In today's Monday Movie Memo, I argue that the only way for Michael Bay to save the Transformers franchise is to hand it off to a different director for the series can benefit from an infusion of fresh blood.

"They’re still going to see the movie! I think it’s good to get a little tension," said Michael Bay. "Very good. I used to get bothered by it. But I think it’s good to get the dialogue going. It makes me think, and it keeps me on my toes, so it’s good.”

Paramount, as I’m sure you understand, was hoping for a big boost on Transformers: Age of Extinction, infusing the sequel with new human characters played by Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Stanley Tucci and Kelsey Grammer.

Considering that Transformers: Age Of Extinction is opening both in the U.S and China this weekend, it's a prediction that's not terribly far off. The two biggest film markets in the same weekend, with both possessing similar market saturation of the Transformers brand can only spell massive bank for the Michael Bay-helmed franchise.

The announcement comes directly from Michael Bay's official website, and actually identifies the roles that Goodman and Watanabe will be playing in the movie (something that has become a bit of a rarity in modern blockbusters). Goodman will be voicing Hound, whom Transformers fans may remember is able to turn into a Jeep or humvee.

One of the biggest blockbusters of 2014 is expected to be Michael Bay's Transformers: Age of Extinction, but while the movie won't be out until late June, audiences were actually going to be shown the first footage earlier today.

I’ll be very excited to see what Bay has to show. We know next to nothing about this sequel, as it’s a departure from the trilogy Bay helped launch back in 2007. No Shia LaBeouf. No Megan Fox. No John Turturro getting “urinated” on by an Autobot.

Actually, assault-with-a-deadly-air-conditioner sounds like a perfect tactic in a Michael Bay movie like Pain & Gain or Bad Boys II, but it was an unplanned part of his real life on the set of Transformers: Age of Extinction, which is currently filming in Hong Kong

“I have a great fantasy,” he said, “that I will probably a make a reality – of directing my own self-financed horror movie.” So not only does he want to dive head-first into the genre, he wants to pay for it himself. Given how much money his films have made over the last 18 years, a self-funded Bay film could easily still cost around $20-40 million, but we’ll assume he’s talking about a microbudget film generally associated with The Purge co-producer Jason Blum.

Whether you love or loathe the director behind such unapologetic action spectacles as Bad Boys, The Rock, Armageddon and the Transformers threequel, can you help but smile at the sheer joy this moviemaker gets at blowing shit up for the sake of cinema?

Human Target and Jericho writer-producers Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia have been hired to translate the key elements of the game into a rousing action-adventure movie. Ghost Recon games center on a fictional U.S. Army Special Forces unit that basically serves as the president’s private army.

What the hell is that thing on which Bay and his cast are posing? It looks alien in nature. At the same time, it could be a spike on the shoulder or back of a massive Transformer. We have no idea, and likely won't know until we see a trailer for the sequel.

Titus Welliver has been a successful character for so long that it's unfair to limit him to a single role, but if you were a fan of Lost it's had not to think of his latest news this way: "The Smoke Monster joins the cast of Transformers 4!" According to Deadline Welliver is the latest human to be added to the cast of the giant robot sequel, which is already well underway through production in Detroit, China, and who knows where else.

The picture you see above was not taken in China or Japan or any other country that has historically built buildings in this style of architecture. It was taken in the middle of downtown Detroit, snapped by Instagram user Chad Rochkind, and gives us yet another look at how much China is influencing the upcoming Transformers 4

The project is set up at Warner Bros., but Ubisoft will remain involved via Ubisoft Motion Pictures-- they're taking a cue from the Marvel Studios playbook and actually getting in on movie production rather than just selling the rights to their titles. Assassin's Creed is already set for a 2015 release, but Ghost Recon could get going just as quickly