Considering that the Transformers movie series, now four in total, have made Paramount a lot of money, it just makes sense that Hasbro continues the franchise. Transformers 5 (which currently has no subtitle) will be out in theaters next summer, and in addition to that, Hasbro is creating even more of an interconnected onscreen universe with their intellectual properties like G.I. Joe, Micronauts, Visionaries, MASK (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand), and ROM.
A recent report from IGN states that Mark Wahlberg will be returning to the Transformers franchise, playing Cade Yeager. Also joining him will be Jerrod Carmichael, as well as Isabela Moner for the female lead. Other than that, there were a lot of rumors going on with the storyline, most of them involving deep space travels with Optimus Prime.
But that is just the tip of the iceberg, as according to Yahoo Finance, Paramount and Hasbro unveiled top talent writers for Hasbro's cross-property interconnected onscreen universe and this features writers who were talked about when planning the script for Transformers 5. This includes Academy Award Winner Akiva Goldsman, plus other writers with impressive resumes like Lindsey Beer, Michael Chabon, Cheo Coker, Joe Robert Cole, Nicole Perlman, Jeff Pinker, Nicole Riegel, Geneva Robertson, and Brian K. Vaughan. These writers will be bringing all kinds of intellectual property together in one universe, but will it work? Let's look at the players.
G.I. Joe
Yes, there have already been two live-action films, but they were not all that well-received. There was talk about combining this series with Transformers, and it is not known how this Transformers universe fits into this interconnected universe. The idea of a special unit of the military fighting against a global terrorist organization should make for some interesting toys.
Micronauts
As someone who grew up in the seventies/eighties, I have at least heard of these toys. They were Mego toys before the company went backrupt in 1982, and they have had a few comic book spin-offs, so their universe has been developed.
Visionaries
Now this has some potential. Visionaries has a premise of a planet known as Prysmos that was highly technological, and one day, all the machines stopped working. As a result, magic began to rise and two groups the Spectral Knights (good guys) and Darkling Lords (bad guys) fought for control of the kingdoms with their shape-changing and spell-casting powers. The toys incorporated actual holograms, and I was surprised that this series never took off like Transformers or G.I. Joe.
MASK (Mobile Armored Strike Command)
Yes, the acronym makes no sense as "command" doesn't start with a "K". This show was what happens if you mash G.I. Joe and Transformers together with the slogan of "where illusion is the ultimate weapon". The premise was that the MASK team fought against a villainous group known as VENOM (whatever that stands for), and their vehicles would change into fighting forms while their masks have special powers. It came across as an imitator, but I guess Hasbro has the right to it.
ROM
This was a robot toy created by Parker Brothers, and also never really took off. It did inspire a series from Marvel which lasted during most of the eighties, but the Spaceknight has been in limbo since then. At least it has been developed enough to be considered part of Hasbro's connected universe.
So, what this connected universe will do is essentially give Hasbro the toy rights for something, and then create a movie series where all these toys will play together. There is no set release dates for any of these new films, but Transformers 5 will debut in theaters on June 23, 2017. It will have a Bumblebee spin-off in 2018, then Transformers 6 will land in 2019. There are at least two more sequels planned after that.
