While December’s Bumblebee movie didn’t reach the financial heights of past Transformers films, it certainly managed what no Michael Bay instalment before it had accomplished, fully embracing its source material to please both fans and critics alike.
Those fans with a dislike for Bay’s brand of Transformers received another boost in February when it was confirmed by Hasbro that Bumblebee will serve as a reboot of the movie franchise. However, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura has revealed (or perhaps that should be warned) that the plan is to inject “a little more Bayhem” into the Bumblebee sequel and future Transformers movies.
“I was just in Japan and one of the reporters said to me, ‘I love the movie, I love this, I love this, and I was very tired of Michael Bay,”’ the producer tells Collider. “I said, ‘Uh huh, I’ve heard this before.’ And he goes, ‘But you know, after watching this film, I kind of wish it had a little more Michael Bay.’ It was really funny. I said, ‘Listen, I completely understand. I like what Michael does, too. Two different films, two different attempts.’”
SEE ALSO: Bumblebee sequel in development, may feature Optimus Prime team-up
“Several lessons have come out of [Bumblebee],” he continued. “One is that we have the freedom to tell almost any story. The other is that, how strongly the audience identified with the strength of character and emotion. I know the next Transformers, our attempt anyway, is to sort of do a fusion of Bumblebee and the Bay movies…a little more Bayhem. And a little bit more of the character falling in love within the emotional dynamic of the movie. One of the things I want to do—and I hope we pull it off—is, we did it with Bumblebee because he’s so cute and he’s so accessible, but he can’t talk. I think the more human we can make these characters, the more people are going to like them.”
What do you make of these comments? Are you excited for more ‘Bayhem’, or were you hoping we’d suffered through enough of it with the first five Transformers movies? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or tweet us @FlickeringMyth…
SEE ALSO: Get a sneak peek at the Bumblebee – Sector 7 Adventures comic book
On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns this is no ordinary, yellow VW bug.
Bumblebee is directed by Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings), and stars Hailee Steinfeld (Edge of Seventeen), Pamela Adlon (Better Things), John Cena (Daddy’s Home 2), Stephen Schneider (Broad City), Jorge Lendeborg Jr. (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Jason Drucker (Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul), Kenneth Choi (American Crime Story), Ricardo Hoyos (Degrassi: Next Class), Abby Quinn (Landline), Rachel Crow (Deidra & Laney Rob a Train), Grace Dzienny (Zoo) and John Ortiz (Kong: Skull Island).
