Prepare for...Michael Bay's "Transformers 4"!

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The "Transformers" franchise has been a success in large part thanks to director Michael Bay, whose "bigger + faster = better" mentality was well-suited for the task of bringing films about giant fighting extraterrestrial robots to the big screen.

Which is why Dreamworks is surely relieved that the director will indeed be returning for the fourth installment - news spilled by producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura when MTV caught up with him recently at Toy Fair 2012.

"Michael's going to direct," di Bonaventura confirmed, before adding: "And it'll be in the summer of 2014. We'll be releasing then."

As we reported back in December, Bay was already in talks to direct the next installment but hadn't yet been locked down for the job. It now appears that the studio's ploy of luring him back by agreeing to bankroll his lower-budgeted pet project, a thriller set in the world of bodybuilding entitled "Pain or Gain", was a successful one that may just have been the deciding factor in Bay agreeing to return.

Di Bonaventura also indicated that though "Transformers 4" will indeed be a reboot of the franchise, it won't be looking backward so much (i.e. "Amazing Spider-Man") as presenting what he termed an "evolution" of the saga.

"Again, it's a hybrid because it's a funny thing. I'm not involved with 'Spider-Man,' but what I perceive 'Spider-Man' to be is just a redoing of the whole thing. ['Transformers 4' is] not. It's an evolution. There's still continuity that's going on, yet there will be a lot of new cast," he said. "Whether there's anybody from the first cast, we don't even know yet. The trust is it's going to be a whole new story. The characters that would certainly come along are Optimus and Bumblebee, I'm sure."

All of that aside, the producer made sure to stress that they haven't even come up with a story yet, and that recent rumors that Jason Statham was being eyed to star in the reboot were completely unfounded.

"No, it's so silly. We have to get a story first," said di Bonaventura of the Statham talk. "You can't pick characters if you don't have a story."

Bay had previously claimed that "Transformers 3" would be his last outing in the franchise, which may well have been nothing more than a clever negotiating tactic. In any case, he'll likely shoot "Pain or Gain" first before embarking on his next "Transformers" expedition.

Deadline is reporting that the fourth "Transformers" installment has been slated for release on June 29, 2014, and that contrary to previous reports, the film will not be shot back-to-back with a fifth movie.

[Jokuc]

Sounds awesome. I love transformers

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Transformers 4 will be set 4 years after Dark Of The Moon

Things are beginning to pick up pace with regards to Transformers 4, with Michael Bay following up last week’s announcement that Mark Wahlberg will be taking the lead with the first official plot details.

Specifics are understandably few and far between at this stage, but one thing Bay can confirm is that the new film will be set four years after the events of its predecessor.

“The movie will continue four years from the attack on Chicago,” says Bay, “which is in the last movie. So it’s going to still have the same lineage. And it’s going a full new direction and feels very natural how it’s going in that direction.

“There is no way you’re going to ever find out what the story is,” continues the director. “You don’t have to dig through my trash… I shredded my trash.”

Transformers 4 opens in the UK on 27 June 2014.

http://collider.com/transformers-4-f...e-moon/210383/