[UPDATE: It's Confirmed: Orci and Kurtzman are NOT writing Transformers 3]
On Tuesday, word spread online that the writers for Transformers and its sequel Revenge of the Fallen, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, would not be writing the third installment in the franchise.
The information originated from the Don Murphy forums were Orci participates regularly and it was here where the writer revealed that he and his partner are done with Transformers.
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“Time for fresh blood!” writes Orci. “The main reason we would move on is because we risk getting stale and comfortable. If you only sing one song for too long, you miss the opportunity to sing news songs. We’ll see.”
While I enjoyed Transformers upon second viewing (the first time all I came out with was thoughts of the negative parts), my personal belief is that the main weakness of Transformers was its screenplay and that so many of its problems would have been rectified by different writing decisions. For that reason, I am pleased that the story, characters and dialogue will be written by others the third time around.
Whether that means just Ehren Kruger will write it himself, or others will come aboard to take Orci’s and Kurtzman’s spots. It’ll give them a chance to focus on other (read: better) projects where they may have a tad bit more control of the final product.
I’m hoping for and expecting a better movie experience with Revenge of the Fallen but I am happy there will be new writers behind Transformers 3. Orci and Kurtzman have a real test this year with both Star Trek and Revenge of the Fallen having been written/co-written by them and debuting as Summer tentpole films – so we’ll get a real good look at their writing ability.
What do you think of this news?
Update: Collider managed to get these quotes out of Kurtzman and Orci on the subject of Transformers 3:
Why have you decided not to be involved with Transformers 3?
Bob: We’ve been working on Transformers longer than I was in college. I feel like we have our degree in Transformers now.
Alex: The franchise is so wonderful that it deserves to be fresh, all the time. We just felt like we’d given it a lot and didn’t have an insight for where to go with it next, and said, “You should do it right.”
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opens June 24, 2009 and Transformers 3 is scheduled for July 1, 2011.
Source: /Film
Update Source: Collider
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40 Comments
Things are looking up. Maybe the third time will be the charm, and somebody connected with this mess will remember that movies are better when you have a STORY to hold them together. No more bodily function humor, and maybe, just maybe they’ll slow this train wreck down, and let some character sneak in someplace. I doubt it, but what the heck, I’m an optimist.
I’m glad these two Bay cronies are taking a hike. Now if we could just get a decent director to do the next one, instead of yet another Armageddon or Pearl Harbor number three, maybe we could get an actual dramatic movie with real actors, instead of having to deal with the “blockbuster” Bay syndrome. Bay’s films are always “fun for the whole family,” unless some non-comforming family member actually possesses two brain cells to rub together.
I liked Mission Impossible 3 but thought Transformers was overall awful because it seemed like two different movies edited together: a wicked action film and a slapstick comedy.
Transformers is what’s making me nervous about Star Trek… I really hope it delivers.
Vic
Maybe because I wasn’t a huge fan of the cartoon, I actually enjoyed Transformers (I know I am the minority here on that). It wasn’t the greatest movie ever made, but it had action, robots and a hot girl. A good popcorn flick to escape the drudgery of daily life.
andy s
same here, and i can understand people who complain about the story b/c it did suck, but what do you expect from a michael bay film and besides its about waring alien robots all we really need is action
From what I’ve heard, Michael Bay is the reason why the script had the comedy bits. Same with with Transformers 2: Bay’s said as much in interviews these days.
heath
I think for me the thing that runied Transformers the movie, was they tried to get the robots to ‘act’ cool, when they’re cool just being what they are. i realise that at the same time they are characters, but it needed a little fine tuning i thought.
As i’ve said before, will be interesting to see how they explore these characters a little more.
Just in reference to my post above, there was one comic moment in the movie that i liked however, when Ironhide proposes to ‘eliminate’ Sam’s parents (while Sam is seraching his room for the glasses) and Ratchet is grabbing Ironhide’s guns, pointing them for him saying “Yeah yeah yeah!”….that was about the only time I laughed in the movie. Everything else was “Oh hell yeah!” especially when Blackout goes into ‘bot mode for the first time =)
Vic,
Think you’ll like the second TF movie more…
does anyone else here think that if megatron is in the second film it will be too cluttered, b/c as much as i like the decepticon leader i think he would be out of place in the second film and his return should be saved for the third film(if there is one)
@boborci
I’ll take that as an indication that there will be less stupid humor in the sequel. If the first one stuck with the serious/action side I would have liked it a HELL of a lot more.
Vic
I hear the second one is going to have Robots in Disguise.
boborci,
Thanks for popping in! I should of mentioned I love Fringe & MI:3
Rob,
Thanks
Vic
i wouldn’t say there is less humor but there is more of the serious stuff you want.
@boborci
We’ll see. I’ll try to go in with an open mind, but what bothered me was the jarring transition from intense, dramatic scene immediately to goofy “funny” scene. I can understand having humor in action films (Raiders of the Lost Ark comes to mind) but it needs to be somewhat subtle and not so “out there” (idiot parents, moronic gov’t agents, masturbation jokes for crying out loud) to work IMHO.
I *did* really like MI:3 and I’m praying you guys hit a home run with Star Trek.
Vic
Vic,
Hear you… thanks for open mind. As you know, we stand by the paradigm of the Transformers movie, but we certainly understand your feelings. You will not have that problem with Star Trek, which was written under a different paradigm
Later!
“What do you think of this news?”
Far too little, far too late. The damage done by Orci, Kurtzman, and Bay can never be undone. They’ve made me ashamed to be a fan of the other Transformers series, those that are actually good, by giving the impression that they’re insult to the franchise is what Transformers actually is. Not even a complete reboot can undo that damage.
It pains me to think those defectives who don’t deserve to be called writers have now mangled the Star Trek franchise beyond recognition.
Too bad their “work” doesn’t qualify for prosecution as a crime against humanity.
@One Last Time
Have you already seen Star Trek? Just wondering since you seem to know for a fact that the franchise has been “mangled.”
And “crimes against humanity?” Dude, get some perspective. Seriously. Hitler and the death of 6 million people = crimes against humanity – not writers who screw up a movie.
Yeesh.
Vic
@ One Last Time,
I’m a Transformers fan but the cartoons for Transformers have never really been that good or re-watchable other than the Beast Wars Series.
More people like the movie’s Transformers than any of the TV series’ as well. You need to put things in perspective bud and re-read what you wrote.
Hater pants, one size fits all.
people seem to just bash the film b/c michael bay directed it, and i hear people say that you have to be “brain dead” to enjoy transformers which is just plain ignorant.
rob keyes,
i have always enjoyed the beast wars tv series even to this day.
@ Matt K,
Same here bud, a friend of mine gave me the three seasons of Beast Wars on DVD to watch last summer and I watched it all… it held up well from when I saw it as a kid and I enjoyed it all… can’t say the same for any of the cartoons or the original 1986 film
Good to see they’re quitting while they’re ahead.
I heard this was just made official to no surpise.
I’m happy that they’ll be focusing on better projects.
The focus shouldn’t be on them it should be on the movie. They’re overrated in my opinion.
@M-Cat – I think overrated isn’t the proper term. Misunderstood may be a better term. Have you seen any of their other work and do you truly believe the writers were the downfall of the film?
Paul
haha no, I’m not an idiot. not that you were implying that but I know they weren’t the downfall of Transformers 2. I just think they get too much credit for the movies they’ve been involved with. Star Trek was great for reasons other than the script. That was probably the worst part about Star Trek. Other than that, it was great.
I think the jury is still out on these two. They seem to do really well when teamed with Abrams versus when not teamed with him.
As far as movies go, they should do something that’s NOT a remake or reboot or something with a built-in audience(Transformers). I’m unaware of any films based on “original” material from Orci or Kurtzman.
@stuntmanJ
That is a really good point actually. I mean, there is the Island right? Except that they got accused of ripping that off from an earlier work too… SNAP! It was settled out of court as I recall. Everything is derivative, right?
Maybe they should keep playing to their strengths, which is apparently adaptations. I actually quite like MI-3, The Island (arguably an adaptation), and Star Trek. Transformers, not so much.
wow it took a moment there for me to realize that bob orci just stoped by to say hi !!!
Bob,
if your read this, i have a question for you:
would you be involved in a MI:IV???
i thought MI:III was amazing…
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