With production wrapped on Michael Bayâs $20 million passion project, the dark comedy Pain and Gain, the director is now turning more of his attention to his fourthâand âfinalââfilm in the Transformers franchise. We know that Transformers 4 wonât feature any of the human cast from the previous three films, there will be redesigns for some of the robots, itâs set for release in the summer of 2014, and itâs been described as a reboot of sorts. Now that heâs moved on to the post-production phase of Pain and Gain, Bay recently talked a bit about where Transformers 4 will go storywise and asserted that the film is not a reboot. Hit the jump to see what he had to say.Bay addressed just exactly how Transformers 4 will be connected to the other three films in an interview with Hero Complex, saying that ârebootâ isnât an entirely accurate description:
âItâs not a reboot, thatâs maybe the wrong word. I donât want to say reboot because then people will think weâre doing a Spider-Man and starting from the beginning. Weâre not. Weâre taking the story that youâve seen â the story weâve told in three movies already â and weâre taking it in a new direction. But weâre leaving those three as the history. It all still counts. I met with the writer before I went off to do Pain and Gain and we talked about a bunch of ideas. We let that simmer for a bit. Heâs been thinking about stuff and now weâre getting back together next week to see what weâve got and to see if it gels.â
We previously reported that Ehren Kruger, who co-wrote Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and took sole credit on Transformers: Dark of the Moon, would be writing Transformers 4 so one assumes that he's the writer Bay is talking about. When asked if the film's story could involve a departure from Earth, Bay seemed to be keen on spending more time in space:
âI think so, yeah, a little. That feels like the way to go, doesnât it? I want to go a little off but I donât want to go too sci-fi. I still want to keep it grounded. Thatâs what works in these movies, thatâs what makes it accessible.â
Though the story of Transformers 4 might journey into space, Bay says the budget for the film will actually be less than the first three. âOur mandate is to cut about $30 million,â Bay says. That number seems small when talking about a movie thatâs essentially wall-to-wall explosions (the last Transformers was budgeted at a reported $195 million), but comparatively that cut is more than the entire budget for Bayâs recently completed film.
Hopefully weâll hear some casting or firm plot information soon as Bay puts the finishing touches on Pain and Gain and starts prepping the Transformers 4 shoot. Though Bay claims this is his last go-around with his favorite robots, he said the same thing during production of Dark of the Moon. His supposed goal with 4 is to âset up the series for the next guy,â but who knows if heâll actually walk away after this next film. What we do know for sure is that Transformers 4 is slated to hit theaters on June 27th, 2014, and if the box office of the other films is any indication then Transformers 5 is all but guaranteed.