Corona | Coming Attractions

The webmaster of Michael Bay dot com gives us a small scoop on where to expect the 'bot battles next time: "Spoke with Michael today and got some little info on TF3: there will be big action sequences shot in Chicago and Moscow this time around."

In a news report covering Shia LaBeouf signing for representation with CAA, Deadline Hollywood's Mike Fleming reports that Transformers 3 will "likely" start filming come May.

Michael Bay has told his website readers that he's signed on to direct the third Transformers movie and that today marked the first day of work:

"Well its official: We have a great Transformers 3 story. The release date is now July 1st 2011. Not 2012.

"Today is Day One. This morning started with an ILM meeting for five hours in San Francisco. Currently I'm flying with writer Ehren Kruger to Rhode Island to talk to Hasbro about new characters.

"P.S. Megan Fox, welcome back. I promise no alien robots will harm you in any way during the production of this motion picture. Please consult your Physician when working under my direction because some side effects can occur, such as mild dizziness, intense nausea, suicidal tendencies, depression, minor chest hair growth, random internal hemorrhaging and inability to sleep. As some directors may be hazardous to your health, please consult your Doctor to determine if this is right for you.

"Pain and Gain is right after shooting of Trans 3.

"Michael"

Anyone want to take a stab and guess how much money was in the dump truck that pulled up to Bay's home yesterday?

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal about the amazing success of Revenge of the Fallen, Michael Bay is asked if he'll be back to direct Transformers 3.

"I just want to take some time off. It’s been almost three years that I’ve devoted myself entirely to this world of robots," he answered. "At some point, enough is enough—and I literally carried this movie on my back. I only finished it in the last week. It was a tough movie for me to finish—especially with the writers strike, the possible SAG strike. At one point, we were the only union movie in America shooting—Hollywood was so messed up from those two events."

But if Bay isn't back for a third round of Decepticon and Autobot battling and the studio wants to move right away on a second sequel he doesn't know who they'll find for the job. "I don't know who [would] want to take on my shoes with this franchise. We might just take a year down."

Bay says that he's developing a "dark comedy, a true story, with actors just acting, no effects. I’m done with effects movies for now."

In an L.A. Times profile piece about Revenge of the Fallen co-star Ramon Rodriguez, nestled in the body of the article there's a mention that "Michael Bay has a third Transformers film in mind, and if it plays out as he expects, the next installment would have a more substantial role for Rodriguez."

On Don Murphy's message forums screenwriter Roberto Orci revealed that he and writing partner Alex Kurtzman may not return for the three-peat and pen the screenplay for Transformers 3. "Not clear who is coming back yet, but the main reason we would move on is because we risk getting stale and comfortable. If you only sing one song for too long, you miss the opportunity to sing news songs. We'll see."

Whoa! It seems that Michael Bay may not be out of the running to direct the third Transformers picture just as long as he gets his year off. Yesterday's announcement in the trades about Transformers 3 coming out in 2011 may have actually messed up the release date -- maybe. Let's let Michael explain:

"I said I was taking off a year from Transformers," said Bay on his site's message forums. "Paramount made a mistake in dating Transformers 3 - they asked me on the phone - I said yes to July 4 - but for 2012 - whoops! Not 2011!!! That would mean I would have to start prep in September. No way. My brain needs a break from fighting robots."

So did Paramount mess up and we're supposed to be getting Transformers 3 in 2012 or are they forging ahead for a 2011 release without Bay calling the shots?

Even before locking in a director or any of the cast from the first two films, or just having a screenplay, Paramount/DreamWorks have announced a July 1, 2011 release date for the third Transformers movie. This is the first time that the two partner movie studios have shown any plans for a three-quel. Variety reports that their Paramount sources told them this doesn't necessarily mean Transformers 3 will happen for sure, however, barring some kind of hard to imagine failure at the box office for Revenge of the Fallen, the announcement is likely to give fans a shout out to save the date (or stay away from it if you work for a rival studio.)

Previous to this announcement Transformers director Michael Bay has said that he wants to take a break after completing Revenge of the Fallen. Whether this will mean that he won't be back to sit in the director's chair for a third time is unknown.