EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures and Hasbro are getting closer to returning their Transformers to the big screen and are looking to bring back some familiar faces to help bring the franchise back to life. Sources tell Deadline that Paramount has appointed Steven Spielberg to focus on all creative aspects of the upcoming live-action film. Transformers film alongside longtime producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. Michael Bay is in talks to return as director.
Spielberg continues as executive producer and will now lead the creative direction of what will be the eighth live-action installment. He held a similar creative role for the first two Transformers films that launched the franchise, which generated more than $5.4 billion in global box office revenue and made the Hasbro toy brand a global phenomenon.
Together, Spielberg and di Bonaventura will guide this new chapter to honor the spirit of the first Transformers movies. Mark Vahradian, Don Murphy, Tom DeSanto and Hasbro will also produce.
The film is being developed based on a screenplay by Jason Fuchs. Plot details are under wraps, other than the fact that the film is set in the present day. As the project is still in its early stages, no casting details are available yet.
Since the release of the first film in the summer of 2007, the franchise has become one of the biggest properties at Paramount. Spielberg, Bay and di Bonaventura played major roles in the success of these early films, with Spielberg identifying Bay as his choice to direct the first film. While Bay and di Bonaventura would remain the primary architects at the franchise’s center for the next four installments, Spielberg was less active as executive producer.
Bay finally took a break from the franchise after the 2017 photo Transformers: Last Night. Since then, the most recent payments, Bumblebee And Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, while it wasn’t a complete dud, it didn’t live up to the standards that previous installments had met.
So when the Skydance merger was finalized, new Paramount Pictures co-chairmen Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg made it a priority to breathe new life into the franchise, and Spielberg helped develop the new film. one of the first meetings Greenstein and Goldberg had as co-chairmen was with Spielberg after Skydance merged with Paramount in August 2025 to talk about many things, including Transformers. This courtship continued over the next year, with Spielberg eventually accepting this new role after reading Fuchs’ final script.
The next decision was who would direct, with Bay being the first stop to see if he was ready to return. Bay had been open to the idea over the years and, after reading the script and meeting with Spielberg earlier this week, he was on board.
Transformers is one of the few properties gaining momentum at Skydance’s Paramount, as Deadline also recently reported that Brad Pitt is returning to star in a World War Z sequel under the direction of Edward Berger.
Spielberg is replaced by CAA. Bay is replaced by Range and CAA. Page Six was the first to break the news of Bay’s return.
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