Michael Bay in Talks to Direct Next ‘Transformers’ Movie, Steven Spielberg to Oversee Franchise

The original “Transformers” gang is getting back together.

via: Deadline

Paramount Pictures and Hasbro are getting closer to bringing their Transformers back to the big screen and look to be reuniting with some familiar faces to help bring the franchise back to life. Sources tell Deadline that Paramount has appointed Steven Spielberg to focus on all creative aspects of the next live-action Transformers film alongside longtime producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. Michael Bay is in early talks to return as director.

Spielberg continues as executive producer and will now lead the creative direction for what will be the eighth live-action installment. He held a similar creative role for the first two Transformers films that launched the franchise, which has generated more than $5.4 billion in global box office revenue and turned Hasbro’s toy brand into a worldwide phenomenon.

Together, Spielberg and di Bonaventura will guide this new chapter to honor the spirit of the early Transformers films. Mark Vahradian, Don Murphy, Tom DeSanto and Hasbro will also produce.

The film is being developed based on a script by Jason Fuchs. Plot details are under wraps other then the film being set in modern day. As the project is in early development, no cast details yet.

Since the first film opened in summer 2007, the franchise has become of the biggest properties on the Paramount lot. Spielberg, Bay and di Bonaventura played major roles in that first films’ success, with Spielberg identifying Bay as his choice to direct the first film. While Bay and di Bonaventura would remain the primary architects at the center of the franchise for the next four installments, Spielberg was less hands on as exec producer.

Bay ultimately took a break from the franchise after the 2017 pic Transformers: The Last Night. Since then, the most recent installments, Bumblebee and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, while not complete misses, did not live up to the standards prior installments had delivered on.

So when the Skydance merger was completed, newly minted Paramount Pictures co-chairs Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg made it a priority to breathe new life into the franchise and Spielberg on board for the new film’s development; one of the first meetings Greenstein and Goldberg had as co-chairs was with Spielberg following Skydance’s merger with Paramount in August 2025 to talk about many things including Transformers. That courtship continued over the next year, with Spielberg finally agreeing to this new hands-on role after reading Fuchs’ latest script.

The next decision was who would direct, with Bay being the first stop to see if he was up to returning. Bay had been open to the idea over the years and, after reading the script and meeting with Spielberg earlier this week, he was on board.

Transformers is one of a handful of properties gaining momentum at Skydance’s Paramount as Deadline also recently reported Brad Pitt is returning to star in a World War Z sequel with Edward Berger directing.

Spielberg is repped by CAA. Bay is repped by Range and CAA. Page Six was first to report news about Bay’s return.