Deadline has learned that Paramount currently has not one, but two Transformers movies in the works.
One will be written by James Vanderbilt, a scribe behind 2016’s Independence Day: Resurgence, while the other is being helmed by Joby Harold, who co-wrote the upcoming Zack Snyder-directed Netflix film Army of the Dead. Vanderbilt's project is believed to be based on the Transformers spinoff Beast Wars, which features robotic animals, such as Cheetor, Optimus Primal, and Rhinox.
There are no directors attached to either Transformers film. Varietyreports that these films "present an opportunity to build out multiple storylines within the franchise."
The news of Paramount’s decision to move forward with the franchise in a big way comes after the box office success of 2018’s Bumblebee, which made $468 million worldwide on a slightly reduced budget in comparison to its predecessors.
The departure of Michael Bay, the director of the first five Transformers films, paved the way for Bumblebee after the studio created a writers’ room that would hopefully lead to a new direction for the franchise. Bay decided to pursue other interests following the 2017 release of Transformers: The Last Knight, which earned over $600 million worldwide.
Paramount believes that there's still interest in future Transformers-related projects. All six films in the franchise, Bumblebee included, have amassed over $4.8 billion worldwide.
