 animated movie, which is starting to become what is going to be the direction they are going with the fifth installment of the series.
Most remember the 1986 animated film as not only the death of Optimus Prime, but it took the animated series from the eighties in a different direction. The show originally took place during present-day Earth, but the movie took the series into the year 2005, which, at the time, was twenty years in the future.
If the series goes into space, then there will be more emphasis on the computer graphics of the Autobots and Decepticons and less emphasis on the human world. It is reported that Mark Wahlberg will be reprising his role as the inventor/friend of the Autobots, Cade Yeager. There were rumors that Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox would be reprising their roles, but we have previously reported that Megan Fox is definitely out due to her role in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2.
So far, it hasn't be officially announced that Bay is at the director's helm, but the film is still under development and has many writers from many successful science fiction franchises. It is possible that there could be some long-range story under development that could span several Transformers movies. In that case, it had better be good.
