The Transformers

[MASON]

I am surprised that there is not a movie review for The Transformers on here. Here it goes...

Cat had called me to tell me it was THE BEST movie of the summer. I was very hesitant, thinking to myself, "you've just set the bar pretty high." I then saw the movie...

It is WITHOUT A DOUBT the BEST movie of the summer. Now I hear Harry Potter's movie may be better, but I have no intention of seeing it.

This movie was action-packed! The Special Effects were incredible! You could not tell what was CGI and what wasn't. The best part is that you do not even have to be a fan of the series to enjoy this movie. You can walk right in without knowing anything and not miss a beat. Definetely worth your time and money to see more than once.

Go see it!

[muthagoose]

Bay Already At Work On "Transformers 2"

"Transformers" director Michael Bay says that he's already written the sequel to last year's mega blockbuster reports Rotten Tomatoes.

Speaking at the recent VES awards, Bay said "I've been writing Transformers 2. We've got our characters all designed. I always write all my scripts, my movies anyway so at least I've got something to give the writers. It's like a template. We have a really good outline so I worked on that."

Why'd he do it that way? "We had to because I want to make my date. I'm not going to let the strike take me down" he says.

Bay also tells The IESB that there will be no Dinobots, but there will be a lot more robots this time.

[muthagoose]

TRANSFORMERS 2 Details

The IESB has some new details on the upcoming "Transformers" sequel - most importantly which new heroes and baddies will we get to see this time around.

They say the Decepticons will be getting some new help in the form of Constructicons. In the cartoons were Scrapper, Bonecrusher, Scavenger, Mixmaster, Hook and Long Haul.

They also claim we're going to see "Devastator" on the big screen this time. The film begins shooting in July with pre-production well underway.

[muthagoose]

Michael Bay To Spread "Transformers" Lies?

"Transformers 2" director Michael Bay claims that, short of news that filming is taking place in Philadelphia, everything else that has hit the Net about the upcoming "Transformers" sequel is BS.

He says on his official site:

"Sorry everyone, everything you are reading (other then we are shooting in Philly) is false. We are going to give so much disinformation on this film to confuse everyone."

[muthagoose]

Transformers 2 will be in 3D!

In a welcome surprise, director Michael Bay has confirmed on his message board that he has cast Aussie soap actress Isabel Lucas (TV's "Home and Away") for the role of "Alice" in the upcoming "Transformers" sequel.

Lucas name was first rumored last week after appearing on an online casting database. As two previous casting rumors were shot down by Bay in the previous fortnight, many wondered if the Lucas casting would turn out to be another bit of speculation (myself included).

Turns out the talk was correct and Lucas is in. Meanwhile the film has been added to a list of upcoming 3-D releases for next year in the latest issue of the Dolby newsletter. The problem though is one of availability of 3D screens with "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" already locking up a lot of the Digital 3D screens available in the marketplace.

[muthagoose]

Rainn Wilson in for 'Transformers 2'
Actor to play a small role in the sequel

If you've ever wondered just how Dwight Schrute would handle himself in a brawl with a gigantic robot, well ... it looks like you're going to get an answer.

Rainn Wilson, who plays the intense (and intensely funny) Schrute on NBC's "The Office," has revealed to MTV that he has been cast in DreamWorks' "Transformers 2." The sequel to last year's megahit about a race of automotive automatons smashing it out on Earth reteams director Michael Bay with returning stars Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and John Turturro.

The story was conceived by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, who wrote last year's "Transformers," as well as Ehren Kruger, who wrote the screenplay. Filming began in Los Angeles in recent weeks and is moving to Pennsylvania and then overseas.

Although a small part, Wilson's casting -- his first in a big-budget studio franchise -- could be a shrewd play for a comedy crowd that might not otherwise patronize a bombastic Bay extravaganza. He will play a college professor to LaBeouf's new undergrad. Discussions with Jonah Hill to take another small role did not pan out.

The writer-actor, who also had a small role in "Juno," stars in "The Rocker," opening Aug. 1, and is working on the screenplay for "Bonzai Shadowhands" with Jason Reitman for Reitman's Hard C. Wilson is repped by 3 Arts and WMA.

[muthagoose]

Transformers 2 Updates

Lots has been going on in regards to next Summer's arguably most anticipated sequel - "Transformers 2" - and here's a compendium of all the latest action.

First up the title has been announced and move over "Terminator Salvation", here comes "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen". Shudder.

Meanwhile, Michael Bay tells MTV News that unlike other films of late, this sequel will NOT serve as a setup for a third film and insists the project will be completely self contained.

Some filming will take place next month at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base's Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group in Tuscon - a facility better known as 'The Boneyard' as it is the sole respository of out-of-service aircraft from all branches of the U.S. government.

Shooting has been very public on the project of late with photos leaking out all over the place - most notably here and here. The photos cover the night shoots at the Bethlehem Steel Factory which was transformed into a war-ravaged fictional Chinese city for the early scenes of the upcoming sequel. The full-sized Optimus Prime robot has been spotted on set as most of the filming revolved around helicopters buzzing and lots of pyrotechnics.

[muthagoose]

More "Transformers 2" Details

CHUD reports that according to their sources, 'The Fallen' of the upcoming "Transformers" sequel's new subtitle 'Revenge of the Fallen' is actually a character from comic book continuity.

More specifically he's an ancient Transformer who's essentially the Devil of their mythology as in one of the original good 13 Transformers who turned on his fellow beings and was cast down. Now he's 'The Fallen', a being of power, darkness, and absolute dedication to Unicron - the twin brother and arch-enemy of the Transformers creator Primus who was sealed with Fallen into extradimensional limbo.

New Transformers in this film include remote-control truck 'Wheels' (blurry photos), three Can-Am Spyder motorbikes become 'Arcee', a beat up old ice cream truck which becomes 'The Twins', the 2008 Pontiac Solstice which becomes 'Jazz', and an Autobot based on the Chevrolet Beat concept car.

Over the weekend John Turturro, Megan Fox, and Shia Lebeouf were all part of a scene set around a SR-71 Blackbird at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia which transforms into 'Jetfire' during the scene apparently.

Shooting gets underway in Philadelphia this week, making notable use of the University of Pennsylvania for college scenes with Sam (Shia LaBeouf), a local power station, and the Eastern State Penitentiary (now a museum) which will be used for a possible jail break scene.

[muthagoose]

A very cool blog that features all the latest Transformers news and happenings...

transformerslive.blogspot.com/

Well worth a look!

[muthagoose]

Transformers, Spielberg Leaving Paramount?

The rumors continue to mount that Steven Spielberg and his DreamWorks partners plan to jump ship and start a new independent studio (like DreamWorks use to be) with the help of Indian conglomerate Reliance. If a deal is signed, the goal is to make 30 films over five years.

Currently a distribution deal exists with Paramount through the end of the year but after that Spielberg and company (David Geffen, Stacey Snider, etc) can leave and take the "DreamWorks" name with them. He can then form the new company with the existing name or start a whole new brand. It is expected that a deal will be made by the end of the summer.

What impact will this have on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen coming out next year? At most, the impact you will see will be what title card might show up at the beginning of the film and no anything else. Paramount shared the cost of Transformers 1 with DreamWorks, more then likely they are doing the same with Transformers 2. Between that ownership stake and the Spielberg leaving rumors over the last couple of years, there are probably contracts in place that protect Paramount. Besides, budgets have been allotted, plans have been made and to de-rail them now would not financially be worth it for anyone. Since Michael Bay probably has Final Cut stipulation in his contract, studio interference is a non-issue anyway since he can take or ignore their wishes as he sees fit.

As for future sequels, its all comes down to who owns the movie rights to the films. Are they owned by Hasbro and lent to DreamWorks/Paramount or are the rights completely or partially owned by one of the movie studios since Transformers was a co-production between DreamWorks and Paramount. It’s even possible that while Spielberg will be able to take the DreamWorks name with him, he will not able to take some of his toys with him such as DreamWorks existing library and current deals (which might include Transformers). If that is the case then Paramount would essentially become sole owner of the franchise, with the control that brings since the protection of Spielberg as executive producer would likely end. Don't under estimate how much studio interference the involvement of Spielberg and Bay in the franchise probably prevented (for good or bad depends on your point of view).

It is also possible that ownership would transfer to the new studio. I am not sure if that is a good thing or not as the cost of a third Transformers film would be beyond the budget of a fledging studio (even with Spielberg at the helm) resulting in a need to share the costs. Other then likely delaying the work on a third film by a few years, the result of that relationship could be a boom or a bust depending on the people (and money) involved.

The absolute worse case scenario is lawsuits where movie rights ownership has to get decided in a court of law. That could bog down the franchise for years. Hopefully whatever Spielberg decides the contracts involving Transformers protects its future.

[muthagoose]

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Game Officially Announced

It has long been speculated that there would be a video game based on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, now it is official. Today Team Xbox has reported that Activision announced today that it will publish a video games based on "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen".

The game will be developed by Luxoflux.

[muthagoose]

Writers Reveal Transformers Theme; No Dinobots

MTV discussed Transformers 2 with script writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Sadly the interview pretty much confirms what we all knew was probably the case - no Dinobots. "We couldn’t quite figure out how to justify a robot that would pretend to be a dinosaur" Orci said.

When asked about the return of Megatron, Orci responded "That would be silly" suggesting maybe the "Fallen" is not Megs as many believe. Of course this could just them having fun with providing a little misinformation and hiding plans that they plan on the "silly" return of Megatron.

They also revealed the theme of the sequel. Where the first is about a boy and his car, the second according to Orci is "It’s about being away from home. It’s a few years later and Sam is going to finally go to college and he’s going to face being away from home just as the Autobots are having to deal with being away from Cybertron."

"Oh, and what about that title? Why “Revenge of the Fallen”? Orci deadpanned, “Because ‘Transformers 2′ sounds stupid.”"

[muthagoose]

Shia LaBeouf's Injuries Added to TF2 Story

Michael Bay sat down with an interview with Access Hollywood in support of Shia LaBeouf. He says that Shia had drunk earlier that day but during the accident was not drunk and it looks like the hand injury will be incorporated into the movie.

“You’re gonna see — that’s gonna go away,” Bay said. “That’s fresh news… He was not drunk. He was drinking hours and hours before.”
Shortly before 2:30 AM, another driver ran a red light, according to authorities who confirmed LaBeouf is now not being investigated for causing the crash.

“I spoke to him yesterday in the hospital,” Bay said. “His two fingers are pretty mashed, but we’re figuring out a way to shoot around it, kind of write it in the story.”

“We had a little heart to heart the week before when he bought a brand new motorcycle and I [said] ‘Dude! You cannot ride that motorcycle! If you crash, you put 1,500 people out of work,’” the director recounted. “He said, ‘Ok, I won’t ride it, I won’t ride it, I’ll just drive my truck.’”

“The kid really has his head together and you know, he’s only 22,” Bay said. “He’s doing a great job on this movie. He’s really matured since the last one and I love working with him.”

I hope Shia has a speedy and good recover. I especially hope he has good pain killers (but avoids getting addicted to them) as he is about to feel every little bump that occurs anywhere near that hand for the next several months. You don't realize how many times in a day you get bumped by people and things on a daily basis until you start feeling every single one.

One month probably isn't enough to recover to the point that Shia can actively participate in action scenes and stunts. Considering that probably Shia's most action intensive scenes have yet to be shot, Bay and his team have a lot of logistical reworking to do. Bay likes to have his actors in as many stunts that is safe for them, but in this case his options are pretty limited as it wouldn't take much to re-damage Shia's hand even a month later. I guess time will tell on how this plays out.

[muthagoose]

LaBeouf Injury Halts Transformers 2?

The TFW2005 Web site reported a rumor that production of the upcoming sequel film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has been halted for four weeks because of star Shia LaBeouf's hand injury.

The four-week hiatus applies to the sequel's first unit; another unit that is shooting secondary footage for the film will continue to shoot, the site added.

The site added that there is no sign the forced hiatus will affect the movie's release, currently slated for June 26, 2009.

LaBeouf injured his left hand in an auto accident on July 27 in Los Angeles.

[muthagoose]

Transformers Co-Writer Talks "Transformers" Sequel

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" co-screenwriter Roberto Orci has talked with TFW2005 about how the film's production is going and what to expect in the sequel.

One promising remark - "The first movie is all about the mystery and reveal of the Transformers as a concept and a species, which means we had to hide them a lot in the first hour. In the second movie, now that everyone believes in the universe, we can jump right into the world of the Transformers. The first movie was meant to be somewhat of a mystery. For the sequel, we need an entirely different structure and paradigm for the movie, and we can't rely on it being the first."

There's also a more comedic bent - "We were emulating the style of movie from the old Amblin days, like Back to the Future and Gremlins. Also, comedy makes things more accessible to a larger audience." A theme of the film is the responsibilities you face when being away from home.

More set photos are up of Shia LaBeouf with his hand injury on the set. Of the injury, Orci says "Luckily nothing has to be reshot. Yes, we were on set last week to write it into the movie, not because it's absolutely necessary, but more because we want to make sure Shia's hand is protected for the remainder of the shoot." The sequel is going to be about the same time runtime and a PG-13 rating, but will have more of a global feel, will be darker, and will incorporate several things they wanted to do in the first film but dropped due to budget constraints.

Marketing will begin its big push in November and a teaser trailer will be out before year's end.

[lianxiang301]

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