Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain made about $20 million over the weekend, which isn’t exactly Transformers money. But Transformers 4 is next on Bay’s to do list, and it will star his Pain & Gain leading man Mark Wahlberg, but was Marky-Mark the first choice for the fighting robots sequel? Any innocent question posed to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on Twitter seems to indicate the answer is no.

Michael Bay offered me Transformers, but I was unavailable due to Hercules. Then Wahlberg was offered the role. #RockTalk @nadydi

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) April 26, 2013

Naturally, Johnson is a good choice to take over your franchise, he’s been drafted three times to play that part already. As to the logistics, maybe Johnson was too busy to play in Transformers 4, or maybe he scratched his 80s toyline based movie itch with G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Of course, it doesn’t say a lot for Wahlberg if Bay just need some muscle-bound leading man type to fill Shia LaBeouf‘s shoes in the next Transformers movie, but it will be interesting to see what Bay comes up with.

Source: /Film

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Michael Bay’s unceasing efforts to make loads of cash off of audiences with extremely low expectations continue as he pursues the almighty Transformers 4.  We already know that Mark Wahlberg has accepted his check (most likely a very sizable one) and will be showing up for the fourth installment of the franchise, and now it looks like one Jack Reynor will be joining the party.

Who is Jack Reynor and why do we care?  Well, he’s starred in no movie that I’ve ever heard of, but Bay seems to think he’s the bee’s knees for his performance in a little-known Irish flick by the name of What Richard Did.

Or, to put it in his own words:

I just hired a great new actor for Transformers 4 to star against Mark Wahlberg. Jack Reynor, he is an Irish kid that came to America with 30 bucks in his pocket. Pretty ballsy. Seriously who does that? Anyway I spotted him in a great little Irish movie WHAT RICHARD DID. This kid is the real deal.

Bay also reiterated that the fourth Transformers film will be but the beginning of a new trilogy.  So we can expect three more of these god-awful things in the future.

Sigh…

Thanks to /film for the heads-up.

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After rumors of a leaked Transformers IV script spread across the Internet yesterday, it was only a matter of time before someone asked director Michael Bay to confirm or deny the story. Bay beat them all to the punch by releasing the following statement on his official website:

“Some Internet sites this morning reported that some document recovery guy has found a legitimate 120 page script of Transformers 4. I can absolutely 100 percent say this is completely false. The only two people in the world that have our unfinished script are Kruger and myself. Also we are only up to page 70 in our T4 script. Maybe this guy has a cartoon or something else – but definitely not our movie!”

Back on December 6th, Bay had to clear up some casting rumors going around the Internet aboutNicola Peltz (The Last Airbender) and Brenton Thwaites (Maleficent). Stories that the two were cast as Mark Wahlberg‘s character’s daughter and her race car driver boyfriend.

“Actor announcement on some web sites last night about Transformer cast joining Mark are completely false.”

Principle filming is set to begin in May 2013 and Transformers 4 should hit theater screens June 27th, 2014.

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The Transformers franchise is about to get it’s regular scheduled maintenance overhaul, with a new cast and new story line. This is more of a reboot than a sequel to Michael Bay’s last run at the franchise. One fresh face, Mark Wahlberg, claims Transformers 4 isn’t some cheap money grabbing scheme, but a brand new story line that draw’s in fresh faces.

In the midst of promoting Allen Hughes’ American crime drama Broken City, the Wahlberg spoke about what he’s now calling ” the most challenging role that I’ve played.”, something we find really hard to believe. After the great working relationship Mark and Michael had on the upcoming comedy Pain and Gain Mark said:

“He said to me (on set), ‘What do you think about doing a Transformers movie with me?’ I said, ‘Well, what do you want me to do?’ He told me and I said, ‘Absolutely!’”

This may have been thanks to the Internet’s involvement in the rumors of Mark’s involvement and we might never know fully, but according to the actor he’s not in it for the money. According to Mark, this is his chance to get into more family-friendly Hollywood films and an entire market of children just waiting for a man with a Boston accent.

“I said, ‘Don’t worry, guys, this is not me taking a paycheck and running with it. This is me trying to … I liked what the guys did with, like, The Avengers, for instance. When I watched that movie I was not interested in seeing it at all, but it was entertaining for me as well as for my kids. I think they did a really good job, and we want to do something special with it, so I’m excited about it.”

So after speaking with producers Steven Spielberg and Brian Grazer what Wahlberg is trying to do is become more family oriented for the kids, but didn’t he already do that with Ted? You can’t get more family-friendly then a talking bear, cocaine and Nerd Bastard’s Editor-in-Chief Luke Gallagher dancing behind Flash Gordon, it’s just science. It will be interesting though to see how Mark and Transformers 4 will play out in their connection to the past three films or it’s lack there of in the future.

Transformers 4 begins shooting in May of 2013 and arrives in theaters everywhere June 27th, 2014.

! ! ! SPOILER ALERT ! ! ! SPOILER ALERT ! ! !

Don’t click the jump if you don’t want to know about the leaked script details.

(more…)

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Now that we live in a world where famous Hollywood directors listen to crazed Internet rumors, what’s next for Michael Bay and Transformers 4? With the hiring of Mark Wahlberg to the reboot (or new trilogy depending on who you ask) anything is possible. So why not go all Dark Knight Rises and place the new film four years in the future?

While the move itself might appear to be an attempt to replicate the success of the Chris Nolan franchise, during a call-in to Internet and tabloid TMZ the director cleared up some of the confusion.

According to Bay:

“The movie is going to continue 4 years on from the attack on Chicago which was in the last movie. So it’s going still to have the same  lineage but going in a full, new, different direction and it actually feels really natural how it is going in that direction.”

If the only thing connecting the sequel is going to be the Autobots, is the four year gap really necessary? None of the human cast from the previous films are known to be returning and Shia LaBeouf was a prominent figure in all three – he was the star after all.

And honestly, since Transformers 4 can neither be classified as a sequel or a reboot, this should be known as bonified spin-off until a human personality returns to take part. That would mean our hopes for a Megan Fox return might still be possible, woo hoo!

So what do you think? Is the four year jump too much, not enough or should they just reboot the thing?

Source: TMZ

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HEY YOU!

Yeah, I’m talking to you Internet; you just couldn’t leave well enough alone could you? Just look at the mess you’ve made of Transformers  IV now. What’s that you say? You didn’t mean it, it was just a joke? Well now you’ve made your bed and Mark Wahlberg is gonna sleep in it.

It all started with a whisper here and a rumor there, next thing you know posts about Mark Wahlberg starring in Transformers IV are everywhere, prompting Michael Bay to at first put the kibosh on the rumor, then later in the week put out a press release saying he had second thoughts about the idea and that indeed Wahlberg would be a part of Transformers IV.

First:

“The Mark Wahlberg T4 rumor is just a rumor. Mark and I are talking about another film project. -Michael”

Then:

“I squashed a rumor that was on the internet last week. It was about Mark Walhberg. Mark was rumored to be staring in Transformers 4. We are working on another movie together, not T4. I had such a great time working with Mark on Pain and Gain, and he gave such a great performance – well let’s say that very internet chatter gave me some ideas. We are at the inception of our story process right now on T4. Let’s say some ideas are gaining traction with me and my writer – so I’m here to say thanks internet chatter.”

Which lead to:

“Mark is awesome. We had a blast working on “Pain and Gain” and I’m so fired up to be back working with him. An actor of his caliber is the perfect guy to re-invigorate the franchise and carry on the Transformers’ legacy,”

That also included the first look at the official Transformers IV logo pictured below.

So there you have it Internet, you used your Jedi Mind trick for selfish personal reasons and now we’ve all got to live with it, but maybe you really wanted this to happen. You can use the comments section below for confessional, you’ll feel better getting it all out in the open.

Transformers 4 hits theater screens on June 27th, 2014.

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A while back a rumor surfaced that was worse than the fact Transformers 4 is on its way - Mark Wahlberg was rumored to be playing a role in it. Thankfully, this was just the work of the internet “rumor mill” and those clever little scamps almost had us fooled, but now Michael Bay might actually think it’s a good idea!

Back when all this chaos started Wahlberg was rumored for a major role in the upcoming sequel but Bay was quick to dispel rumor. In reality, Bay and Wahlberg are working on a separate project after wrapping up Bay’s action-comedy Pain and Gain, which stars Wahlberg alongside Dwayne Johnson and Ed Harris.

Now these rumors have arisen once again, straight from the mouth of Michael Bay himself. According to Bay all the “internet chatter” has given him some ideas about having Wahlberg in Tranformers 4. Here’s Bay’s statement, from his own site:

I squashed a rumor that was on the internet last week. It was about Mark Walhberg. Mark was rumored to be staring in Transformers 4. We are working on another movie together, not T4. I had such a great time working with Mark on Pain and Gain, and he gave such a great performance – well let’s say that very internet chatter gave me some ideas. We are at the inception of our story process right now on T4. Let’s say some ideas are gaining traction with me and my writer – so I’m here to say thanks internet chatter.

So according to Bay, we the audience may have given him the idea to include Wahlberg in Transformers 4.

Well done everyone, we all deserve a round of applause for this. If we play our cards right maybe we can bring Megan Fox back long enough for that on screen death we’ve been looking for since Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. We can only hope.

Transformers 4 is set for a June 27th, 2014 theatrical release.

Special Thanks to /Film for spreading this news around.

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Over night rumors began circulating that Mark Wahlberg was being sought out to star in Transformers 4. The “truth” behind this being Wahlberg recently finished working on Pain and Gain with Michael Bay and now the two were discussing another project, assumed to be the upcoming Transformers 4. This obviously conflicted with the reports we’d been hearing that Bay was seeking a female actress for the lead role, but the story kept getting stronger and was eventually being reported by many a reputable site.

Well, it’s wrong. Bay himself took to the forums to the dispute the rumor, stating,

The Mark Wahlberg T4 rumor is just a rumor. Mark and I are talking about another film project. -Michael

There ya go. Not happening. Then again, Bay also claimed some time ago he wouldn’t be doing a Transformers 4, and here we are.

What say you bastards? Does Bay speak the truth? More misdirection? Does anyone actually give a rat’s ass about Transformers 4?

Source: /Film

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William Gibson’s Neuromancer is a classic of cyberpunk, created way back in 1984.  This book set in place much of what defines the genre today and influenced countless other writers to imitate and expand off of Gibson’s ideas.  Talks about a movie adaptation of the book have been nearly constant for more than a decade, with nothing ever coming of it.  The closest Hollywood ever got to recreating Gibson’s unique atmosphere in film was the 1995 B-grade Johnny Mnemonic starring Keanu Reeves.  Now, however, the rumor mill seems to be accelerating and fans of Gibson may have their dreams soon realized.

Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice) has been set to direct an adaptation for more than two years now, but has been working on other projects.  Financing was secured for the making of the film, but still nothing.  But the producers may be making their move soon, because Mark Wahlberg and Liam Neeson have both been approached about starring in two of the leads.

Wahlberg, if he accepts, would take on the role of Case, top-notch computer hacker and general protagonist.  Neeson would be playing Armitage, an ex-military type with more than his share of mental problems.  No word yet on who Natali might want to fill the shoes of the other main lead, Molly – bad-ass cyber-samurai and bodyguard.

For those unfamiliar with the story… go read the book!  Ok, I’ll give a brief description, just to be nice:

Case is a cyber-hacker in a futuristic world where the internet is pretty much all virtual reality.  He gets his neurons selectively fried after a deal-gone-bad and is forced to live his life permanently stuck inside the “meat” of his physical body.  Some shady people approach him via Armitage and offer to put his head back in order if he uses his hacking skills to do what they need done.

My skeptical side expects this one to fail just as surely as all the other attempts to adapt Neuromancer.  Still, I’ll be crossing my fingers until more news comes.  Speculators put the release date at 2014, but until this thing starts shooting for-reals, it’s impossible to tell where it will end up.

Thanks to cinemablend for the heads-up.

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You know, I don’t talk about the The Amory Wars comic series on here as nearly as much as I should. It’s one of my favorite titles. TAW is the brain child of Coheed and Cambria front man Claudio Sanchez. Each album the band releases corresponds to a series of comics. So not only do you get the comic, it’s got it’s own fucking soundtrack. That’s not to say that the comic makes no sense without the music. This little guy holds its own against the big boys- no problem. (Suck it, Superman).

So… comics, soundtracks. What’s next? A movie of course!

Evil Ink Comics have announced today that a big screen adaptation of their science fiction saga The Amory Wars  is in the works. Published by Boom! Studios, the film will be produced by Stephen Levinson‘s Leverage and Mark Wahlberg.

It’s extremely difficult to try and describe the things that take place inside this world that Sanchez has so skillfully created. On the surface it’s the story of a man and the lengths he would go to save his family and his world. Beneath the surface the shit hits the fan. The Story centers around the Killgannon ( Zelda reference? I like to think so) family, Coheed and Cambria husband and wife, mother and father to Claudio, Josephine, Mathew and Maria. As well as  Coheed’s brother Jesse. Those in charge of Heaven’s Fence (the mythological universe in which they reside) have convinced Coheed that everything he knows about his life is not true, the memories he has are implanted and that he and his wife in fact are I-Robots. At some point he was implanted with a virus known as Monstar and he has unknowingly passed it to his children in a much more violent form called the Sinstar which will reek havoc on Heaven’s Fence and there is no cure. Coheed is left with two options kill your children or we will do it for you.

Sufficed to say, it’s a complicated story. I really dunno how well this would translate to a standalone movie. It’s too involved. I’d see working better as a television series. Of course, I say that about every comic series. Oh, and Walkberg? *Facepalm*

Regardless, woohoo for Coheed and Cambria  fans.

Source: Evil Ink Comics

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