Michael Bay is directing an original action movie titled Black 5. The filmmaker spent much of the last decade cranking out Transformers movies, having previously made his name with high-octane '90s offerings like The Rock and Armageddon. He did take a break from Optimus Prime and his friends every so often, in order to go work on films likes the true story crime-comedy Pain & Gain and biographical war thriller 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. Now, following the release of 2017's Transformers: The Last Knight, Bay has walked away from the sci-fi franchise for good.
Bay has since gotten to work on Six Underground, a Netflix Original starring Ryan Reynolds as one of a half-dozen billionaires who fake their deaths in order to become vigilantes. The project was written by Reynolds' Deadpool 1 & 2 writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and is currently in post-production for a 2020 release. Meanwhile, Bay is already looking ahead to his next directorial effort.
According to Variety, Bay is set to direct an original action film called Black 5 once he's all finished with Six Underground. The movie is based on a script written by Ehren Kruger (Transformers 2-4, Dumbo) and has Sony in talks to finance and distribute. Assuming all the pieces fall into place, Bay will begin production near the beginning of next year.
Black 5 will mark a reunion for Bay and Sony, following their previous work together on Bad Boys 1 & 2. The success of the first Bad Boys, in particular, launched Bay's directing career, so Black 5 will mark a homecoming of sorts for the explosion-savvy filmmaker. It seems like the plan is for Black 5 to kick-off a franchise, with Variety reporting a video game spinoff is already being developed. Sony has been reviving its biggest properties of late, but to mixed results that include this summer's disappointing Men in Black: International. The studio is no doubt eager for a new cash cow, so it makes sense for them to turn to a reliable collaborator like Bay in their search.
In the meantime, Sony will continue to release new entries in popular brands like Zombieland, Charlie's Angels, and Jumanji over the remaining months of 2019, leading up to Bad Boys for Life (which Bay did not direct) hitting theaters next January. The studio is already planning to mix things up a bit in 2020 with fresh installments in franchises like Ghostbusters, but also adaptations of the Bloodshot comic book series and (assuming they can hold onto a director) the Uncharted video games, among other IPs that are new to the big screen. And if their previous track record with Bay is any indicator, they could have another hit in the making with Black 5.
Source: Variety