Paramount Pictures and Hasbro Studios have found a director for their new TRANSFORMERS movie, which is intended to reinvent the franchise. It has been announced that CREED II director Steven Caple Jr. has been tapped to helm the film although, according to "Deadline", negotiations have yet to begin. That being said, he is the top choice among studio execs and producers and a deal is expected to close in the coming weeks.
Caple has seemed to really impress the powers that be. After meeting with several top execs that included Paramount Motion Picture President Emma Watts, the studio saw Caple as the best fit to revamp the franchise. If you recall back in January, the studio made big moves to give the entire franchise a revamp by having two simultaneous scripts in active development. One was by James Vanderbilt and one was by Joby Harold. The studio ultimately went with Harold's take and the writer put the final touches on the script over the summer.
Paramount Pictures wants to keep the TRANSFORMERS IP going because while it has been met with a mixed critical reception, the franchise has been insanely lucrative, grossing more than $4 billion worldwide over five films. Michael Bay had been the driving directorial force of the films but he ultimately parted ways with the franchise after 2017's TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT to focus on new material. When Bay stepped down as director, the studio started a writer's room that was established to develop multiple ways to pursue a new film and this led to the 2018 spin-off, BUMBLEBEE. While not as successful as the bulk of the franchise, the film still grossed $468 million worldwide, and it's the best-reviewed film of the bunch with an impressive 91% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Honestly, for my money, it's the only truly good film across all the movies while the rest have been moderately entertaining to downright unwatchable and chaotic.
Do YOU think Steven Caple Jr. is the best choice to take on TRANSFORMERS?