Fans of the Transformers franchise may be excited to know that Shia LeBouf and Megan Fox are returning for the fifth movie.
Cross Map reported that director Michael Bay may be leaving to work on other big sci-fi films like "Ouija" and "Almanac". Meanwhile, Indie Wire reported that Bay shared his intention to permanently leave Transformers. Jonathan Liebesman, who directed "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", is a potential replacement.
He said in an interview with USA Today, "There's a kind of new chapter, a new direction in movies I want to make." He added, "I have a lot of stories to tell. And it's about flexing new muscles."
As for the cast, Cross Map also reported that Mark Wahlberg will no longer be in the fifth movie. Cinema Blend reported that Wahlberg, who played Cade Yeager, may come back if the offer was good. However, it is the robots that mainly draw the fans, instead of the all-star cast, so the change of director will most likely mean the departure of Wahlberg. Instead, there are rumors that original stars Shia LeBouf and Megan Fox will be making a return, playing the roles of Sam Whitwicky and Mikaela Banes.
Megan Fox said in a report by E! News, "If [Bay] ever wanted me to do a cameo like assembling an autobot motorcycle in a bike shop or something like that, I would totally do it."
Cinema Blend also reported that Ehran Kruger will be the screenwriter for the upcoming film. Kruger said that the team works on one story at a time so new developments will be revealed as the filming progresses.
In the same report by CrossMap.com, the last installment of the popular robot film was successful, with new characters and an open-ended storyline. The last part of the "Transformers: Age of Extinction" featured Optimus Prime flying off into outer space to face the Autobots' creators.
Fans should expect new Autobots and Decepticons to appear in Transformers 5. Unicron, the Ultimate Evil and other aliens are also set to face the Autobots in the next installment, based on a report by Screen Rant. There will also be a couple of new animated features for the first quarter of 2015 and 2016 respectively, with new logos for the factions. In the same report by Cinema Blend, however, Edward Ryan, Paramount Pictures International SVP, confirmed that the release date of Transformers 5 will be on June 24, 2016.