Variety reports that Hollywood scribe Akiva Goldsman has emerged as the man responsible for the storyline of Transformers 5, contradicting previous theories that Transformers movies are coded in open source by their robot casts.
In addition to creating what is arguably the least-essential part of any Transformers film, Goldsman (who was also responsible for Batman & Robin) was part of a writer’s group responsible for charting the overarching future direction of the series. Other scribes invited to assemble into Devastator include Ken Nolan (Black Hawk Down), Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, Zak Penn, Amazing Spider-Man 2’s Jeff Pinkner, Iron Man’s Art Marcum & Matt Holloway, Christina Hodson, Lindsey Beer, Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari (Ant Man), Steven DeKnight, and Geneva Robertson-Dworet.
Buried in that baker’s dozen are Barrer and Ferrari, who left the writer’s group with a consolation prize in the form of screenwriting duties for an animated feature film, according to Collider. Possibly focusing on industrial assembly lines and AutoCAD, this spin-off will explore the origins of the Transformers’ species on Cybertron. No word if it will still have the touch and the power.
Meanwhile, pyrotechnic impresario and steadfast franchise director Michael Bay is tweeting coy about his involvement with the next film, because he likes to pretend that he doesn’t like money.
The content of Bay’s discussions with series producer Steven Spielberg weren’t divulged. Presumably, they focused on scouting new storage facilities, as they’ve nearly topped off the dormant volcano used for housing previous Transformers box-office returns.