Transformers One isn’t in theaters until later this week, but franchise producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura is already looking toward the series’ next moves.
Di Bonaventura provided a few updates in a recent interview with Collider, teasing his plans for the series in both live action and animation. As for the latter, di Bonaventura says they’re planning on a sequel to Transformers One, depending on its success at the box office, and it will “exist completely separately to whatever we do live-action.” The first animated Transformers movie in more than 40 years is currently tracking for a decent debut in the $30 million range domestically, according to Deadline.
On the live-action front, di Bonaventura confirmed that the next live-action Transformers film, following Rise of the Beasts, will be the G.I. Joe crossover that was officially revealed at CinemaCon earlier this year. At the time, Paramount said that movie would hit theaters in 2025 or 2026. Di Bonaventura cautioned that it’s still in early development, but also teased how the emotional story in Transformers One might affect the series’ future in live-action.
“Where it will be particularly affected is the fact that we now know what these robots are capable of emotionally in a way,” he told the outlet. “So we’re going to have to figure out how to create that room, that we can afford that, and create a story that you can take more advantage of that. So one of the things that I’m particularly interested in doing, and we’re still in the development phase, so nothing is by any means written in stone, but I think we need to do more now from the robot point of view in the live-action because that’s the only way you’re really going to get inside them.”
Di Bonaventura continued to discuss how the series might balance the human story vs. the robot story. Due to its place very early in the franchise’s timeline, Transformers One has no human characters, instead largely focusing on the origins of Optimus Prime and Megatron. Moving forward, the producer said the robots’ own drives, rather than their reactions to the human plot, “has to be part of that story now.”
He also noted that the sheer amount of characters will make the story more “complicated,” a common problem in franchise films.
“You kind of got to keep going, keep it smaller, keep it smaller,” he explained. “So we’ll be in that process for a while where we’ll start with a bunch of Joes and a bunch of Transformers and I’ll say, regular humans, and then you’re going to do this. That’s kind of where we are right now, is trying to put the larger thing in place. The trick in this one, like we were talking about here, in trying to find that tone and balance is like, ‘Well, how much of the Joes do you want? And how much of the Transformers do you want?'”
We don’t know too much else about the Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover yet, although it was reported in May that Chris Hemsworth is in talks to star. It would mark his second Transformers project, as Hemsworth voices Optimus Prime/Orion Pax in Transformers One.
We gave Transformers One a 5/10 in our review, writing, “Transformers One’s strong central friendship – and a great Brian Tyree Henry performance – aside, this animated origin story could have used some major transforming before rolling out.”
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
