Michael Bay again updates TRANSFORMERS III

From ComingSoon.net:

"USA Today visited the set of Transformers III and got new details on the third film, opening in theaters on July 1, 2011. The newspaper confirmed it will be released in 3D.

Talking about the second film, director Michael Bay said, 'I'll take some of the criticism' while standing at a set built to resemble a dilapidated nuclear reactor. 'It was very hard to put (the sequel) together that quickly after the writers' strike (of 2007-08).'

Bay said that 'This one really builds to a final crescendo. It's not three multiple endings... As a trilogy, it really ends. It could be rebooted again, but I think it has a really killer ending.'

'One thing we're getting rid of is what I call the dorky comedy,' Bay added. So the twins, 'They're basically gone,' he said, though John Turturro returns for comic relief.

The newspaper says the new villain will be Shockwave, 'the robot cyclops-turned-laser-cannon, who became dictator of their home world of Cybertron after the other Autobots and Decepticons journeyed to Earth.'

According to USA Today, 'The new film features Sam Witwicky (LaBeouf) taking his first tenuous steps into adulthood while remaining a reluctant human ally of Optimus Prime.' 'Shia has this great line: 'You know, I've saved the world twice, but I can't get a job,' producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura said.

Transformers III centers around the space race between the U.S.S.R. and the USA, suggesting there was a hidden Transformers role in it all that remains one of the planet's most dangerous secrets.

'The movie is more of a mystery,' Bay said. 'It ties in what we know as history growing up as kids with what really happened.'"

Cool. 3D Transformers. Just like Megan Fox to skip out on the 3D.

Meet the new TRANSFORMERS girl!

From ComingSoon.net:

"Director Michael Bay's official website has confirmed that Victoria's Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has landed the lead female role in Transformers III. Huntington-Whiteley has worked with Bay before on his Victoria's Secret 'A Thousand Fantasies' ad.

She joins Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Ken Jeong, Patrick Dempsey and Alan Tudyk in the third film scheduled for release on July 1, 2011."



I'm in.



I'm still wondering how in the world Victoria's Secret got a hold of the news before Bay released the statement.

MUSIC:

"I'm In" by Keith Urban

No Twins for TRANSFORMERS III

From ComingSoon.net:

"Director Michael Bay says that Skids and Mudflap, which caused some controversy for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, will not be back for next summer's Transformers III. Bay posted a simple message on his forums stating that 'The Twins are not back in T3'."

Michael Bay updates TRANSFORMERS III

From ComingSoon.net:

"Michael Bay has made a big announcement about Transformers III on his official website! We'll let him do the talking..

'Hey, it's been a long time since I've posted. Just been a little busy.

Transformers III has been going very well. We are going to shoot in LA, Chicago, Washington DC, Florida, Texas, Africa, Moscow, and China. On the talent front, we just locked in Frances McDormand and John Malkovich. Both amazing actors I've always wanted to work with. We also just got Ken Jeong, he is the super funny actor stuck in the trunk from Hangover and the Doctor from Knocked Up.

We start shooting pre-shoots in about one month.

I also was at a Ferrari charity event this week raising money for a hospital being built by Ferrari in Haiti. I announced that night the newest Autobot to join Transformers: the Ferrari 458 Italia.

I also want to thank everyone on this site that donated to the Make -A-Wish charity. We raised $20,000 which I will personally be matching. This is a great charity where they make wishes come true for kids who are very ill. We have had many Kids from Make-A-Wish visit us on our Transformers sets and this time we will be posting video of their visits on Transformers III.'

Michael Bay'"

More Than Meets The Eye

From ComingSoon.net:

"In an article at Variety talking about films getting converted into 3D, the trade says it is still a possibility that Transformers III might add a dimension:

'Bay's next project is Transformers III and there have been discussions among Bay, Paramount and Industrial Light & Magic about going 3D with the pic. The big stumbling block is the extra time required to do production and visual effects in 3D, as the movie's release date is already set. Having the pic post-converted could alleviate that problem.'

The third installment is scheduled for a July 1, 2011 release."

Megan Fox "safe" for TRANSFORMERS III

From Slashfilm:

"Michael Bay has been hanging around at the launch of a Victoria’s Secret Show, with the excuse that he directs their commercials, and discussing his supposed nemesis in lipgloss, Megan Fox. And what does he have to say about her?

'I love her.'



Er… okay, Mike. He did also discuss the role he’s creating for her in the third Transformers film. 'She’s got a great part in Transformers III' he promised. So he’s not going to kill her off? 'No, no, no. She gets enough of that already.' Okay… whatever that means.

USA Today had Andrea Mandell on the scene, who got Bay to discuss the crazy hurtful things that Fox has said about him. Here’s their version of what he said:

'She called me [after the Hitler comment] and goes, ‘It’s all [BS], Mike.’ The press, they just like to prey, and stalk, and pounce and find a good little juicy thing. But she’s always wanted to do these crazy comments. That’s just her. She’s great.'

How dare the press pounce on her cute little Hitler comment like that. There was nothing offensive about it at all, not to anybody.

Okay, the only news here, really is that Bay is promising a big role for Fox in the next Transformers film. I don’t believe him when he says she won’t be killed off because I don’t really believe when he says anything he seems to be lying so often, but he does seem to be operating from the assumption that she’ll figure in the film in some sort of substantial capacity.

Well, as substantial as anything has ever been in a Michael Bay picture."

Michael Bay sets the date for TRANSFORMERS III

From ComingSoon.net:

"Director Michael Bay has announced on his official website the release date for Transformers III and says they are jumping right back into it! Oh, and he included a note to Megan Fox as well...

'Well its official: We have a great Transformers 3 story. The release date is now July 1st 2011. Not 2012.

Today is Day One. This morning started with an ILM meeting for five hours in San Francisco. Currently I'm flying with writer Ehren Kruger to Rhode Island to talk to Hasbro about new characters.

P.S. Megan Fox, welcome back. I promise no alien robots will harm you in any way during the production of this motion picture. Please consult your Physician when working under my direction because some side effects can occur, such as mild dizziness, intense nausea, suicidal tendencies, depression, minor chest hair growth, random internal hemorrhaging and inability to sleep. As some directors may be hazardous to your health, please consult your Doctor to determine if this is right for you.

Michael'

This puts it up against the Peter Berg-directed Battleship, also based on a Hasbro property, so we're guessing Universal will be moving that adaptation somewhere else.

Transformers made $709.7 million worldwide and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has made $832.4 million."

AWRIGHT!! He moved back a whole year! Rock some steel, Mike! Rock some... you know, Megan.

UPDATE:

Battleship has officially moved to August 5th, 2011.

TRANSFORMERS III comes together

From ComingSoon.net:

"Michael Bay's official website got an update from the director on his future projects:

* He will be meeting later this week with Steven Spielberg, and Ehren Kruger to discuss ideas for Transformers III. By the end of the week he should have an idea if Transformers III will hit your local cineplex in the summer of 2011 or 2012."

He did say July 4th, 2012. Is it remotely possible he can get it in faster than that.

Oh, and for anybody interested, it also mentions Bad Boys III possibly coming before or after Transformers III. Does this mean Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are coming back?

A Very TRANSFORMING DVD

From ComingSoon.net:

"Paramount Home Entertainment has announced that Michael Bay's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is hitting Blu-ray and DVD on October 20. The full specs... can be found below:

'With more action and more thrills, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen captivated audiences to earn over $820 million at the box office and become the #1 movie of the year in North America and throughout the world. The latest spectacular adventure in the wildly popular Transformers franchise will make its highly-anticipated DVD... debut on October 20, 2009 in immersive, two-disc Special Editions, as well as on a single disc DVD, from DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures in association with Hasbro; distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment. The eagerly-awaited home entertainment premiere will be accompanied by one of the division's biggest marketing campaigns ever, generating awareness and excitement of galactic proportions.

From director Michael Bay and executive producer Steven Spielberg, in association with Hasbro, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen delivers non-stop action and fun in an all-new adventure that the whole family can enjoy. Featuring out-of-this-world heroes in the form of the mighty Autobots and a malevolent and powerful villain known as The Fallen, the film boasts some of the most sensational--and complex--visual effects in film history set against the backdrop of spectacular locations around the world. In addition to audience favorites Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, the film's human stars have returned to help save the world including Shia LaBeouf (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), Megan Fox (How to Lose Friends & Alienate People), Josh Duhamel ('Las Vegas'), Tyrese Gibson (Four Brothers) and John Turturro (The Good Shepherd).

The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen two-disc... DVD feature over three hours of in-depth, immersive special features that let viewers further explore the world of the legendary Robots in Disguise. Among the engrossing content is a multi-chapter documentary, including interviews with the cast and crew, that chronicles the entire making of the film from development and design to filming in locations around the globe, working with the U.S. military, creating the groundbreaking visual effects and putting it all together to produce the biggest film of the year. The discs also include an all-access featurette following renowned director Michael Bay through an entire day, a comprehensive exploration of the 'confidential files' on a dozen of the Transformers characters featured in the film, multi-angle breakdowns of some of the most sensational action sequences and much, much more.

Two-Disc Special Edition DVD:

The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen two-disc Special Edition DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 televisions with Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, French 5.1 Surround and Spanish 5.1 Surround with English, French and Spanish subtitles.... The disc breakdown is as follows:

Disc 1:

* Commentary by Michael Bay, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman

Disc 2:

* The Human Factor: Exacting Revenge of the Fallen--This multi-chapter documentary chronicles the entire creation of the film and includes interviews with the cast and crew:
o Seeds of Vengeance - Development and Design - After the overwhelming success of 2007's Transformers, how do the filmmakers top themselves for the sequel?
o Domestic Destruction - Production: United States - Michael Bay believes in going big: Big action and big explosions. Cast and crew are pushed to the limit as they traverse the U.S. from New Mexico to Pennsylvania.
o Joint Operations - Production: Military - No other filmmaker in the world enjoys the kind of military access and cooperation Michael Bay has. Here we see just how efficient our armed forces are and the awe and respect shown by the cast.
o Wonders of the World - Production: Middle East - You can't really reproduce Egypt anywhere but Egypt so off we go to Giza and Luxor.
o Start Making Sense - Editing - In order to turn over the massive amount of film as quickly as possible to VFX, four editors work tirelessly in a unique tag-team approach to shape the film.
o Under the - Visual Effects - Revenge of the Fallen features the most complicated VFX in film history. So complicated in fact that the filmmakers were unsure they would make the line. The Devastator VFX alone required 83% of ILM's total render farm capacity.
o Running the Gauntlet - Post-Production and Release - Working seven days a week, Michael Bay and company usher the film through sound design, Digital Intermediate color-timing and a globe-trotting whirlwind of premieres.
* A Day with Bay: Tokyo--An intimate and fun all-access journey with Michael Bay as he travels to Tokyo, Japan for the world premiere of the biggest film of the year.
* 25 Years of Transformers--Access an all-new featurette celebrating a monumental milestone for one of Hasbro's most successful and popular franchises.
* NEST: Transformer Data-Hub--Explore conceptual artwork created by the production for 12 of the most popular Autobots and Decepticons from the film.
* Deconstructing Visual Bayhem with Commentary by Pre-Vis Supervisor Steve Yamamoto-- A series of multi-angle pre-visualization sequences allowing viewers to learn how some of the film's most spectacular scenes were created with an introduction by Michael Bay.
* Extended Scenes
* Music Video: Linkin Park's 'New Divide'"

I. CAN'T. WAIT.

The one thing Michael Bay is afraid of...

From ScreenRant:

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen comes out on [June 24th] but there’s still quite a lot of work that needs to be done to finish it off, including the voice overs of the Transformers characters for which Bay describes as 'still not done'.

This is by no means a major news item but it sure is interesting. At least one of the characters needing a voice is the title character of The Fallen where actor Leonard Nimoy is reportedly desired to fill the role. Transformers and Star Trek writer, Roberto Orci, wrote on the Don Murphy (a producer for the Transformers movies) forums last month that he talked to Nimoy about it but reminded fans to not to get their hopes up.

MTV spoke with director Michael Bay and asked if the Star Trek actor would be among the voice cast:

'You know, he’s related to me… And now that you are filming this, maybe you can send it to him.'

Laughing during the response, Bay went on to explain his hesitance at popping the big question...

'[Nimoy] is married to Susan Bay, who’s a cousin to me… I just feel kind of bad about asking him. Like 'I can’t pay you that much? But would you do this voice?'

Bay explains that he doesn’t want to insult the family member by presenting him with a lowball offer because of his very limited budget allocated to compensating the voice cast.... Nimoy apparently told Bay’s mom that he’s interested.... MTV asked Bay about this and he explained that him and Spock have a family member to relay communications between them and that Nimoy told his mom that he 'might do it.'"

COME ON, MICHAEL!! IT'S NOT THAT HARD!! "[imitating Roger Rabbit] P-p-please be in my blockbuster movie, Mr. Nimoy, sir?"

UPDATE:

From ScreenRant.com:

A few days ago, Screen Rant reported on Michael Bay’s desire to have his cousin and Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy voice the title character in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. While this sounds like a great idea and an obvious choice with Nimoy’s family connection to Bay, his status as a sci-fi icon and his previous involvement in the original 1986 Transformers movie [as Decepticon reboot of Megatron, Galvatron], it’s not so simple for director Michael Bay. Bay is literally afraid to ask Nimoy to participate in the film with less than two months to go before its release. In an interview with MTV, the issue was revealed by Bay in a laughing manner. He claimed that the voice actors on the movie get paid little and he’s afraid of disrespecting family members by calling Nimoy and giving him a lowball offer to play a part in the film. Because of that, they’ve not been in direct contact and have been using Bay’s mom as a go-between of sorts. In a similar style, Nimoy took the opportunity of one of his own interviews to respond to Bay. This occurred when El Guapo at Latino Review got a chance to speak with the original Spock during the Star Trek press day this weekend and asked him if Bay had contacted him yet. Nimoy responded by looking into the camera and saying, 'Call me, Michael! Call me!' Nimoy continued on to say he’d gladly be a part of Transformers but for some reason Bay’s afraid to just ask. After that, Nimoy again pleaded for Bay to call him."

YOU SEE, MICHAEL?! EVEN SPOCK WANTS YOU TO CALL HIM! GET SCOTTY TO BEAM YOU UP AND GET IN TOUCH WITH MR. VULCAN!!!

UPDATE 2:

Well, it looks like Leonard Nimoy will not play "The Fallen" as originally planned. He was replaced by Tony Todd, best known for his roles in the Final Destination films and played a role in Michael Bay's The Rock. Looks like you let that one get away, Michael!

Nimoy instead contributed his voice services for Brad Silberling's Land of the Lost as the voice of the Zarn.

Spielberg: "TRANSFORMERS 2 is awesome!"

From ComingSoon.net:

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen director Michael Bay says the film's executive producer, Steven Spielberg, thinks Bay's cut is "awesome" and that the new trailer will be released with X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Bay posted the following on his message board:

'Steven Spielberg sat next to me in a big 100 person theater at Sony today. There were 98 empty seats. The lights came up after we just watched my cut of Revenge of the Fallen. He turned to me and said, 'It's awesome'. He felt this movie was better then the first - and probably my best, who knows - at this point in a movie you start to lose your objectivity. I just hope the fans like it. I'm going to start putting it in front of audiences in a few weeks - no you are not invited, yet.

We have 60 days left. Let me tell you it will be a race to finish. It's 12 at night and we are still working here in the edit room. Everyone at ILM and DD are killing themselves right now, they are doing a stellar job on the effects. We also just finished our trailer which is coming out with Wolverine. Talk to you soon.'"

"In related Spielberg news..." actually, the Tintin picture came first. I'm going down ComingSoon's archives for things I've missed.

Besides, how can Spielberg be wrong? (Don't mention 1941)

New TRANSFORMERS 2 Robot Details & Photos Revealed

From ComingSoon.net:

"Yahoo! Movies and USA Today have premiered a list of the robots in Michael Bay's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, as well as debuted new photos and more details on Ravage and Soundwave. We've also received new photos as well, all of which you can view below!

Opening in conventional and IMAX theaters on June 24, the sequel stars Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, John Benjamin Hickey, Ramon Rodriguez, Isabel Luca and John Turturro."

THE ROBOTS' NAMES ARE -

ON THE AUTOBOT SIDE: Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Ratchet, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Arcee, Jetfire, Jolt, Skids & Mudflap (The Twins)

ON THE DECEPTICON SIDE: Starscream, Sideways, The Fallen, Scorponok, Soundwave, Ravage, The Doctor, Wheelie, Demolisher, Devastator = Scavenger + Scrapper + Hightower + Longhaul + Rampage + Overload + Mixmaster

This looks really, really good. And Bay's smart - keeping Megatron off the list. Can't wait to see how they do Arcee; hope they bring back Susan Blu.

But what's this? Wheelie on the Decepticon side? Whatever happened to The Transformers: The Movie?

Thor Than Meets the 3

From ComingSoon.net:

"Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures have set a July 4, 2012 release date for Transformers 3.

Transformers opened July 2, 2007; Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen debuts on June 24, 2009.

Paramount also has moved up the release of Marvel Studios' Thor from June 17, 2011 to May 20, 2011. This move sets the release for Thor just two weeks after Spider-Man 4 opens on May 6, 2011."

Apparently the first time this message was sent Michael Bay got extremely angry and sent Paramount Pictures this message:

"UPDATE: Michael Bay has posted a message on his forums which indicates that he meant for Paramount to schedule the third film for 2012, not 2011!

I said I was taking off a year from Transformers. Paramount made a mistake in dating Transformers 3 - they asked me on the phone - I said yes to July 4 - but for 2012 - whoops! Not 2011!!! That would mean I would have to start prep in September. No way. My brain needs a break from fighting robots. -- Michael"

I already can't wait for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and now I know when Transformers 3's coming out and that Micheal Bay confirms he's doing it -- to quote Syndrome from The Incredibles, "Oh, man! I'm still geeking out about it!"

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN New Photos!

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=51568
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=51575

This is looking really good. Michael Bay is sure to top himself with the sequel to the 2007 summer blockbuster.

"Autobots, transform and roll out!" - Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen)

P.S.
Believe it or not, Peter Cullen also does the voice of Eeyore from Winnie-the-Pooh. Unbelievable but true!