There was a collective groan when it was announced that screenwriter/producer Akiva Goldsman had been selected to oversee the future of the Transformers universe in March. While Goldsman has won an Academy Award, for writing A Beautiful Mind, geeks will never forget that he also wrote Batman & Robin. The movie that burned the Batman franchise to ground and put a blemish on the comic book movie genre for years.
According to Deadline, Paramount Pictures plans to increase their output of Transformers movies, here is the foundation of the expansion:
“The Transformers brain trust of Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg and Lorenzo di Bonaventura picked Akiva Goldsman to incubate ideas for a multi-part sequel and spinoff films based on the billion-dollar franchise”
Although the Transformers has proved to be one the most financially successful franchises in history, most would agree that it has not come close to its creative potential. Sophmoric humor and incoherent plots have hampered the movies in the past, so the choice of Goldsman was doubly troublesome to those hoping for a change in direction. Goldsman has reportedly assembled his writing team and it includes some big names in the world of movies and TV. Deadline reports that the team includes The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, Zak Penn (The Incredible Hulk), Jeff Pinkner (Lost), and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway (Iron Man), with more writers still to be added.
A committee of writers for a franchise is a recent development in Hollywood. The goal is no longer to make a great movie, it’s to make a great series, which takes an intense amount of planning and forethought. So now the television model of writing, is being adapted for motion pictures. Typically its a showrunner or head writer, leading a room full of writers through a long television season. Now they are planning their franchises in the same way, which is logical. Hopefully, the increasing serialization of movies doesn’t begin to cheapen the experience however.
The writing team is a mixed bag. However, the most exciting name joining the franchise is Robert Kirkman. He has proven that he knows how to craft tension based on interpersonal dynamics, on both the page and for the screen. It is fun to think about how he could give both the Autobots and Decepticons more life and personality. For all of the legitimate criticisms thrown at a movie like Chappie, the robot at its core did feel truly alive. With ILM behind the Transformers, the issue has always been in the direction and writing, not the quality of visual effects. Hopefully, this new team can chart a new direction for the robots in disguise. Time will only tell.
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Source: iO9