Bumblebee

Now that Mark Wahlberg is out, the Transformers franchise is in dire need of another white male actor who has giant biceps, hails from Massachusetts and whose former career path involved rapping while shirtless. Enter John Cena, who has officially signed on for a lead role in the ’80s-set Transformers spinoff Bumblebee, which has additionally been pushed back from its previous summer 2018 release date and given a more festive December date.

Just a few weeks after Transformers: The Last Knight rolled into theaters, Paramount is getting that Bumblebee prequel on the fast track. Today we got the news of a rumored mysterious working title, an official title (complete with colon, like all of today’s young adult franchises), and an extremely soon production start date. Like, very soon. Like, within a couple of weeks from now.

Paramount’s Transformers spinoff Bumblebee is on the fast track, and quickly gathering cast members. After Hailee Steinfeld, another rising star has just joined the Transformers family: Jorge Lendeborg Jr. has been cast as the male counterpart to Steinfeld’s heroine in the movie.

The Transformers movies are basically perfect except for one small problem: Bumblebee, the lovable Autobot hero, isn’t a Volkswagen Beetle, as he was in the original Transformers toys and cartoon series. (In the films, he’s a Chevy muscle car, the model of which varies based on whatever is Chevrolet’s hot new car of the moment.) Other than that? All five Transformers movies are basically 10/10, would own on Blu-ray.

Transformers: The Last Knight probably won’t be the end of Michael Bay’s Transformers movies, and the series seems to be expanding, whether the people want it to or not. There’s a planned Bumblebee spinoff in the works, which will focus on the smallest of the Autobots before the events of the main Transformers series. Since we’re going back into the past with this, and since Hasbro’s Transformers toys first hit the market 30 years ago, it seems fitting that the Bumblebee movie is going to be set in the 1980s.

While fans might be a little cynical about a Transformers multi-verse, there are plenty of reasons to be excited about their planned Bumblebee prequel. For one, Christina Hodson’s script has widely been praised as a standout in the franchise thus far. For two, the film will serve as the live-action directorial debut of Kubo and the Two Strings director Travis Knight, whose visuals in that film  —  and whose overall body of work with animation studio Lakia  —  make him a name to remember in future projects. Oh, and there’s this small little tidbit: the movie may now be adding a pretty talented star as its (human) lead.

With Transformers: The Last Knight, Michael Bay has created an alternate universe in which giant robots in disguise have been helping humanity through every historical conflict you can imagine. In a video yesterday, Anthony Hopkins’ voiceover explained that they’ve “been here forever,” but exactly WHY Earth is so important to them remains a mystery. The Last Knight will explore a little of that history, from King Arthur to Japanese samurai, while also making a quick pit stop in the 1940s.

Who is the best Transformer? Correct, it’s Bumblebee. The trusty little Camaro who communicates half in speech and half with the assistance of sound bites from his radio is getting his own spinoff, and Paramount is looking at a release date sometime in 2018. Michael Bay, who is now in the process of choosing which Transformers story to do next, recently revealed that Bumblebee is going to be a prequel.

It looks like Paramount’s writers’ room approach is paying off for the Transformers franchise as the studio has reportedly landed on a script for their Bumblebee spinoff. The concept and screenplay are credited to Christina Hodson, a former development exec who transitioned to screenwriting four years ago — since then, three of her scripts have landed on the Black List and her resumé has quickly expanded, and now apparently includes an upcoming DC movie universe project.

The Transformers franchise has grossed more than $3.7 billion worldwide. So you and I and all rational thinking people might think they’re terrible, but from a financial perspective, they’re definitely working. But you know that old expression in Hollywood: If it ain’t broke, break it into its component parts, and then turn each of those component parts into its own spinoff franchise to maximize revenue. I think Thomas Edison is the first guy who said that one.