And we would get a 3 and half hour long TF movie. No, thanks. In fact he is busy with The Hobbit trilogy.

 

Andrew Stanton and/or Lee Unkrich, we'd get some emotion injected into it.

 

We started falling apart when we went a month without new stuff. We'd absolutely starve if we got JJ Abrams.

Also. Give me Spielberg or give me death. Spielberg was working on the movies before bay was. And you know that if he directed TF4 we'd get a movie similar to feel like the first which had the Spielberg magic all over it that got there when he basically was the driving steam behind the script's start.

Spielberg made Jurassic Park about the dinosaurs while only showing 5 minutes of Dinosaurs.

 

Ridley Scott.

 

Here's some things that occurred to me while thinking about this.

1. Spielberg will be handpicking the next director. Therefore it will likely be someone he's either worked with before or someone he wants to work with.

2. DOTM borrowed heavily from The Ultimate Doom and Megatron's Master Plan. It's probable that TF4 will also borrow plot elements from a G1 episode.

3. Everything is more awesome with dinosaurs.

Add these three things together and what do you get? TF4 will be directed by Joe Johnston, director of Jurassic Park III (and hot off of Captain America), it will borrow from/update the plot of Dinobot Island, and feature the Dinobots arriving on Earth and taking on the forms of living dinosaurs on this peculiar island which may or may not be being studied by an archaeologist played by Jason Statham.

Discuss.

 

The only way I'd lobby for Jason Statham's inclusion is if he PLAYED one of the Dinobots.

 

He's busy doing his not Alien prequel right? Anyways, I'd like to see Blomkamp do it after he gets more experience. Until then, give Jon Favreau or Steven Spielberg a shot.

 

Chris Nolan or Jerry Bruckheimer. Both made seemingly dull movies great, Nolan made Batman even more badass, and Bruckheimer made pirates cool again.

 

That's not a bad idea.

 

I've actually championed this idea when it looked like Bay might not return for the previous sequels. A bonus for Edgar Wright is that he's aped the Michael Bay style before(seriously, Hot Fuzz was a fantastic action movie, and very tightly plotted, as well). I think he'd be a great fit.

Another guy who I've always thought would be a fantastic fit was Brad Bird, and he's just about to release his first live action feature, the new Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. I think he could do a really fun Transformers movie.

I'm going to throw out a really unlikely name, but I'm such a huge fan of his work... Tim McCanlies. McCanlies was the screenwriter on Iron Giant, then wrote and directed a fantastic movie called Secondhand Lions. I wonder how he might handle the action scenes, but I think if you brought him in to write and direct, it could be a fascinating match.

Also, bear in mind... the screenwriter is going to be just as important as the director. If you don't get the right people doing the screenwriting, it won't matter what director you get. I'd like to see someone who can handle humor, drama and action together well, and someone with genre experience. So, to address the original topic... if Ben Edlund WROTE the next Transformers movie, I think it would be awesome.

 

Choice 1: James Cameron.

Love him or loathe him (and quite a few do loathe him), James Cameron is good at making money and directing action movies. Terminator 2 and Aliens are the action movie (and more importantly sequel) yard sticks for many professional film expert and casual movie viewer alike. Akira Kurosawa is also well regarded here but disqualified for sadly having passed from this world /respect.

Choice 2: Jon Favreau.

The man that directed Iron Man has left an indelible mark on me as they're great movies that balance some ball busting action set pieces (the Breakout, the liberating of Gulmira) and some solid character work (Tony going from a spoiled rich guy to a hero) that remained reasonably consistent across two movies.

Choice 3: Stephen Spielberg.

This choice speaks for itself really.

 

I like pre-1997 Cameron, I hate post-1997 Cameron. I thought Avatar was cliched and dragged alot and I haven't seen Titanic. T1, T2, True Lies, The Abyss, Aliens, are all epic. If Cameron gets back into his T2 mode, a TF movie by him would be awesome. But if he's in Avatar mode, it would suck.

 

I'll second that pre-97 cameron idea! Avatar didn't do it for me either.

 

I agree, his writing can be hit and miss when its only his own, whereas T1 and T2, and Aliens were all written by a team of people. Also he helped Stallone with the screenplay for Rambo: First Blood Part II.

So, keep him restrained from taking over the writing (hope the writer has balls of steel) and nail him to the directors chair and we'd have a winner.

 

Keep in mind guys, this is a billion dollar franchise now. They will want someone who can match those numbers, and let's be honest here, that won't be Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim was such a big flop that it killed Universal's R-rated/high risk movies) or Blommkamp (only one movie). I'd love to see either take over, but no, there's no way.

Snyder's a possibility and could be a VERY good match, but only 300 turned a nice profit, and we have yet to see whether or not Man of Steel will turn out to be good and profitable. And he'd need a good, solid script to work off, because a weak one will just spell disaster. The man does not know how to make up for a faulty script, perhaps more so than Bay.

Favreau? Maybe, but there are several factors working against him. He probably has a stigma of a trouble maker after the whole Marvel Studios incident. But maybe if Cowboys VS Aliens turns out to be a critical and financial success. Critically especially, because Iron Man may have just been a fluke for him.

Joe Johnston? Only if Captain America turns out to be success, and then it's unlikely that Marvel would let him go. Not to mention that there's a big chance that IF Cap turns out to be good, there's a very good chance that it will be a fluke, considering his extremely spotty track record. Do we really want someone to helm this movie, when there's a good chance that it could become a giant mess?

Spielberg is the most likely to take over, but he seems very picky with his choices nowadays, and may just hire another guy.

Del Toro? Would be an awesome choice, but look at how much he has on his plate. The monster island movie, he still wants to do At the Mountains of Madness, a ton of other stuff...He's booked full. Besides, what's the last time he had a hugely financially successful movie behind his name?

Abrams knows sci-fi, knows how to include mystery, how to handle CGI, etc. And he has worked with Abrams before. But he'd be a good match for Bay's style, while making more use of the characters and story. I don't think he would hide the characters either, which IMO is a bit of an odd notion. He may be the best pick for this.

James Cameron? Yeah, no way. Never mind that he scoffed at it when it was still being shopped around, he's still wrapped up with the Avatar sequels, and there's no chance in hell that Paramount will wait for him to finish. Or that Fox will let him go and make a big blockbuster for a competitor.

Vince Vaughn could be another good pick, but how much experience does he have with using CG? Kick Ass barely had any, and with First Class there was just the effects stuff. Could he handle CG characters, do action sequences with them, while making them also feel like actual characters? First Class made a decent buck, but will it be enough to convince the studioheads of Paramount to hire him? And won't he be busy with future X-Men movies?

Nolan? Hell will freeze over before he touches the property.

Stephen Sommers, thankfully, has no chance in hell of being hired, thanks to the GI Joe mess. He'd be a horrible fit too.

I'd personally like to see Kenneth Branagh, since he has a nice grasp on how to handle grand cosmic stuff and make it seem believable, while in anyone else's hands it would have been a campy disaster. Give him a large budget, a good script, and I reckon he could make something grand of it. Hell, Thor brought in a very nice number, so that alone should catch the attention of studio heads.

If I were to guess, it'll either be Spielberg or Abrams. Maybe Snyder or Favreau.

 

We all know Jimmy's ego would get in the way of him being nailed down. Hell tom cruise punched him because of how much of an ass he was.

If he directs transformers it would end up being mostly about the love interest of Sam Worthington and Arcee. Resulting in a vile sex scene that scare the life out of the younger children.

 

Neil Blomkamp and Jon Favreau since they might be the only one who has time if they want TF4 in 2013. My votes goes to Favreau the more I think about it since Cowboys and Aliens is done. Favreau has made big $$$ for Paramount with Iron Man 1 and 2.

Spielberg will be too busy with Jurassic Park reboot and Indy 5
JJ Abram will be busy with Star Trek 2
James Cameron is too busy with Avatar 2
Nolan is too busy with Dark Knight Rises
Peter Jackson is too busy with The Hobbit

 

The JP reboot hasn't even gone into full pre production. I'm sure he'd be able to work a transformers before or after JP.

 

Two things:

-It was Ed Harris who punched him, and for good reason: James nearly let him drown to get a good shot. I would have punched him for that hell anyone would (and should have) punched him for that.

-The sex scene between Jake and Neytiri was actually one of the least awkward sex scenes I've ever seen, but on that YMMV.

You're right though, Avatar 2 and 3 are announced, and according to IMDb, Battle Angel Alita is in pre-production  . It would be my dream for him to direct Transformers, but unless the universe undergoes a cataclysmic shift, it remains a dream.

 

Del Toro has a great eye for the weird and wonderful. He would fuck TF up. No thank you.

I see your point about Wright, but the thing is no one has given him such a huge intellectual property like TF to work with. SP was and still is a cult following. I don't see many if any people reading the graphic novels still. I say give the guy a chance. Plus... Simon Pegg as the voice of Perceptor.

Yeah I know....