While Michael Bay is well known for movies like Bad Boys and The Rock, from 2007 to last year, most of his time was dedicated to the Transformers franchise. He directed the first five movies about the robots in disguise, with The Last Knight marking his final entry in the film series (though he is credited as a producer on Bumblebee). However, it would appear that Bay isn't done with robots altogether, as he's now reportedly lining up Robopocalypse as one of his next projects.
Robopocalypse, based on the book of the same name by Daniel H. Wilson, has been in development for years, and originally the plan was for Steven Spielberg to direct it. However, the project been delayed several times, and with Spielberg apparently no longer able to make time for it, Variety reports that he's "hand picked" Michael Bay to sit in the director's chair in his place. Before tackling Robopocalypse, though, Bay intends to helm 6 Underground, which is based off a script written by Deadpool duo Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Once Bay is done with 6 Underground (which is aiming for a summer 2019 release), then he'll move to Robopocalypse, which Spielberg is still attached to produce.
It would be easy enough to classify Michael Bay as the Hollywood director you turn to for handling stories about killer robots (if Tim Miller wasn't already directing the new Terminator movie, I'd wonder if Bay was interested in tackling that), but in all seriousness, Transformers and Robopocalypse are different. The Robopocalypse novel was about a sentient A.I. called Archos R-14 that took over all electronic networks devices, including robots, to destroy humanity. Archos R-14 is almost completely successful, but remnants of humanity and robots that avoided being controlled by the A.I. come together for one last stand. Oh, and there are no humanoid machines that turn into vehicles in Robopocalypse... that's important to mention, too.
Assuming that Michael Bay finalizes a deal to direct Robopocalypse, you can be sure that like the original novel and many of Bay's other movies, it will be packed with action. However, while the Transformers movies were PG-13 beat-em-up romps, I imagine Robopocalypse's action will be more intense, potentially pushing the cinematic adaptation into R-rated territory. It's also worth mention that it as recently reported Michael Bay was being looked at to direct Lobo for Warner Bros, though judging by this news about Robopocalypse and 6 Underground, it sounds like DC's movie about the Main Man isn't one of his priorities, assuming he does indeed add that to his plate with everything else.
Robopocalypse doesn't have an assigned release date yet, so keep checking back with CinemaBlend for that information and other news concerning the project. For now, check out our 2018 release schedule so you can plan your trips to the movie theater this year accordingly.
