TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION The Official Title Of Fourth Film, Plus Teaser Poster

Grimlock And The Dinobots Confirmed For TRANSFORMERS 4?

There had been talk for weeks that a group of new Autobots from the original cartoon would be making their debut in Transformers 4. Those being the Dinobots led by Grimlock, considered to be fan favorites. A new interview with Chinese media (via CBM) with producer confirms this but remains to be seen how the robots factor into the "story" and action sequences.

"I can not disclose the specifics, but you can be sure that the joining of the Dinobots will give the audience new excitement. In addition to Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, the appearance of these classic roles changed, today the world's coolest, most exciting cars will appear in the film, including China's vehicles, whether you are a car enthusiast, you will feast your eyes and be shocked by them."

Megan Fox And Will Arnett On The Set Of TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, Plus Official Movie Logo

FIRST LOOK: Megan Fox Spotted With April O'Neil's Signature Red Hair As Production On NINJA TURTLES Gears Up

Will Arnett Joins TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

THR reports that comedian Will Arnett has joined the cast of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot. His part isn't named but the site rules out Casey Jones but leave the roles of Master Splinter and villain Shredder as possibilities. Will joins Megan Fox who plays April along with newcomers Alan Ritchson, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard and Noel Fisher playing the turtles via motion capture.

Nicola Peltz Confirmed For Female Lead Of TRANSFORMERS 4, Will Play Mark Wahlberg's Daughter

Michael Bay has officially announced via Twitter that Nicola Peltz (Avatar: The Last Airbender) will play the female lead of Transformers 4. Nicola will be actor Jack Reynor's love interest and the daughter of Mark Wahlberg's character.

Unknowns Cast As Leo, Don And Mikey In TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TUTRLES, Master Splinter And Shredder Still To Be Announced

Deadline reports that casting for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot is clearly almost complete as Paramount announces three unknowns have been cast as the rest of the turtles. They include Jeremy Howard (Accepted, Galaxy Quest) as Donatello, Pete Ploszek (Parks & Rec, Shameless) as Leonardo and Noel Fisher (Twilight Saga) as Michaelangelo. Megan Fox has been placed in the human role of reporter April O'Neil while Alan Ritchson (Smallville, Hunger Games: Catchingfire) will play Ralphael. The actors playing the turtles will be doing motion capture performances for the characters. Shredder and Master Splinter are still to be announced. No word if Krang or Casey Jones will still be apart of the film after the recent rewrites. Production will begin in April with a slated release date of June 6th 2014.

Alan Ritchson Will Play Raphael In TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

Deadline reports that Paramount and Jonathan Liebesman have found their first Ninja Turtle. Actor Alan Ritchson has landed the role of Raphael which will involve motion capture techniques that were used in Avatar. Instead of having stuntmen in suits the studio have opted to go with advanced performance capture. Ritchson is best known for playing Aquaman on Smallville but has a supporting role in Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Megan Fox was previously announced as taking the female lead of April O'Neil.

Megan Fox Will Play April In NINJA TURTLES, Beating Out Anna Kendrick, Elizabeth Olsen And Jane Levy For The Role

Michael Bay has announced via his site that Megan Fox (Transformers 1-2) will be involved with Ninja Turtles. A role isn't named but it might be safe to assume Fox will be playing reporter April O'Neil. There had been a rumored falling out of sorts between Bay and Fox, over some comments she made to press about the set. Elizabeth Olsen was recently revealed to be in the mix for the film before landing the female lead in Godzilla. There had been rumors that Krang could be the villain of the film.

In addition to Olsen, Variety adds that actresses Anna Kendrick (End of Watch, Scott Pilgrim, Up In The Air, 50/50) and Jane Levy (Evil Dead Reboot) were also in the mix. They also name the role to be that of April O'Neil. After discovering this gif (below) of April from the cartoon series I can see why Fox got the role.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES Shooting In April

Production delays and fan criticism be damned! ProductionWeekly confirms that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remake will begin it's shoot in New York sometime in April. There was a large outcry from fans when the Bay retitled the project strictly Ninja Turtles and an alleged leaked script pointed out how awful it was going to be. It sounds like the delays were to at least try to amened the script. Casting should begin soon and it will be interesting to see what actors are willing to commit career suicide. The film has a release date of May 16th 2014.

Jack Reynor Cast As Second Male Lead In TRANSFORMERS 4

Michael Bay has confirmed Variety's previous report that Jack Reynor (Delivery Man, What Richard Did) has landed the second male lead in Transformers 4. Oscar nominated Mark Wahlberg will play the lead with Reynor playing his daughter's boyfriend. The young actor comes from a quality acting background compared to previous actors from the franchise.

Fun Trailer For Action Comedy PAIN AND GAIN

Nicola Peltz And Brenton Thwaites Join Mark Wahlberg In TRANSFORMERS 4

Twitch is reporting that Paramount has finally cast it's young new cast for Transformers 4 opposite Mark Wahlberg. They say that Nicola Peltz (Bates Motel, Avatar The Last Airbender) and Aussie actor Brenton Thawaites (Maleficent) have joined the cast as Wahlberg's daughter and her biker/race car driving boyfriend.

New Poster For PAIN AND GAIN

Paramount Testing Young Actors For TRANSFORMERS 4

HeatVision repots that Paramount and director Michael Bay will be testing young actors for two major roles in Transformers 4. They are Mark Wahlberg's daughter and her race car driving boyfriend (*roll's eyes). It's expected the two chosen actors will sign for three films. While I don't really have an opinion for the daughter role beside that it's nice to see somewhat non-models being looked at. When it comes to the male role Irish actor Jack Reynor is my favorite. Reynor is gaining a lot of buzz for his indie film What Richard Did, so I'll be pulling for him to land this franchise.

Testing for the daughter and boyfriend role is set to occur this week. Isabelle Cornish, the sister of Australian actress Abbie Cornish (Limitless), and Nicola Peltz, who appeared in M. Night Shyamalan’s Paramount movie The Last Airbender and who has a part in A&E’s Bates Motel, are among those vying for the role. UPDATE: Gabriella Wilde (Three Musketeers) and Margaret Qualley (Andie MacDowell's daughter) as well.

There are five young men testing: Luke Grimes, who appeared in Brothers & Sisters and is in Taken 2; Landon Liboiron, who co-starred in Fox's Terra Nova series and will be seen in the upcoming Netflix series Hemlock Grove; Australian actor Brenton Thwaites who starred in Blue Lagoon: The Awakening; relative newcomer Jack Reynor; and Weeds actor Hunter Parrish.  

DREAM CAST: Dwayne Johnson And Gina Carano For TRANSFORMERS 4

Now that director Michael Bay is revving up re-casting for Transformers 4 starting with Mark Wahlberg. We should be expecting a "different" group of actors selected this time around. Mark is better known for his action roles but has landed himself in the awards arena recently with The Departed and The Fighter. Wahlberg is also a solid straight-man in comedies like Ted and The Other Guys. So he's got the acting chops, charm and humor to add something human to the film franchise which has been lacking from it's human characters throughout the trilogy.

Granted I'm not a big fan of Bay's Transformers films but this next installment could change the entire tone of the films.  It's unknown how serious the studio will be going, likely a little more towards the recent reboot/sequel to G.I. Joe. A bit more grounded than previously but still including the humor and spectacle you'd expect from a summer blockbuster. I have two other recommendations that could greatly help this new era of the franchise. I feel like having an Expendables-type cast of action stars could help boost the quality of the film. That being said, I could see Dwayne Johnson and Gina Carano becoming excellent additions to the new cast.

Dwayne has broken out as an action star (again) after a rather terrible string of family friendly films. He's already jumped on board the Fast And Furious and G.I. Joe (another Hasbro film) franchises seemingly giving them new action cred. Production of his Hercules (also with Paramount) film with Brett Ratner directing is also ramping up in the new year. I assume with connections to both Bay and Wahlberg from working on Pain And Gain along with three projects for Paramount. He's a strong candidate to be the next name added to the lineup. Hiring someone that can be as charismatic as Johnson could be something the franchise could really use. We've seen three films already where character development and charisma is thrown out the window. It would be nice to see someone else with actual personality added to the mix.

Gina is the MMA fighter turned action heroine, thanks in part to her starring role in Steven Soderbergh's Haywire. The film was a huge success and has since seen Gina land roles in Fast And Furious 6 (alongside Dwayne) and the lead in a female version of The Expendables. Bay has been notoriously lazy with casting female actresses in the Transformers films, not to mention sexist. Girls tend to watch these genre films as well and having models playing damsels in distress is beyond cliche. It's time they developed a female character (lack of them as well) that wasn't just eye candy for Bay and teen boys.

Mark Wahlberg Confirmed For TRANSFORMERS 4

Director Michael Bay has confirmed that his Pain And Gain star Mark Wahlberg has signed on for Transformers 4. The fourth installment is said to be a reboot of sorts and the first step was to replace all the cast members of the first three films. Twitch originally reported on the casting news only for Bay to deny and now is confirming it. Jason Statham had also been linked but nothing seems to be as concrete as Mark joining and it's release date of June 27th 2014.

Mark Wahlberg In Early Talks For TRANSFORMERS 4

TwitchFilm is reporting that Oscar nominated actor Mark Wahlberg (Departed, The Fighter) is in early talks with Michael Bay for a lead role in Transformers 4. It's expected that the fourth film will purge all previous actors and re-cast the humans. There had even been rumors of a more futuristic science-fiction human world, that remains to be seen. Bay recently worked with Mark on the action thriller Pain And Gain so chances are good to wrangle the action star. Not to mention he was able to convincingly carry on conversations with talking teddy bear in Ted. So talking to giant robots should be a cake walk for Wahlberg. Jason Statham had been originally linked for a role but it has been denied by everyone involved.

'NINJA TURTLES' Pushed To 2014 And Budget Slashed

Paramount isn't so pumped about the Michael Bay produced Ninja Turtles as the production has been put on pause. The film which will be directed by Jonathan Liebesman (Wrath of The Titans) had been aimed for a Christmas 2013 release date but has been pushed back till May 16th 2014. Apparently this is allow more time for script fixes along with possible re-tooling of it's direction. There's also reports that the budget is being cut down $10-20 million for a budget total of $125 million. Rumors had been circling that Krang would be the villain which might be the reason for the rewrites.

SOURCES: Deadline THR

FIRST LOOK: Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson And Anthony Mackie On The Set Of 'PAIN AND GAIN'