A new Transformers movie is in the works at Paramount Pictures. Per THR, the studio has just made a blind script commitment to develop a new movie based on the popular Hasbro toy line. Marco Ramirez, who served as the co-showrunner of Netflix's Marvel series The Defenders, is on board to write the script with Charm City Kings helmer Angel Manuel Soto set to direct.

No plot details have been revealed about the new Transformers movie with Marco Ramirez and Angel Manuel Soto. A standalone movie, this project is separate from another Transformers movie that's also been announced to be in development. In November, it was reported that Steven Caple Jr. was directing the next installment of Paramount's ongoing Transformers movie series that first launched in 2007. The screenplay for that movie was written by Joby Harold.

The Transformers movies have collectively grossed $4.84 billion at the box office. Between 2007 and 2017, Michael Bay helmed the first five installments of the series, each of which was a big hit in terms of ticket sales. Based on the Transformers toy line, the movie brought to life fan favorites like Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ratchet, and Megatron. While critical reception hasn't always been very kind to the series, the blockbuster movies have consistently been tremendously successful financially.

In 2018, writer Christina Hodson and director Travis Knight released the Transformers spinoff movie Bumblebee with Dylan O'Brien voicing the fan favorite Autobot. Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, John Ortiz, Pamela Adlon, and Jason Drucker also starred. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura said in 2019 that Paramount was developing a sequel to Bumblebee alongside another installment of the main series following Transformers: The Last Knight. The current status of Bumblebee 2 is unclear following the announcement of this standalone movie from Ramirez and Soto.

Meanwhile, Hasbro has also partnered up with Netflix to develop new a animated show based on Transformers. Dubbed Transformers: BotBots, the 20-minute animated comedy follows "robots that disguise themselves as everyday mall objects. By day, these BotBots hide quietly on store shelves but at night, they jump into adventure until a group of BotBots called 'The Lost Bots' run into the mall security guard and put all the bots in danger. Will these misfits be able to overcome their differences, defeat the security guard and gain acceptance in the eyes of the other bots?"

This follows an additional anime series adaptation of Transformers that's on Netflix as well. Intended for more mature Transformers fans, Transformers: War for Cybertron will consist of three chapters, with the first two currently streaming on Netflix. The third chapter is expected to arrive in July 2021. The reviews for the anime series have been exceptionally strong.

There's no denying that Transformers is an incredibly popular brand with the potential to earn billions more on top of what the series has already banked at the box office. With at least two new movies in the works for the franchise's planned return to the big screen, on top of the various animated adaptations, it's also clear that the Autobots aren't going anywhere for a while. This news comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter.