Okay given the news that the Last Knight Sequel(Thank god!) Is not happening, what now? what to continue? Bumblebee 2? Or the Optimus Prime movie or Cybertron?
I think an Optimus solo film set during the flashbacks we see in Bumblebee could be fun. "Diehard on Cybertron" is how I'd pitch it. Or a sequel to Bumblebee in the late-80s/early-90s with the characters we saw arriving in the post-credits scene.
The lower budget option aka Bumblebee 2. Unless Paramount wants to risk another TLK box office bomb, it’s better for them to keep their heads low for now.
Last we heard, it will either be another big movie (apparently not a TLK sequel), or a Bumblebee/Optimus team up movie. I'd guess one of those will be second, the other third, and the Cybertron movie will be fourth.
A Charlie spin off movie where she meets Sam's parents... Seriously, they seem to have invested so much in Bee and Prime since the movies began I think they have to stick with them, either Bumblebee 2, Optimus Prime, or a bigger TF movie with both of them. If they were keeping the Bayverse alive and using Bumblebee as a prequel, I would have also like a Dinobot movie as a prequel. They could have shown some adventures up to the point of them getting captured by Lockdown.
Though it's a bit hard to believe anything Lerenzo says, he mentioned that the next main Tranaformers title would follow the timeline of the Bumblebee sequel, which, if I remember correctly, is possibly a Bumblebee/Optimus buddy film. I could see it too, like, somehow Decepticons DID end up finding out about Earth and went to scout it out, and noticed Prime himself was there. The cons give that Intel to Megatron (who's fate is unknown if this is indeed a "reboot") and he sends his army to Earth and Prime prepares to do the same, setting the stage for the main Transformers movie.
A tough call. Bumblebee was successful but it wasn't the sort of film that burned up the box office. Can a sequel be more successful because I kind of wonder if Bumblebee is one of those films that you can make a good sequel out of. It seems like the movies that Travis Knight has worked on make for great stand alone films but they aren't the type of films that you can make sequels out of much less the endless series that Paramount and Hasbro might be dreaming of. On the other hand given the box office struggles of Paramount to get in the domestic top 10 can Paramount really invest the sort of money that a full blown big Transformers action movie require? The only times Paramount cracked the domestic top 10 in the last five years was a Transformers movie in 2014 and a Mission Impossible movie in 2018. Plus who do you target the movie towards. Some people loved the stuff on Cybertron while others loved the stuff on Earth. It seems like it would be tricky to make everyone happy since people seem to be in camps of more G1 or nothing like G1. It seems like they are going to have to risk pissing someone off unless they find an insanely talented team that can somehow thread the needle. Not such an issue with something like Star Wars since you can lose some fans and still be huge, but Transformers seems to lack the fan to keep pissing people off.
I think the next movie will be a bumblebee sequel where Optimus and Bumblebee form a base on Earth while the Human's experiment on the remains of Shatter, Dropkick, and Blitzwing. The humans manage to recreate Blitzwing using the parts from Shatter and Dropkick giving him is iconic looks. Blitzwing tricks the humans and then informs the Decepticons of Autobots presence on Earth. The humans(Agent Burns) ask the Autobots for help. But, Optimus and his crew fail the mission and Blitzwing sends the message to Cybertron. The next movie sets up for Decepticon's arrival on Earth and a proper Transformers movie. I can't really think of anything else that might bring the Decepticons to Earth at this moment. They can either carry out the above idea or bring in some other robot and claim that he was already present on Earth to carry out the mission of sending a message to Cybertron. Else making the Autobots or the Humans do something very stupid that makes the Decepticons come and check out this planet Earth only to find this planet full of Autobots. I would like Epps and Lenox to return to the franchise as the franchise goes ahead (GI JOE + TRANSFORMERS ??). I think they were pretty good characters and could be included to make some Bayverse fans happy.
I'd opt for another lower budget new Bumblebee movie. Make it more family friendly (no more of that Bayverse cynicism and toilet humour) and positive, and cater to an upcoming generation of potential Transformers fans as well as the older ones that haven't been scared off. Emphasise the differences between the Knightverse and the Bayverse. Start building loyalty to the new Transformers continuity with good, well-written and -directed stories and characters that people actually care about. I've sort of got an idea. Needs some polish, though. Your pitch for a Transformers film?
A documentary on surviving decepticon after TF5. And how they're giving back to local communities they destroyed. Or an Optimus origin story on Cybertron. (Not g1 though please)
This would be the best possible thing to do with the Bayverse continuity. A "What we do in teh Shadows"-style look into a select few 'Cons adapting and turning over a new leaf in a world where TFs are well-known. "Not gonna lie, I did some bad things. Uh, I was one of the ones who invaded Chicago, but like, I just had always wanted to go so when Megatron was all "raze the city" I couldn't say no, ya? *laughs* But literally I could not say no he would've killed me." "I mean, I figured I was pretending to be a garbage truck for so long, right? So when the town I was hiding out had a problem with dumping in the empty lots I thought "perfect opportunity!" So I killed all the people doing the dumping." "I never wanted to be a Decepticon, to be honest. The benefits weren't, like, amazing or anything. So after Chicago I got a job as a school bus. The kids love it, a school bus that drives itself, but you have to make sure all the kids are off before you transform or, ah, you get written up."
I'd have an Optimus/Megatron origin story. It could take place before the war and tell the story of how these two characters became who they are now
