14 DAY TRIAL // Paramount Pictures has so much confidence in the rebooted “Transformers” franchise that it won’t even wait for the fourth installment – you know, the one that’s actually meant to reboot the series – to come out before announcing a fifth film.
“Transformers: Age of Extinction” opens in theaters all over the world next Friday, on June 27, but the studio has already confirmed the fifth film and even set an estimated release date for it, for 2016, The Hollywood Reporter informs.
This happened during the European version of Comic-Con, CineEurope. Also here, Paramount confirmed a bunch of other sequels, all of which had been rumored to come out in the past: “Hansel and Gretel 2,” “Paranormal Activity 5,” “Beverly Hills Cop 4,” and “G.I. Joe 3.”
While a fifth “Transformers” film was never unlikely, having it announced before the fourth is even out is a clear indication of the faith Paramount has in the franchise and, implicitly, in director Michael Bay.
Based on the performance at the box office of the previous three movies, they have no reason to doubt the fourth will also be a hit: Bay’s work is widely ridiculed but, at the same time, it’s also widely successful because he delivers just the kind of entertainment larger audiences are looking for.
The only thing that could limit the box office chances of “Age of Extinction” as compared to the other three movies is the fact that it has replaced the entire cast. Then again, it has Mark Wahlberg as lead and there’s really no chance of things going bad with him on board.