"Transformers: Age of Extinction," the fourth film in the "Transformers" franchise, garnered worldwide box office earnings of $1.1 billion despite negative reviews all across the board. Thus, it comes as no surprise that the studios behind the film series are moving ahead with a fifth entry. Furthermore, they also brought in a slew of talented writers to work on expanding the films into a cinematic universe similar to what Marvel has done with their "Avengers" properties.
That doesn't mean "Transformers 5" is going to be set aside so that the studios can focus entirely on spin-offs. According to Vinereport, it appears that the fifth film is being fast tracked for a 2017 release window.
The report says actors Mark Wahlberg and Nicola Peltz are set to return as Cade and Tessa Yaeger, respectively. There are also rumors that Shia Lebeouf, the human lead in the first three films, may return for the fifth entry in the franchise. Neither Lebeouf's camp nor Paramount Pictures has confirmed this yet at the time of writing.
However, the report also points out that the fifth film may no longer focus on Optimus Prime since "Age of Extinction" ended with the Autobot leader leaving Earth to pursue the "Creators" who were allegedly responsible for creating the Transformers and other similar beings in the universe.
According to Vinereport, this gives substance to the rumors that the fifth film will introduce new robots such as Ultra Magnus, Cyclonus, and Scrounge. This also hints at the possible introduction of the planet-eating Transformer known as Unicron, previously voiced by Orson Welles in the 1986 animated feature film.
The spin-offs, on the other hand, are reportedly being worked on by "The Walking Dead" creator Robert Kirkman, "I am Legend" writer Akiva Goldsman, and Marvel film scribes Zak Penn, Matt Holoway, and Art Marcum.
One of the rumored spin-offs is an origin story set entirely in Cybertron. This might mean it is an animated CGI film from start to end and may focus on the war between Optimus and Megatron before the All-Spark was lost and the planet destroyed.
The other spin-off is rumored to be a film focused on Bumblebee although there are no current details if this is going to be a prequel or a separate spin-off that occurs in between the events of the films.
