Bumblebee Sequel Reportedly in Development

[manigamer]

Paramount is reportedly developing a sequel to their soft Transformers rebootBumblebee. The Transformers live-action movie series kicked off with Michael Bay’s 2007 movie of the same name, which starred Shia LaBeouf as a teenager whose first car turns out to be a robot. Bay’s talent for large scale action helped turn the movie into a huge hit, though some critics found the story lacking the action scenes incomprehensible due to the confusing designs of the Transformers themselves. The sequel – Revenge Of The Fallen – would be an even bigger success, though it was roundly lambasted for its juvenile humor and noisy action. Both Bay and LaBeouf would later acknowledge the movie didn’t work.



Despite stating he’d step aside following the third movie Transformers: Dark Of The Moon, Bay would stick around until the fifth movie The Last Knight. While the movies were always profitable, the critical reputation of the franchise would continue to suffer, with Transformers fans being the most vocal. When Bay’s last entry became the lowest grossing of the series to date, it was decided to give the franchise a fresh start. Thus, Kubo And The Two Strings director Travis Knight was given the keys to direct Bumblebee, a prequel set in 1987 that details the title character landing on Earth and his budding friendship with a teenager named Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld).

Bumblebee has proven to be a real surprise to audiences for its focus on character over action, and for being a genuinely kind of sweet kids' movie. Despite being the best-reviewed entry in the series, the movie’s gross has been modest compared to the franchise’s heyday. That said, Viacom’s CEO Bob Bakish recently dubbed the prequel ‘solidly profitable’ and the movie’s great word of mouth has seen it pass $400M worldwide. According to a new report by Deadline, Paramount is said to be developing a Bumblebee sequel, and while no plot details are given it will presumably pick up from the Bumblebee/Optimus Prime reunion from the end of the movie.


While the movie hasn’t smashed any box office records, critics and fans are praising Bumblebee for its dramatic course correction of the franchise. Bay’s movies had become an almost tiring barrage of noisy action and crass humor that had little in common with the franchise's origins, so Knight’s prequel dialing things way back and telling a more human story has done a lot to restore faith in the brand. The central relationship between Bumblebee and Charlie has a lot to do with this, so if a sequel does occur, hopefully, the story can find a way to include Hailee Steinfeld too.
Since Bumblebee is set before Bay’s movies, the next movie could go in any number of directions. After the relatively small scale of the prequel, the follow-up will likely feature an increase in scope. Bumblebee writer Christina Hodson already knows what story she’d want to see in a sequel, but time will tell if Paramount uses her concept.

Source: Deadline

 

[fatima khan]

and i havent even watched the first part

 

[manigamer]

[h=1]Bumblebee Officially Reboots the Transformers Movie Series Confirms Hasbro[/h]

Hasbro has confirmed that Bumblebee is indeed the beginning of a new cinematic continuity for the Transformers. Up until now, the relationship between Travis Knight's critically lauded film and Michael Bay's five movie run were left somewhat ambiguous, but Hasbro is ready to move forward in a new direction.
Following Transformers: The Last Knight's implosion at the box office, Bay left the franchise behind, leaving the big screen fate of Hasbro's most lucrative property in a perilous position. Not only did The Last Knight under perform financially, but the franchise as a whole became a sort of shorthand for the excesses of 21st century big budget filmmaking: loud, long, and with little to say. But Bumblebee recalibrated the franchise, featuring robot designs more in line with the original Generation 1 cartoon, and leaning into the themes of friendship between humans and robots that made the franchise such a sensation. And while Bumblebee was a huge hit with critics, it only produced modest numbers at the domestic box office.


Despite its box office shortcomings, Bumblebee is indeed the beginning of a new chapter. Per popular Transformers fansite TFW2005, Hasbro announced at their New York Toy Fair panel that they're treating the film as a launching point for a new iteration of the film franchise, or as they put it: "a new storytelling universe."





Initially, there was no guarantee this would be the case. There were enough subtle connections to the Bay movies for Bumblebee to stand as a prequel - not to mention the Bay films often contradict their own continuity from film to film. But this is definitely a positive development, as Bumblebee captures the spirit of the franchise's roots in ways the Bay movies never quite could, and its positive word of mouth has gone a long way toward rehabilitating the Autobots and Decepticons in the eyes of moviegoers.


It's still unclear what the next film in the series will be, however. Producer Lorenzo di Boneventura has said they plan on making a sequel to Bumblebee, but it's unclear if that would be another Bumblebee solo movie or pick up where that film left off, ostensibly at the start of the conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons on Earth. It's also unclear if Hailee Steinfeld would return as Charlie, or if a new human lead would be introduced. It's also yet to be confirmed if Knight would be interested in returning to the director's chair.
There are still plenty of questions about what the future of the Transformersfilm franchise will look like, but we at least know Bumblebee is going to be the starting point, so there's plenty of reason for optimism.

Source: TFW2005