Michael Bay is currently knee-deep in production on the fifth installment of the Transformers franchise, Transformers: The Last Knight. The movie isn't due out until next summer, but Bay has been very active on social media, sharing set photos, videos and even a brand new Transformer named Squeeks. But now it looks like the marketing campaign for the movie has officially kicked off, as the first billboard for Transformers: The Last Knight has surfaced.

The Transformers fan site Seibertron got wind of the new billboard in Times Square in New York City, and posted some pictures to their site and their social media channels. Paramount just recently put up the massive billboard for the movie on 47th Street in Midtown Manhattan. It prominently features Optimus Prime wielding his sword, facing off against what looks to either be a single robot with three heads, or three different robots with the same head. In any case it looks very much like a billboard for a Michael Bay, Transformers movie. And there is a new threat coming next summer that isn't Megatron!

Even though it seems like Paramount is getting ready to start marketing the movie already, we still don't have any kind of official confirmation about The Last Knight in terms of specific story details. We do know that Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson and Josh Duhamel will all be reprising their roles from previous entries in the franchise. Also returning will be the villainous Megatron, which was one of the first big reveals the studio made regarding the movie once production started. Last month, a report from JoBlo claimed to have uncovered the plot for Transformers: The Last Knight, which will supposedly go something like this.

"The story for Transformers: The Last Knight will involve Optimus Prime finding his home planet, Cybertron, now a dead planet, which he comes to find he was responsible for killing. He finds a way to bring the planet back to life, but in order to do so he needs to find an artifact. And of course, that artifact is on Earth."

Paramount has a couple of big movies coming out in the near future, including Star Trek Beyond and the Ben-Hur remake. With the billboard going up, it is very possible that the studio is planning on releasing a teaser trailer for Transformers: The Last Knight in front of one of their upcoming movies. Or possibly to make some noise over the weekend of San Diego Comic Con, which is taking place from July 21- 24. This particular entry in the Transformers franchise will be kicking off the studio's Transformers cinematic universe, which they have had in the works for some time now.

Outside of the first Transformers, the series has been absolutely panned by critics, but it continues to be one of the highest grossing franchises in the world. Transformers: Age of Extinction has a very poor 18 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but still grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, which was the highest grossing movie of 2014 overall. That being the case, Paramount is going to keep making Transformers movies until they stop making so much money. Let's just hope The Last Knight is an improvement in terms of quality. Transformers 5 is set for release on June 23, 2017. Be sure to check out the pictures of the new billboard for the movie below.