Fresh off yesterday’s news that Entertainment One (eOne) is developing 15 TV projects and 21 film projects based on properties in the Hasbro portfolio, the first details have emerged about one project that is “more than meets the eye.”
Oscar-winning filmmaker Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4) will direct an animated Transformers prequel that will reportedly take place on Cybertron and focus on the dynamic between Autobot leader Optimus Prime and Decepticon leader Megatron. Originally reported by Deadline, Cooley took to Twitter to confirm the news with the heroic Autobots logo and two familiar words for Transformers fans: “Roll out.”
Roll out. pic.twitter.com/riVCLbHHYp
— Josh Cooley (@CooleyUrFaceOff) April 30, 2020
Based on the popular toy line that Hasbro launched in the U.S. in 1984, the new Transformers film will be separate from the previous live-action films directed by Michael Bay and the recent Bumblebee spin-off. Hasbro/eOne will guide the production alongside Paramount Pictures, with which Hasbro’s Allspark Pictures maintains a long-standing relationship.
Ahead of last year’s theatrical launch for Toy Story 4, Cooley made his love for vintage toys very clear, explaining to our sister publication, the Pop Insider, why he populated the expanded world of Toy Story with fresh additions from the ’70s and ’80s.
“In the first Toy Story, characters such as Slinky Dog and Mr. Potato Head — those were real toys, and people almost forget that,” Cooley said. “In Toy Story 4, I wanted to see some things that I grew up with, and almost anyone my age grew up playing with Kenner Star Wars action figures.”
Kenner was acquired by Hasbro in the mid-1990s. eOne was recently acquired by Hasbro in a transaction valued at more than $4 billion.
