Director Steven Caple Jr. on the set of ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.’ Paramount Pictures and Skydance Present in association with Hasbro and New Republic Pictures, a di Bonaventura Pictures Production, a Tom Desanto /Don Murphy Production, a Bay Films Production.
‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ got a mixed reaction from the critics, but certainly appears to have connected with audiences, knocking ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ from the top of the of the domestic box office for a $61 million opening and almost $80 million globally. Which has Paramount, of course, throwing early development of another entry in the franchise into a higher gear and, kicking off formal talks with ‘Beasts’ director Steven Caple Jr. to return.
Talking to Deadline’s Crew Call podcast, Caple Jr. confirmed that he was certainly talking to the studio about a return engagement while specifying that he hasn’t been hired yet. Still, as he said, there’s a lot of “we” going around as he discusses the next film with the producers and studio executives.
So, what is the future of the franchise?
Before we continue, if you have not yet seen ‘Rise of the Beasts’, you might want to stop reading now…
What might the next film entail? If you’ve seen the most recent entry, you’ll know that a final scene ends with a reference to ‘GI Joe’, that other big Hasbro property that has had even more mixed fortunes on the big screen than Optimus Prime and co.
Here’s what Caple Jr. had to say about the potential crossover…
“For me, it would be for sure. I would love to. I have some ideas of how to branch out that IP in the franchise. And if I can do thew crossover I want to do, I think we can still feed ‘Transformers’ fans while doing something cool with that other legendary Hasbro property that I have loved since I was a kid. There are characters and elements that have never been used before, so I’d be thrilled to incorporate them and do something cool.”
Mirage in ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.’ Paramount Pictures and Skydance Present in association with Hasbro and New Republic Pictures, a di Bonaventura Pictures Production, a Tom Desanto /Don Murphy Production, a Bay Films Production.
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Keeping it quiet.
For Caple Jr., the idea was inspired by his own love of a graphic novel run that saw the ‘Transformers’ characters crossover with the Joes. He had to be secretive about it, though…
Caple Jr. revealed the lengths he went in order to make sure the Joe connection didn’t leak:
“When I was developing the script, it wasn’t in the original script. I got to the end of the movie, and I said, ‘we’ve got a really cool arc with the Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos) character and the military, it’s kind of bittersweet about his experience and has a mark on his record, he can’t provide for his family. It would be cool if the military or a government organization took care of his problems. I was going through the different organizations –– CIA, FBI, Sector 7 –– and none of them really sang. ‘Is there anything else in this franchise?’ And then I remembered the graphic novel, I own a few of them and thought, ‘this is kinda crazy, I don’t know if the studio’s going to like this.’ I remember pitching it to Lorenzo (Di Bonaventura, producer) first. ‘This is what I’m thinking’. His eyes lit up and he did remember the graphic novel. He didn’t know how it was going to play with the studio, but we put it in the script. So, I didn’t pitch it to the studio, we just placed it in the script, and they were excited. It took two years to get everybody on board with the concept. We shot two versions with actor Michael Kelly –– some people saw a Sector 7 card in test screenings. We didn’t even let Michael read the other script until the shoot day because we were keeping it so close to the chest.”
Paramount has yet to confirm that Caple Jr. will be back, but it’s certainly sounding promising for the director. And there’s also no release date for the next movie but expect that to follow before too long.
Director Steven Caple Jr. on the set of ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.’ Paramount Pictures and Skydance Present in association with Hasbro and New Republic Pictures, a di Bonaventura Pictures Production, a Tom Desanto /Don Murphy Production, a Bay Films Production.
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‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ is produced by Skydance, Paramount, di Bonaventura Pictures, Bay Films, New Republic Pictures, Tom DeSanto/Don Murphy Production, Hasbro Studios, Entertainment One, and Amblin Entertainment. It is set to release in theaters on June 9th, 2023.
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