‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’ Sequel And Optimus Prime Development Discussed By Producer
Transformers: Age of Extinction has grossed more than $400 million domestically and internationally, and Paramount Pictures has already guaranteed that Transformers 5 will be coming in the next couple of years (via ScreenRant). Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura spoke in an interview released Friday of how sequels are developed for the Michael Bay and Hasbro franchise, what’s in store for the next installment and how we might see Optimus Prime develop as a character.
Warning: There are potential spoilers in the article from this point forward.
“The potential for future movies is there now,” Bonaventura told Collider in an interview recorded after the Transformers: Age of Extinction Hong Kong premiere but not released until now. “We don’t really think that much about what is going to be the next thing. Maybe our writer does a bit, but the rest of us are so focused trying to get this monster off the ground that it’s impossible to think ahead really.”
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to those who have seen the four Transformers films and the seemingly haphazard way they are put together. Interestingly, Bonaventura says that they’ve tried to work the Dinobots into the franchise but could never figure out how to work them in to the story until Age of Extinction.
“It’s interesting how things happen sort of organically. We tried to figure out how to get the Dinobots in. That led to the notion of extinction. Then that led to ‘how did they get extinct?’ Oh, ok. Then someone came down here and made them extinct. Well, who came down here? Who came before the Transformers that we know?”
“That’s the way the progression of thought happened to get us to the place where we had this notion that there are beings that exist prior to and perhaps more powerfully than our Transformers.”
For those not familiar with the Transformers mythology, there is an entire backstory to how the race of robots was created by a species named the Quintessons. They were originally introduced in the original 80s animated series following the release of Transformers: The Movie. This piece of history and more is what the next film will focus on.
“If you know the mythology of Transformers, you know something about how their planet came apart and how Megatron and Optimus [Prime] were once on the same side. How their society atrophied and why did it atrophy. That’s sort of the questions that we got to the notion of how did they start, where did they come from.”
There’s also expected to be some development of Optimus Prime as a character. Events in Age of Extinction leave him feeling angry and betrayed. The introduction of the bounty hunter Lockdown sent by the creators also ticks him off enough at the end of the movie to leave Earth on a new quest to hunt them down.
“Here’s a guy who has sacrificed everything and in this movie he watches and learns of the death of many of his friends in a very callous fashion. He’s kind of had enough. I think that’s going to make him evolve forward as a character in a great way where he’s not bound in the same way by the same Optimus ethos. His ethos is moving forward,” Bonaventura said.
“The notion of trying to figure out where Transformers comes from is a really cool idea.”
Do you agree that a film that delves into the origin of the Transformers is a good idea? Or did the Bay-hem of Age of Extinction put you off on the franchise?
I don’t intend on watching the new Transformers. Tony Zhou labels his overblown style “Bayhem”. http://t.co/ympj7awsEp #filmmaking
— Patrick Y. Lee (@PatrickYLee) July 4, 2014
[Image via Transformers: Age of Extinction]
