Last week, Paramount revealed its ambitious slate of upcoming Transformers films that will hit theaters three years in a row beginning in June 2017. Today, Paramount announced that the June 2018 slot formerly held by Transformers 6 will now be a spinoff solo Transformers film revolving around Bumblebee, one of the leading Autobots.

“There are characters in the Transformers universe that can be and should be made into their own movies,” explained Paramount Pictures CEO Brad Grey while speaking to The Hollywood Reporter. “We will make [Transformers 5]with Michael [Bay] and go right into a Bumblebee movie, which will be at a lower cost.”

It’s not clear if the Transformers movie slated for June 2019 will also be a spinoff or if it will be Transformers 6 and continue the main series with another director.

Bumblebee was arguably the main Autobot in the first Transformers movie, which was described as “a car and his boy.” For Bumblebee’s first big screen solo adventure, don’t be too shocked if it follows a similar formula as Bumblebee gets close to a new human character. And perhaps Paramount will even team up Bumblebee with a young woman this time just to slightly change the formula.

This is all part of Paramount and Hasbro’s plan to emulate the Marvel Cinematic Universe model of expanding the world and its characters in both the main series and in solo films. Considering that the first four Transformers movies have all been blockbuster hits, it’s easy to see why the studios are pursuing that strategy.

Are you excited to see Bumblebee in his own big screen adventure? Transform and roll out in the comment section below!

—

HT: The Hollywood Reporter

Image Credit: Paramount Pictures/Hasbro Studios