Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, producer of the fourth installment of the "Transformers" franchise, sat down with The Hollywood News to discuss what fans can look forward to in "Age of Extinction".
Di Bonaventura clarified that "Transformers 4" will not be a reboot of the first three films, but instead, will focus on the evolution of the franchise centered on developing its story even further.
During the interview with THN, he said, "It's definitely not a reboot, It's an interesting question about what you should call it. On a certain level, it's a continuation of the previous stories, in the fact that it acknowledges what has transpired before it."
Di Bonaventura added, "It acknowledges in the last movie, it's actually something that carries through the sort of emotional repercussions of that, not unlike 9/11 has emotional repercussions in the real world. In a fantasy world there are repercussions to what occurred."
His statement seems to be consistent with what producer Don Murphy said back in 2012, according to an article on Screen Rant.
However, when news of the fourth film first broke out through ComingSoon.net, many of the fans can't seem to get over the fact that all of the original cast members have been replaced.
And so, in the interview, Di Bonaventura reassures them that the new characters will perfectly fit into the movie's story by saying, "That plays into the movie, moving forwards with a totally different human cast, who doesn't know anything about the other humans, it's not a reboot, but a continuation, yet you're continuing with a new cast and group of characters."
When reflecting on the franchise's original cast, he commented, "We miss our friends that we did the first three with, and they were great, and they probably could've done more. But the advantage of doing it this way is that it feels almost like a first movie. It's a very different dynamic than I've seen in a movie. I guess 'Star Wars' did that a little bit, but not so close together, the way we're doing it."
Directed by Michael Bay, "Transformers: Age of Extinction" stars Mark Wahlberg and is set for a U.S. release on June 27, 2014 and in the U.K. on July 10.