Given the state of Hollywood at the moment thanks to the COVID-19 lock-down, production on any sort of live-action blockbuster is an impossibility, but it's a little easier to get the ball rolling on an animated film as much of the work can be done remotely; To that end, Paramount and Hasbro are moving forward on a large-scale animated TRANSFORMERS prequel, and Deadline reports that they've tasked Josh Cooley with helming the film.
Josh Cooley made his feature directorial debut with TOY STORY 4, which won Best Animated Feature at the 92nd Academy Awards. The TRANSFORMERS prequel is said to take place on Cybertron and revolve around the relationship between Optimus Prime and Megatron. Deadline says that this film will be separate from the live-action franchise, but that new installments of TRANSFORMERS and BUMBLEBEE are still part of Paramount and Hasbro's plan. The script has been penned by Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari, who were credited writers on ANT-MAN AND THE WASP.
As far as the live-action side of the TRANSFORMERS franchise goes, Paramount and Hasbro snagged James Vanderbilt, best known for ZODIAC and THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, and Joby Harold, best known for KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD and Zack Snyder's upcoming ARMY OF THE DEAD, earlier this year and tasked them with writing scripts for two separate TRANSFORMERS projects which are being developed simultaneously. It's still too early to know what direction these projects will take, but it's been said that both projects "present an opportunity build out multiple storylines within the franchise."