Transformers 5 Will Not Have Michael Bay as Director

Despite the box office success of the recent Transformers 5: Age of Extinction, it seems Michael Bay is not keen on taking the reins for the upcoming Transformers 5. This is not the first time Bay voiced out his sentiments about leaving the franchise. He stated a few years back that he would not be directing the then upcoming Transformers 4: Dark of the Moon movie following the departure of Shia Labeouf as the lead actor of the previous Transformer movies, after the story got a major reboot. But, Paramount Studios was dead set on having him on the director’s seat for the 4th installment for which the studio reportedly gave him “cash” and a new project entitled, Pain and Gain. Despite hitting the $1 billion mark for ticket sales worldwide, the franchise struggled to even hit the $ 250 million dollar mark in home base. According to an interview with USA Today, Bay eventually expressed his interest into venturing something different form his usual spectacle-driven action movies.

“There’s kind of a new chapter, a new direction in movies I want to make,” said Bay, who’s helmed all four live-action Transformers flicks. “I have a lot of stories to tell. And it’s about flexing new muscles.”

There have been reports that he had tapped director Jonathan Libesman to replace him as the director for the upcoming Transformers 5. It seems that there is a series of movies lined up for the Transformers director to take over such as Bad Boys 3, Sabotage and Ghost Recon. But, Bay has also not yet expressed his interest in directing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sequel. Paramount is said to be still “wooing” the director for the upcoming Transformers 5.