A "Transformers 5" movie is reportedly in the works and will still be directed by Michael Bay contrary to previous news claiming that he will be leaving the franhise.
Upon talking to Screen Rant, executive producer, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, confirmed Bay's involvement in the sequel.
"I think it's one of those classic things where somebody reported that and suddenly it became our plan," he explained.
"We have never discussed the idea of how to hand it off, honestly. It's not like we don't think, well what happens if Michael doesn't do it, of course you do. But we want to keep Michael on this, so we're not spending any time worrying about who could come in. We're trying to figure out how to keep him going and keep him excited."
It has been heavily speculated that Bay would hand over the directorial responsibilities to a new director following his previous statements.
"There's a lot that's unexplored, but that's for the next director to figure out," he reportedly told Indie Wire. "They're hard movies to do and it takes every day for two years. They're fun, but they're hard."
In a separate interview with USA Today, the highly acclaimed director was quoted saying that he's looking forward to doing other films.
"There's kind of a new chapter, a new direction in movies I want to make," Bay admitted, "I have a lot of stories to tell. And it's about flexing new muscles."
Meanwhile, "Transformers 5" is also rumored to feature a "G.I. Joe" crossover, but while Bonaventura acknowledges the possibilit of it happening, he explained that there's no plan for the crossover to happen anytime soon.
"I don't think they run out of stories yet," Bonaventura told Games Radar. "I think later on that's a possibility but I don't think in the near future at all. It's not something we talked about either. You know, there's a lot more story to be told in both cases."
"I think if in some moment we all think, 'You know what, it's time to bring the two of them together' then we'll do that, but I think they're strong enough to exist on their own," he added.
He also clarified the rumors suggesting that "Transformers 5" is already scheduled to be released in 2016.
"No, that's not accurate," he revealed.
"Somehow that gets reported, it's made up by somebody and then everybody thinks it's true. No, I think we've been doing these on different cycles. I think the same thing is going to happen this time. It's an exhausting process to make these movies. The scale of them is so enormous. It really does tax everybody and our tendency is to finish one at a time, recover, and then begin talking. And we'll do the same thing this time."
