‘Transformers 5’ Release Date Teased — Michael Bay Returning, Optimus Prime Retiring?

The inevitable Transformers 5 release date may be close to being revealed. However, long-time critics of the live-action film series might be dismayed to learn what Hasbro has to say about it.

While the box office has applauded Michael Bay’s Transformers series, the critics have almost unanimously gone the opposite direction. With the disliked director in charge, it’s easy to see why. Every Transformers film up to this point has been dragged out with over-the-top fight scenes between robots that are hard to tell apart in the heat of the action. The dialogue tends to be poorly thought out, and there always seem to be robots that look, sound, and even act like generic stereotypes (including the allegedly racist twins from Revenge of the Fallen).

Throw in an abundance of explosions, tongue-in-cheek camera pans of women in revealing poses, and jokes you might need to explain to the franchise’s target audience, and you have what critics have been calling formulaic crap for years.

Even though Michael Bay appears to be returning to the franchise for Transformers 5, the release date has yet to be set and it is yet to be determined if he’s going to be the director or simply a producer, as he was with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot. According to Comicbook.com, Bay is back, confirms Hasbro President Stephen J. Davis during the MIP Junior Conference 2015.

“You’re going to see a new Transformers movie coming from Hasbro and Paramount and Michael Bay and our other partners. In fact … we decided we wanted to plot out the next 10 years of the Transformers franchise, so we got together in a 3 month period of time … nine of some of the most creative writers I have ever worked with – shepherded by Akiva Goldsman, who many of you may know won an Academy Award for A Beautiful Mind, and written a bunch of great movies. [They] plotted out the next ten years of Transformers. Similarly we are doing the same in television and digital. So stay tuned, [the] Transformers 5 [release date] is on its way. … And 6 and 7 and 8.”

It is important to note that even the best writers can still be behind some of the worst movies. Remember, Joss Whedon wrote Alien: Resurrection before he helmed The Avengers. In the end, it is always the director who has the final say about what the movie is like. This could be good news for the Transformers 5 release date, if Michael Bay is only the producer this time. This leaves room for another director to bring some dignity to the series.

The next movie could be split in two, with Optimus Prime facing the Quintessons (creators), and Mark Wahlberg’s Cade Yeager returning for the next film. However, Movie News Guide has stated that Optimus Prime could be retiring after his next film, meaning another Autobot will possibly be stepping into his big rig boots.

With new robots such as Ultra Magnus, Scourge, Cyclonus, Blitzwing, Override, and Red Alert being introduced, it’s very possible that by the Transformers 5 release date, Ultra Magnus could be taking over for Prime on Earth. While this mirrors the events from the original animated movie, it doesn’t mean Unicron will be the ultimate end for the series as Movie Web speculates. There have been no confirmations that Unicron will even be in the films.

Is ‘Transformers 5’ Optimus Prime’s Last Movie?: A new rumor claims that Optimus Prime will retire after ‘Tran… https://t.co/bpkkkaYijb

— Raj (@rajiyaaa) October 22, 2015

Further speculation would suggest that Cade Yeager might use his knowledge as an inventor, along with the money and technology from the KSI Preisdent, to build Hot Rod. In the same animated film mentioned above, Hot Rod ended up becoming Rodimus Prime, the new canonical leader of the Autobots.

With Michael Bay possibly staying on only as producer, the fate of the franchise could go either way on the possible 2017 Transformers 5 release date.

[Photo by Francois Durand / Getty Images; Image via Paramount Pictures]