Autobots roll-out: Hasbro confirms 4 more 'Transformers' films
Brace yourselves, four more "Transformers" films are rolling out.
Stephen Davis, president of Hasbro Studios, revealed that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the company's plans for the franchise.
"You're going to see a new 'Transformers' movie coming from Hasbro and Paramount and Michael Bay and our other partners," he said during a panel at the MIPJunior conference in Cannes, France. "We decided that we wanted to plot out the next 10 years of the Transformers franchise, so we got together in a room over a three-month period of time...Similarly, we are doing the same in television and in digital. So stay tuned, 'Transformers' 5 is on its way, and 6 and 7 and 8."
Michael Bay, who has been at the helm for the last four films, is not officially involved in the fifth installment of the series, which is slated to star Mark Wahlberg. The director tweeted in September that he had met with Steven Spielberg and discussed the film, but he has not made a commitment to the studio.
"There's nothing more than meets the eye here: Hasbro simply can't walk away from the lucrative movie franchise that has seen the last two entries top $1 billion worldwide," Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations, told CNBC.
Domestic gross for the franchise peaked at $402 million in 2009 and steadily declined with each new release, according to Box Office Mojo. However, foreign box office sales have continued to spike.
"Transformers: Age of Extinction," the fourth film, garnered more then $858 million internationally, accounting for more than 77 percent of the film's worldwide gross.
"Sure, the domestic grosses have hit a low point as far as the franchise is concerned, but that's only an issue if you consider $245 million a disappointment," Bock said. "I'm not sure any studio in town does, though, considering only a handful of films gross that much year in and year out."
Hasbro's "Transformers" franchise has grossed more than $3.7 billion since the first film was released in 2007 starring Shia LeBeouf.
"It really does have this long term malleability," Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Rentrak, said. "That's the thing about 'Transformers', it is able to transform these films into whatever they want to do going forward in terms of the plot and casting. I mean, they changed up the casting and that didn't seem to hurt it at all...It's not like "Iron Man" who is inextricably linked to Robert Downey Jr."
In fact, the fourth installment of the franchise, which swapped out leading man LeBeouf for Wahlberg, garnered more than $1.1 billion at the box office, the second highest gross in the franchise.
"I'm surprised they are only committing to four additional movies," Dergarabedian said. "The sky really is the limit and the proof is in the box office. No matter what critics think of these movies, because generally they are not well-reviewed, they represent that quintessential popcorn movie experience...that's really served them well and it's a smart, strategic move to keep that gravy train rolling."
Dergarabedian noted that so long as Paramount and Hasbro stagger the release dates of their planned films, audience members are less likely to suffer the content fatigue feared by the superhero genre.