Just when you thought Michael Bay was turning over a new leaf with “13 Hours,” the filmmaker has confirmed he’ll return to direct “Transformers 5” for Paramount mere days before the studio releases his Benghazi movie.
Of course, Bay has threatened to wash his hands of the blockbuster franchise before, and he repeated a familiar sentiment on his latest press tour, telling Rolling Stone that the next “Transformers” movie will be his last one.
“I still have a great time. It’s fun to do a movie that 100 million people will see. But this is the last one. I have to pass the reins to someone else,” adding that “it’s time to move on. One more.”
Bay will direct “Transformers 5” from a script by “Black Hawk Down” scribe Ken Nolan and “Iron Man” writers Art Marcum and Matt Holloway. The story came out of a writer’s room that Akiva Goldsman oversaw on behalf of Bay, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and executive producer Steven Spielberg.
Mark Wahlberg is slated to return for the fifth film in the series, which is expected to open up the “Transformers” universe.
John Krasinski and James Badge Dale star in “13 Hours,” which invades theaters on Jan. 15.