Paramount Pictures has announced the official title for the fifth installment of Michael Bay’s Transformers franchise, and it raises quite a few questions about what audiences can expect from the film.
Scheduled to hit theaters in 2017, Transformers: The Last Knight will begin production in June in Detroit and move to locations around the world during filming. Bay will once again direct the movie, which is based on a script by Iron Man screenwriters Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, as well as Black Hawk Down writer Ken Nolan.
The announcement of the film’s title was made on Instagram, with Paramount revealing the title via an animated image of the face of Autobot leader Optimus Prime that fades into the project’s title, accompanied by a sword in the background. The image is captioned, “Calling all #Autobots: Optimus Prime is ready for battle. Are you?”
It’s uncertain which character “The Last Knight” refers to in the title, and with at least one more sequel movie planned for 2019 and both a potential spinoff and prequel in the works, there isn’t likely to be anything truly final about the film’s “last” knight. The previous installment of the franchise, 2014’s Transformers: Age of Extinction, ended with Optimus Prime flying off into space to find the mysterious “Creators” responsible for ending life on Earth ages ago.
Along with bringing Bay back to the director’s chair, Transformers: The Last Knight will bring back Age of Extinction star Mark Wahlberg as Cade Yeager, and introduce Isabela Moner (Growing Up Fisher) in a co-starring role. Neighbors actor Jerrod Carmichael is also set to play an unidentified, featured role in the film.
Over the course of four live-action movies, the Transformers franchise has earned almost $3.8 billion worldwide, for an average of $944 million per film.
Transformers: The Last Knight is currently scheduled to hit theaters June 23, 2017.
