While I was never a big fan of the TRANSFORMERS series (though I'll go to bat for the first one), I admit I was kind of optimistic about the idea of a TRANSFORMERS "Writer's Room" with the likes of Steven DeKnight, Robert Kirkman, Zak Penn, Jeff Pinkner, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, Lindsey Beer, and Christina Hodson. Hell, even though it was headed by BATMAN & ROBIN screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, there was still enough talent to maybe make something interesting out of this increasingly stagnant franchise.
Well, it seems after two films (THE LAST KNIGHT and the upcoming BUMBLEBEE spin-off) the Writer's Room has been officially disbanded. Producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura explains:
The writers room which was set up by all of us was set up to explore the mythology more…It was set up for a few different reasons but the biggest thing that happened in it was they expanded the mythology of Transformers in a way that allowed us to go to King Arthur. There’s different areas, like we’ve examined World War II, etc.
I mean…it took that many people to come up with that? That shit was the worst part of the film! I guess if theoretically you put a bunch of monkeys with typewriters they'll eventually write Shakespeare, I suppose the opposite is true – put a bunch of good writers together, eventually they'll come up with shit.
Meanwhile, BUMBLEBEE – the second of only two films from the writing room – will roll out into theaters December 21st, 2018.