‘Transformers’: ‘Creed 2’ Director Steven Caple Jr. Eyed to Direct New Movie

Paramount Pictures and Hasbro Studios picked Steven Caple Jr., the director of Creed II, to helm a new Transformers movie. Negotiations with Caple have not started yet, but he has met with several top Paramount executives, including the studio’s Motion Picture President, Emma Watts, sources told Deadline. At the meeting, Paramount decided Caple was the best director to captain the franchise.

Back in January, Paramount announced plans to reinvent the franchise and hired James Vanderbilt and Joby Harold to work on scripts separately. Harold’s script was ultimately chosen as the foundation for the next live-action Transformers movie. After Harold worked on the script over the summer, Paramount began taking pitches from directors. Caple came out on top. He is best known for directing Creed II, the sequel to Ryan Coogler’s Rocky spin-off starring Michael B. Jordan. Caple also directed episodes of Class in 2015 and the 2016 film The Land. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new Transformers film’s release date is June 24, 2022. It is not known what the plot will involve.

“We are already working on two projects and both have scripts under development,” producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura said in January, reports ComicBook.com. “One is the latest in the main family series following the events of Transformers: The Last Knight and the other is a sequel to Bumblebee. So, we are thinking of films where Optimus Prime and Bumblebee will be the buddies, but when Optimus and Bumblebee are the movies of the protagonists… how human beings get involved in their drama In the first place, the size is different between human beings and their’s… It’s a worrying point.”

In April, Deadline reported eOne and Paramount hired Josh Cooley, who directed Pixar’s Toy Story 4, to helm an animated Transformers film. The movie will serve as a prequel to Transformers and is set on their home planet of Cybertron. It is set to focus on Optimus Prime and Megatron’s relationship. It was written by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, who worked on Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp. Cooley is also working with the writers on a new script.

The Transformers movie franchise launched in 2007 and now includes five films that have grossed over $4 billion total worldwide. Paramount has been looking for new ways to keep the franchise alive ever since Michael Bay left after 2017’s Transformers: The Last Knight. The studio has since decided to take a new approach to the property, following the success of the first spinoff film, 2018’s Bumblebee.