Given the negative reception to Transformers: The Last Knight, the fifth instalment of the blockbuster movie franchise, Paramount Pictures is looking to shake things up with its next offering as Michael Bay makes way for Kubo and the Two Strings director Travis Knight on the solo Bumblebee movie. And, according to producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, the spinoff will take the franchise back to its Generation 1 roots.
“The objective of that movie is to develop more time with less robots, and to go back to 1985 and to go back to the original heritage, if you would, of the Transformers, G1,” di Bonaventura tells Collider (via CBM). So, it has a very distinct idea in it, and whatever is going to happen with the chemistry is what’s going to happen. But it really is a young female lead opposite of Bumblebee, and I think that Optimus is going to be jealous that Bumblebee has his own movie.”
“There are less Transformers, dramatically less,” he continues. “We hired, purposely, Travis Knight who’s a very distinct filmmaker. You can’t compete with Michael Bay, you’re going to loose. Also, the audience want’s something different all the time, let’s keep them interested. So, they’re going to get a very emotional, complex story. A very tight story, in terms of its location, in terms of its storytelling. In fact it reminds me a little bit of The Iron Giant when I did that movie at Warner Bro. It just reminds me a little bit of that, where that it feels contained, but it doesn’t feel small.”
Although details on the Bumblebee movie are scarce, it has been confirmed that we’ll be seeing the Autobot in his classic Generation 1 Volkswagen Beetle form, while Hailee Steinfeld will be playing the female lead as a teenager enjoying an idyllic life with Bumblebee before the Decepticons show up.
Transformers: Bumblebee is set for release on June 22nd 2018.
Originally published July 10, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
