Whether you like it or not, the Transformers franchise is going to be around for a while. With The Last Knight arriving in theaters this summer to continue the main series, and several more sequels planned after that, those robots in disguise aren’t going anywhere. Not only that, but we also have a spinoff to look forward to (?) now, as it was announced a while back that Bumblebee would be receiving his own film.
The screenplay for the project comes from Christina Hodson, with Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg on board to produce. Casting hasn’t been announced just yet, but we do now have a director in place, and that’ll be Travis Knight, who recently made his feature film debut on Kubo and the Two Strings and is the CEO of Laika, the company responsible for efforts like Coraline and ParaNorman.
To say that he’s an unusual pick would be an understatement, as he’s got very little experience directing and what experience he does have is with a project that couldn’t be more anymore different. Of course, that’s not a knock against Knight, as Kubo was actually a wonderful film, but we definitely didn’t see this coming. Then again, sometimes it’s the most unexpected pairings that make for the best movies, right?
As expected, plot details on the spinoff are non-existent at this stage, and they probably won’t surface until well after The Last Knight hits theaters. That being said, we wouldn’t expect Bumblebee’s solo outing to differ too much to what’s come before. In other words, if you can’t stand this franchise, then the spinoff probably won’t do much for you. Even with a talented director like Knight behind the wheel.
If nothing else though, it should be interesting to see what the Laika CEO can bring to the table. With Michael Bay having handled the franchise up to this point, some fresh blood could make for a welcome departure from the usual offerings we get with Transformers. As of now, I guess you can color us intrigued. Not excited, but intrigued.