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Spielberg to Lead Creative Direction of New 'Transformers' Film
Confirmed
In Short: Steven Spielberg is set to lead the creative direction of the next 'Transformers' film, a role he held for the first two movies in 2007 and 2009.
Steven Spielberg is set to lead the creative direction of the next 'Transformers' film, a role he held for the first two movies in 2007 and 2009.
Paramount Pictures and Hasbro are reportedly getting closer to bringing the franchise back to the big screen, with Spielberg and longtime producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura focusing on all creative aspects of the new live-action feature.
Michael Bay, who directed the first five films in the series, is in early talks to direct the eighth installment.
Jason Fuchs, known for his work on 'It: Chapter Two,' has been hired to write the script for the new film, which continues the story of 2023’s 'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.'
The 'Transformers' franchise, which began in 1986 with 'The Transformers: The Movie,' has grossed over $5.4 billion at the global box office across its major theatrical films.
Spielberg’s involvement marks a significant shift in the franchise’s direction, as he will be more hands-on than in recent sequels.
The new film is set in the modern day, and plot details remain under wraps.
Shia LaBeouf, who played a key role in the first five films, will not return for the eighth installment.
Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Discovery have completed a merger, and Spielberg met with Paramount co-chairs Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg in August 2025.
The 'Transformers' franchise has seen several iterations and revivals, with the latest reset arriving as Paramount settles into a new era under Skydance.
Bay ultimately took a break from the franchise after 'Transformers: The Last Knight' in 2017, but is now in talks to return.
The new film will be based on a script set in the modern day by Jason Fuchs, with Di Bonaventura helping develop and Spielberg signing off on the project.
What this adds
Spielberg’s return to the franchise is part of a broader strategy by Paramount to revive major properties under the Skydance umbrella.
The film is being developed based on a script by Jason Fuchs, and no cast details have been announced yet.
Paramount insiders have indicated that the franchise will honor the spirit of the early 'Transformers' films.
Background
Spielberg will lead the creative direction of the new film, a role he held for the first two 'Transformers' movies in 2007 and 2009.
Transformers is a mecha media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the heroic Autobots led by Optimus Prime and the villainous Decepticons led by Optimus Prime's arch-enemy Megatron, the two alien robot factions at war that can "transform" into other forms, such as vehicles and animals.
What's confirmed
- Transformers is a Paramount-owned franchise and has now enlisted Steven Spielberg in a “primary creative producer” role on a new movie in the franchise, with Michael Bay in early talks to direct.
- Spielberg had a similar role on the first two Transformers movies.
- EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures and Hasbro are getting closer to bringing their Transformers back to the big screen and look to be reuniting with 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 next live-action Transformers film alongside longtime producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura.
- He held a similar creative role for the first two Transformers films that launched the franchise, which has generated more than $5.4 billion in global box office revenue and turned Hasbro’s toy brand into a worldwide phenomenon.
- Spielberg continues as executive producer and will now lead the creative direction for what will be the eighth live-action installment.
- Since the first film opened in summer 2007, the franchise has become of the biggest properties on the Paramount lot.
- Spielberg, Bay and di Bonaventura played major roles in that first films’ success, with Spielberg identifying Bay as his choice to direct the first film.
- Steven Spielberg is returning to Paramount ’s cult Transformers franchise alongside longtime producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and with Michael Bay, long a master of mayhem, in talks to possibly direct the next tentpole for fanboys of vehicles.
- Spielberg was one of the first meetings Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein took as newly-minted studio heads following the Paramount Skydance merger and the deal for Spielberg to return to the film franchise, which has grossed more than $5.4 billion in global box office revenue, alongside di Bonaventura has now come together.
- When the Fuchs news broke in June, Bay was attached only as a producer, and he had just signed on to direct an Iran rescue movie for Universal.
- Spielberg found Bay for the first Transformers nearly twenty years ago.
What's still developing
- Transformers is one of a handful of properties gaining momentum at Skydance’s Paramount as Deadline also recently reported Brad Pitt is returning to star in a World War Z sequel with Edward Berger directing.
- While Bay and di Bonaventura would remain the primary architects at the center of the franchise for the next four installments, Spielberg was less hands on as exec producer.
- Bay directed Transformers (2007), Revenge of the Fallen (2009), Dark of the Moon (2011), Age of Extinction (2014) and The Last Knight (2017).
- It’s understood Transformers headliner Shia LaBeouf will not return for the eighth installment, and there’s no word on a storyline and other possible casting.
- LaBeouf played a young Sam Witwicky, a teenager who bought his first car but never expected it to come to life, in the first Transformers movie, and returned for sequels.
- Popular on Variety Former “Transformers” franchise star Shia LaBeouf will not return, though talks regarding other casting are still in the early stages.
- Reports going back to late last year claimed Bay was scouting locations in Africa for a new Transformers movie, with talk that Shia LaBeouf could return as Sam Witwicky.
- It also fits what Paramount insiders have told us about the Ellison plan: big revivals and big swings, including a Godzilla vs Transformers movie heating up at the combined company.
- Transformers joins a slate that is filling up fast.
- UPDATE: Hours later, Transformers made Skydance’s Day One franchise list next to DC, Harry Potter, and Star Trek.
- Paramount then teased “More Transformers” at CinemaCon back in April without offering a single detail.
- By the time the fourth entry, Transformers: Age of Extinction, hit theaters in 2014, the new lead of the series was Mark Wahlberg.