Bumblebee Producer Says Next Transformers Movie Will Be A Reboot

The Transformers film franchise is in a bit of a predicament now. In the five straight movies about the giant robots that transform into various things led by Michael Bay and his eye for explosions, the movies have grossed millions upon millions of dollars, but critical and audience opinions have gotten worse with nearly every installment. However, Travis Knight's Bumblebee blew expectations away and gave the franchise its first certified fresh rating. The problem? While Bumblebee was well-liked, the film failed to impress at the box office, ending up as the least grossing film in the series.

Yet Paramount still wants to move forward with more Autobots and Decepticons, and it was reported earlier this week that the studio is moving ahead with sequels to both Bumblebee and the main Transformers series. We spoke with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura about the new Stephen King adaptation Pet Sematary at SXSW, and he revealed that the new film in the main Transformers series will be a little different than expected.

"The main Transformers movie we are working on is a reboot, and I will say that the Bumblebee sequel will be more directly linked to the timeline that we set up," Di Bonaventura told GameSpot.

While it may come as a surprise to most fans, the timeline for the Transformers franchise has been all over the place, especially after Transformers: The Last Knight, which introduced an order of humans protecting the secret of Transformers who've lived among us for centuries, as well as a Transformer the size of the Earth.

While Bumblebee didn't really connect to the other Transformers movies, it basically served as a prequel to the franchise. Thus, it complicated things further when Optimus Prime appears on Earth decades before his supposed first trip here in the very first Transformers movie.

So what is the release plan? Di Bonaventura doesn't seem to know, and he prefers it that way. "I think Paramount should just pick the best script and release that first," the producer said. "I don't think there is a plan in terms of what movie comes out first, and I always think you should just go with the best script first instead of planning a franchise based on release dates."

He went on to say that the Bumblebee sequel will be bigger than the previous one, despite the spin-off having had the smallest budget in the franchise. "It is going to bring Bumblebee into a bigger adventure," Di Bonaventura said. "What was fun about the first one was that we didn’t have to be beholden to the other Transformers movies."

Check out GameSpot's full Bumblebee review here.