Steven Spielberg is returning to the “Transformers” franchise, signing on as executive producer to oversee all creative aspects of Paramount Pictures’ eighth film based on the Hasbro toy line, in a deal confirmed Tuesday.
Spielberg will work alongside longtime “Transformers” producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, with the two intending to make a film closer in tone to the earlier entries in the series, which Spielberg helped shape as an executive producer on the first two installments, released in 2007 and 2009. The new film is being written by Jason Fuchs and is set in the present day; other plot details are being withheld.
A studio reset
The deal was one of the first struck by Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, the newly installed co-heads of Paramount’s film business following this week’s completion of the Paramount-Skydance merger, and signals that the restructured studio intends to lean on established franchises as it resets its release slate. The Hasbro-owned franchise has grossed more than $5.4 billion worldwide since the first live-action film arrived in 2007, making it one of Paramount’s most reliable global earners even as recent installments drew softer reviews than the Spielberg-produced originals.
Shia LaBeouf, who starred in the franchise’s first three films before departing the series over a decade ago, will not be returning, according to the deal’s terms as first reported by Variety. Other casting conversations remain in early stages, and no director has yet been named for the project.
Di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, Don Murphy, Tom DeSanto and Hasbro will produce the eighth film, with Hasbro Entertainment attached as an in-association production company, continuing the toy maker’s direct financial stake in a franchise it has backed since it began.
The news comes weeks after a theatrical re-release of the original 1986 animated film, “The Transformers: The Movie,” drew strong enough box office to earn an extended run, an early signal of audience appetite for the brand ahead of the eighth live-action installment. Separately, a planned “Transformers”-“G.I. Joe” crossover film will not move forward; Paramount is instead developing a standalone new “G.I. Joe” film with director Danny McBride. No release date or cast has been set for Spielberg’s return to the franchise.
