Inside of IESB’s conversation with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura regarding G.I. Joe they also managed to worm in a question about the fanboy anticipated Transformers 2. Production was scheduled to begin around June or July of this year, but with the writers’ strike that was becoming questionable.
Then The Hollywood Reporter referred to the film calling its release date “as-yet-unslotted” even though word was to expect it on June 26, 2009.
Then Michael Bay in a New Year’s greeting on his website posted a quote saying, “For the millions of viewers that logged on this year I want to thank you for the support. Transformers 2 will be coming soon. The new robots are really really unique and there are a lot of them this time.”
So what’s the truth? Well, here is what Di Bonaventura said when asked:
IESB: Can you give us a quick update on Transformers 2. Is it still planned for shooting in July of 08?
LDB: The second, June 2nd.
IESB: June 2nd?
LDB: Yep.
IESB: Is the story locked?
LDB: We’re nowhere because of the strike, we won’t know until we come back. We have a very fine outline and we know exactly where we want go with the movie but until this writers strike comes back, we’ll find out exactly where we are. Michael is completely on top of every detail. He’s designed a lot of great stuff already. He’s got a lot of great sequences imagined but you know, he needs some writers to work with before he’s ready to go, so I would say June 2nd is an unofficial start, it’s the target date we’d like to go for but, you know, we’ve got to get some writers to help us.
IESB: Now, comparing to Transformers 1, how much bigger is Transformers 2 going to be?
LDB: (laughs) You know, I’m gonna let Michael answer that question.
IESB: (laughs) Well, come on $700 million dollars…
LDB: I’ll say this much, I know that Michael wants to deliver a bigger experience for everybody.
With an end to the writers’ strike nowhere in sight I have no idea how feasible a June ’08 start is, but fans should be happy knowing the film is certainly a priority. On top of that I don’t think Bay even has anything pressing his time, and why should he, he now has a gajillion dollars thanks to the robot success.
