Following the Toy Fair 2018 presentation, entertainment news site Bleeding Cool caught up with Hasbro’s John Warden regarding the statement made during their own Investor Preview Day.
When asked about the news of a Transformers movie series reboot, Mr. Warden simply commented “Don’t believe what you hear, don’t worry“.
While the news is somewhat reassuring to know for the Live Action Movie series fans, the Brand Manager did not elaborated on why Transformers 6 was removed from the Paramount-Hasbro slate and what happened to the planned June 2019 release date.
Update 1: Quoting what Bleeding Cool stated, fellow Transformers fansite TFU.INFO updated their Twitter feed with the following:
“Shocking that @bleedingcool got it wrong. Nice story with no attribution of the quote or context. Nothing I have from the Transformers interview session even comes close to this quote. #FryIsShocked”
Update 2: Again, thanks to TFU.INFO, we now have the exact quote from John Warden/Ben Montano. We wrote it down word-to-word; exactly as it was stated.
“Question: The recent announcement regarding the changes for the movies, changes for toyline plans, cancellation of the series?
Answer: The points that Brian made about the reboot of the film franchise after Bumblebee? For sure, our team is working closely with Paramount and Machinima regarding the next chapter and the product lines associated with that. No decision is made independently from film partners, so we are part of this conversation on what’s next and when should we deliver the next thing. Our attention right now is to focus on Bumblebee [The Movie]. I think the film has come along great. We’ve seen a lot of footage, cuts, takes. Toyline looks fantastic. I think there is a lot of directions we could take, post that. There are toy concepts we are working on. Nothing stops us. You guys saw downstairs, right? We have Cyberverse cranking. That’s coming out soon. We have Studio Series, we have Bumblebee film toyline, for Generations a new trilogy announced. Any shifts, we have to deal with it. Either pause or just charge head-on. This is one where we are going to collectively pause, sow for what’s the next best story is and then put a toyline around that. In no way that it distracts us.“
There you have it folks, directly from Hasbro at Toy Fair 2018. Thanks to the above statement, the comment made during Investor Preview Day 2018 and the associated slide which excludes Transformers 6 from the roadmap makes a lot of sense.
You guys can discuss your own interpretation of the actual statement made by Mr. Warden/Montano regarding the pause from the current movie series, and sound off on our ongoing thread.
80sforged
I have thought, what would they do with casting. If you want to stick with a slightly more wholesome approach, Matt Damon would work in that type of role, more edge and intensity, go with Michael Shannon. Going from F&F, I cannot picture Vin Diesel as Matt Tracker. The Rock, maybe, he straddles the line.
Schadenfreude
Honestly I wish they could have gradually just turned F&F into MASK.
80sforged
I will grant you the technical aspect, but can it sustain what is likely to be a 2 hour movie with some quality (that's where I have doubts) and want to see a solid story, and good acting. Now how do you handle MASK now. I'm guessing they are going the safe route of light action, lots of chases. They want no more than PG-13. Actually, makes me want to re-watch the old show to get a better idea on the tone.
Autobot Burnout
Have you seen the sequence from Fast 7 when the crew drops in cars out of the back of an airplane to attack the terrorist convoy on the mountain pass? That entire sequence was almost entirely MASK to the point it had a psuedo-transforming bus open up side panels to reveal machine guns.
If there was ANYBODY who could reboot MASK into something palatable into today's market, it would be F. Gary Gray.
80sforged
I am something a 'cinema snob' and have a very low opinion of the Fast & Furious series. Just me being pretentious. While I enjoy a good popcorn flick, I think it is possible to expect better from them. Marvel has shown that (for the most part, even their worst is not terrible).
Darth Gonzo
Why?
80sforged
Also a vet of the F&F series. Be afraid, be very afraid.
Darth Gonzo
Live-action M.A.S.K. movie has gotten a director!
F. Gary Gray to Direct Hasbro's 'M.A.S.K.' Movie
80sforged
True, but as a movie for marketing purposes, I could see them working from an established setting (ie Forgotten Realms) to help market the current game. Hey take a bunch of thirty somethings, get them sucked in. Maybe make them fans (or when I was growing up) critics of the setting. They could talk smack about Elminster behind his back, wish they were in Greyhawk or even Dark Sun and complain about how derivative Forgotten Realms was, also use their knowledge of the setting to battle villains.
another move I'm interested in is Micronauts, that would be a cool way to get Hasbro to wet their beaks at the Marvel trough. Hey have Ant Man discover them or something.
Night Flame
Honestly, Sony seems to work from the premise that they know they can't make good films, so they'd rather just make the property so undesirable that the people that should make it won't want to touch it for a decade or more. It's all about holding onto licenses, rather than letting someone that knows what they're doing get ahold of them.
I'd honestly love to see D&D done like the old cartoon. I mean, not the point of following the same plots, but just the premise of people being pulled into that world would be a really fun way to go about it.
Dinobot Snarl
Man the Bay Blight is back with this rather serious studio series push, I'm kinda bummed about it.
Darth Gonzo
Also if the D&D movie is based on the cartoon, and have kids from modern day going to a fantasy world they would act a little bit like the GotG does.
80sforged
That I can get behind. GotG has a tone most D&D players probably see as the default for their games.
Darth Gonzo
The D&D movie should feel like GotG.
80sforged
If they can abandon the hero's journey concept (yeah right) for a more collaborative (ie ensemble approach), they might capture some of the spirit of D&D at the least. I do not have my hopes for any film adaptation anymore for any property. I wait in horror to see what MOTU is going to look like (especially with Sony at the helm).
Darth Gonzo
It could be a quality product.