Source: Variety

Michael Bay (Armageddon, Pearl Harbor) may come on board to direct a live action movie based on the '80s phenomenon the Transformers, scheduled for a Thanksgiving 2006 release from DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures.

Steven Spielberg, who is currently directing War of the Worlds for the two companies, signed on as an executive producer for the project, giving it to writers Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci to get into shape. Having worked with Michael Bay on his upcoming sci-fi film (The Island), they were probably pivotal in getting the director excited about the project and interested in directing it. DreamWorks will work on securing Bay for the project once the first new script is turned in.

"Transformers" were a popular Hasbro toy line during the '80s, which spawned a number of cartoons, comic books as well as an animated feature.

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if he fucks this movie up i will personally hunt him and lay some decepticon badass on him. And he'd better base the movie on gerneation one transofrmers or it'll suck. Sorry for the rant but as a kid i was a fucking transformer nut. still have all my transformers

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quote:

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Originally posted by AddNtoX
if he fucks this movie up i will personally hunt him and lay some decepticon badass on him. And he'd better base the movie on gerneation one transofrmers or it'll suck. Sorry for the rant but as a kid i was a fucking transformer nut. still have all my transformers

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That seems to be the question on everyone's minds after reports that the live action Transformers, executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, has been back-burnered, while writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci go to Rome to start working on Mission: Impossible 3 with Tom Cruise and director J.J. Abrams, with whom they've worked for many years on the ABC show Alias. (We'll have more on that a little later today.)

Well, it is true that they are going to Rome, but that doesn't mean that the duo aren't on top of the Transformers situation, as they told ComingSoon.net while talking to us about Michael Bay's The Island earlier today.

"'Transformers' is very tricky, because it's a movie based on a toy line," Kurtzman told us, when asked about how hard it might be to turn the Hasbro toys into a feature film. "The first question you have to ask yourself is what's the movie? We sat down with Steven Spielberg, and we said that the action scenes in this movie are a given, but he said that that it's the story of a boy and his car and that he wants to bring back the old Amblin movies. It's 'Back to the Future'…great! We're in! It's a real challenge, because the key to making those movies work--and I totally think it's why 'War of the Worlds' works so well--is to be so invested in the people and to maintain the subjectivity of the humans. If you start 'Transformers' with giant robots sitting in a spaceship flying through space, your movie is dead in the water. It's all about keeping it at a human level, and seeing the amazing things that are going on through the eyes of the characters."

The Transformers legacy is so vast and full of characters, we just had to know who they may be including in the story. "The staple characters: Optimus Prime, Megatron, Soundwave, Shockwave, Starscream, Jazz," Kurtzman replied. "There's going to be a lot of them. You're going to have ten Transformers in that movie, and if that's not enough, you can go see 2, 3, 4 or 5."

"The meat and potatoes are going to be in there," writing partner Robert Orci continued. "We're just missing the premise for the sequels."

They still believe that Michael Bay may be directing the movie, but they do have to hand in the script before he makes a final decision. Neither said anything about a "two week deadline" that has been mentioned on other sites. Later on, Bay was just as non-committal, although he did say they were working on the script and designing it right now.

Bay's The Island, written by Kurzman and Orzi, comes out on July 22.

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Why not make one good movie that makes a lot of money instead of 4 movies that are likely to tank?

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With Transformers writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci taking time off from the project to go to Rome and start working on J.J. Abrams' Mission: Impossible 3, starring Tom Cruise, DreamWorks and Paramount have moved the big screen robots adaptation back from November 17, 2006 to July 4, 2007.

The feature, based on the globally popular Transformers franchise, will be directed by Michael Bay (upcoming The Island, Armageddon). Steven Spielberg (War of the Worlds) is executive producing the film, with Lorenzo di Bonaventura (upcoming Four Brothers), Tom DeSanto (X-Men, X2: X-Men United) and Don Murphy (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) serving as co-executive producers.

DreamWorks head of distribution Jim Tharp stated, "Under the direction of Michael Bay, and with Steven Spielberg executive producing, we know that 'Transformers' is going to be the kind of explosive action movie that is perfect for the height of the summer movie season. By staking our claim on the 4th of July, 2007, we ensure that we not only have the time to make this movie the way it should be made, but also to build excitement and awareness leading up to its release."

"Fans around the world have wanted a Transformers live-action movie for a long time and we are thrilled to work with DreamWorks and Paramount to bring this legendary saga to life on the big screen," said Brian Goldner, President of Hasbro's U.S. Toy segment. "With some of the entertainment industry's best talent on board for this film, fans will experience Transformers in a way that is incredibly powerful."

DreamWorks will distribute the film domestically, while Paramount will handle the international release. Hasbro will work with the production team and DreamWorks on all aspects of the film's creative development, marketing and promotions, and will manage merchandising in conjunction with the release of the film.

This week, DreamWorks is launching the official Transformers movie website at Comic-Con International, being held from July 13 - 17 in San Diego, California. Transformers will also be making its presence at the convention known in a big way, with a huge 18-wheeler truck sporting the instantly recognizable Transformers logo dominating the area near the DreamWorks booth-and much of the convention floor-letting thousands of fans know that Transformers is coming to the big screen on 07-04-07.

Introduced in 1984, the Transformers brand took the world by storm with its compelling saga of the Autobots versus the Decepticons. The innovative "Robots in Disguise" resulted in a tremendously successful toy line from Hasbro and Takara, comic book series, television program and an animated feature film. More than 20 years later, a new generation has discovered the excitement of the Transformers brand and its legendary characters, including the two leaders of the opposing sides: Optimus Prime and Megatron. Today, the franchise features a popular toy line, an animated series on the Cartoon Network and a chart-topping comic book series from IDW Publishing.

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"If somebody said to me, in twelve years you’ll be in a band with your brother and two carrot munching geezers who don’t like football, I would've said 'fuck off, I’m not joining the Bee Gees." -Noel Gallagher 2005

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I wonder if in this movie when Optimus Prime transforms will his trailer disappear.

Dude I was like 10 and that shit really pissed me off when I watched the cartoon.

Where does it go???

Grimlock Rulez!

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quote:

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Originally posted by petrocs
--and I totally think it's why 'War of the Worlds' works so well--

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quote:

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Originally posted by pHo
If he truly believes this, this movie is in a whole world of trouble.

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"If somebody said to me, in twelve years you’ll be in a band with your brother and two carrot munching geezers who don’t like football, I would've said 'fuck off, I’m not joining the Bee Gees." -Noel Gallagher 2005

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So.. How excited was I when I awoke this morning to find that aintitcoolnews had posted exclusive images of some Autobot/Decepticons in their vehicle forms! “Yippie” I exclaimed!

I’ve resized all these images. Go to aicn if you want to see ‘em large

So first up... BUMBLEBEE



Ok, I can't be too annoyed because I have every faith that if they were allowed to use the VW Beetle they would (VW doesn't want to be associated with war/violence etc - Lucky they didn't see my reaction after seeing Herby : Fully Loaded then!) but COME ON! Why not use a yellow Mini Cooper (old style) or something?!?! I mean anything has to be better than that!

Bumblebee should obviously look like this




Ok.. so 0 out of 1 so far. Never mind. Lets try the next!



BRAWL!



ummmmm... ok. Its nice 'n' all but Brawl was a tank. He was a Combaticon.

Brawl should obviously look like this



Ok.. so 0 out of 2 at the half way point. Maybe they'll pull it back with the next.



DEVASTATOR!



Awwww CRAP! Devastator was never a sodding tank!! BRAWL was the fudging tank!! Actually, this Tank looks almost identical to G2 Megatron. If they hadn't said it was Devastator i'd have put money on it being Megatron.

As we all know Devastator was the robot form that the Constructicons (Scrapper, Bonecrusher, Scavenger, Mixmaster, Hook and Long Haul) transformed into.

They looked like this




Ok.. so 0 out of 3. Thats ok. I have a good feeling about the last one. Its...


BONECRUSHER



Right....I give up! Bonecrusher is a sodding bulldozer for fuck sake!

I don't care anymore... Look. He's supposed to look like this...



Fuck you all. Bunch of wankers!!

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Last edited by 404notfound on 06-01-2006 at 05:54 PM

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^ nerdiest post ever.

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i have sigs off

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I'd much rather they did a Thundercat's movie, or maybe Mysterious Cities of Gold

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What the world needs is a 3d animated, R rated smurfs movie set in 1950's chicago!

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i have sigs off

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quote:

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Originally posted by Neversoft
I'd much rather they did a Thundercat's movie, or maybe Mysterious Cities of Gold

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Battle of the Planets

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quote:

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Originally posted by bartleby
a thundercats movie would be kickass

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quote:

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Originally posted by Dwaggy
^ nerdiest post ever.

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Face facts. This movie is going to be shit.

It's an almighty task to translate Transformers in to a live action movie.

Besides, from the pics above it looks like a cross between The Fast And The Furious 4 and Bob The Builder: The Movie.

It won't work.

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And 404 (and grinch) will be the first to know!

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i have sigs off

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xbox 360 i-pod and a plasma tv to make an apperance
wtf ?

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