Michael Bay has confirmed that he will return to direct the fifth installment in the “Transformers” franchise for Paramount.
Bay broke the news to Rolling Stone, after months of speculation, while promoting his new war movie “13 Hours.”
Mark Wahlberg, who appeared in the last installment, is expected to return and Lorenzo di Bonaventura is producing.
Bay directed “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” the fourth in the series and the first one without Shia Labeouf, in addition to its three predecessors. “Age of Extinction” also starred Jack Reynor and Nicola Peltz and, despite losing Labeouf, grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.
Details behind the next movie are under wraps, but sources say Wahlberg is the only cast member from “Age of Extinction” expected to reprise his role.
This past spring, Paramount announced it would be assembling a writers’ room to build its new “Transformers” universe that would include spinoff pics along with new installments in the franchise. The room was overseen by Akiva Goldsman with the studio recently tapping Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (“Iron Man”) along with Ken Nolan (“Black Hawk Down”) to write the script.
Bay is repped by WME. His “13 Hours” bows on Jan. 15.
