Director Michael Bay plans a fresh take on shape-shifting robots with the fourth installment in his “Transformers’’ franchise.
Paramount Pictures announced Monday night that Bay will return to direct the next chapter in the blockbuster sci-fi series, due in theaters June 29, 2014.
Bay’s third movie based on the Hasbro toy line, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,’’ came out last summer and took in $1.1 billion worldwide.
The studio’s announcement said the next “Transformers’’ will be a new take — which probably is necessary since star Shia LaBeouf said last summer that he would not return for a fourth movie. Bay’s production team will be back, though, including Steven Spielberg as executive producer.
The “Transformers’’ sequel is part of a two-picture deal for Bay at Paramount. First, he’ll direct Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson in the crime tale “Pain and Gain,’’ based on a true story about Florida bodybuilders involved in extortion, kidnapping and murder.
Filming on “Pain and Gain’’ is expected to start this spring.