It really seems like Marvel Studios has had a really big impact on Hollywood with the creation of their own cinematic universe. Now everyone wants to copy their recipe for success and create cinematic universes consisting of several interconnected storylines and heroes. We already know about DC's universe, that has started with Man of Steel, in 2013, and will continue with Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice next year. Meanwhile, Universal is planning to make its shared universe full of monsters, like the Mummy, Frankenstein's monster, Dracula and the Wolfman.
Paramount Pictures doesn't want to stay behind, although they have fewer option than the other big studios when it comes to original base material. But still, there's the Transformers franchise with its four installments and despite not being loved by the critics, Michael Bay is indeed the go-to guy for the studio, when it comes to making money at the box office. The latest rumours surrounding the Autobots is that Paramount wants to make a prequel for the franchise that would take place on the Transformers' homeworld, Cybertron.
It's been known that Akiva Goldsman, the Creative Executive of the Transformers franchise, has been recruiting screenwriters to make the shared universe work. Among the recently joined screenwriters are Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, who have lately been working on the rewriting of Marvel's Ant-Man script.
If the rumours are true, they are also working on a project called Transformers One, that should be the prequel of the whole franchise.
If the movie gets the green light, it's predictable that it won't come cheap to Paramount since the whole Cybertron world would be created by CGI. However there is another option that could facilitate the process: making it an animation Film.
Meanwhile, Paramount is already waiting for Michael Bay to finish his latest movie called 13 Hours, a drama taking place in Libya after an American ambassador is killed during an attack, to start working on the next installment of Transformers franchise. After 13 Hours' seemingly more serious tone, Mr. Bay would probably gladly return to the universe of Transformers, where he can once again astonish the audience with massive explosions and giant robot fighting scenes.
However, the director still has another project in the waiting, Bad Boys 3, so it's pretty unclear when Mr. Bay would be available to return. But hopefully more time will give him enough time to find the key to right the ship, that according to popular opinion, has gone in the wrong direction in the past couple of movies.