Hailee Steinfeld says Bumblebee could be first of new Transformers franchise

The movies in the TRANSFORMERS franchise have never been critical darlings, but they do make an awful lot of money. However, the last installment, TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT, saw a significant drop in box-office revenue compared to its predecessors, perhaps signalling that audiences had at long last had enough of Michael Bay's bombastic blockbusters. But the franchise could spark back to life with the upcoming BUMBLEBEE, an 80's set TRANSFORMERS spin-off starring Hailee Steinfeld (PITCH PERFECT 3) and John Cena (FERDINAND).

While speaking with IGN, Steinfeld mentioned that BUMBLEBEE could be the first entry of a new TRANSFORMERS franchise. "I think that we'll see how the first one does," Steinfeld said, "how people receive it and how it turns out and then hopefully start the conversation and what happens after that." I've never been a huge fan of the series, but I have been wondering what a TRANSFORMERS film would look like under the direction of someone other than Michael Bay. KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS director Travis Knight will be making his live-action directorial debut with the film, and Hailee Steinfeld said that it helped to have someone with a background in animation accompanying her on the journey, especially as much of her time involved acting opposite someone who wasn’t physically there.

It was definitely a process. With his background in animation, he was able to see, visually, a final product. It was nice to have somebody that could verbally translate what that was. But it was difficult. It was hard, I think, for both of us to sort of maneuver. Not only was this something completely new to me but it was something completely new to him and a different, you know, a different way. It was definitely a work in progress but I think we got a good thing going and hopefully, we'll see what happens.

The actress added that she enjoyed the opportunity to create something new and different which still falls under the TRANSFORMERS label, and although there will still be plenty of action to be had, Hailee Steinfeld says that BUMBLEBEE will be "very character-driven and storyline-driven."

BUMBLEBEE is set for a December 21, 2018 release.