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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

RUMOR: Jason Statham Is Joining Transformers 4 Afterall?

The Transfomers franchise might be void of any real storytelling or characters but it's been a monster at the box office raking in around $2.6 billion worldwide. Over the summer it was rumored that British action star Jason Statham was going to replace Shia LaBeouf in Transformers 4. While Michael Bay's involvement has yet to be official yet the studio seems to be pushing for the fourth and fifth film. There seems to be vague confirmation via Twitter from stars Tyrese Gibson and Ken Jeong that "J.S" is going the cast.

I've had hate and love for the Transformers franchise enjoying the action scenes but loath Sam and his useless/unfunny comedic sub-plots. Also, the character designs of some of the robots have been beyond odd and even racist at times. I'm not sure how robots age, grow hair or even have lips (gold teeth?). However, the last installment's set pieces were stunning and I even liked how humans looked when they were vaporized into skeletons. The idea that Jason Statham could be the new face of the franchise gives me hope it could be moving in a better direction.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was recently brought in to boost appeal for both Fast Five and G.I. Joe Retaliation, giving both films much needed action star credibility. The former ended up being the biggest film of the Fast And Furious franchise leading Johnson to possibly return for the sixth film (also rumored to include Statham). With Retaliation, he's pretty much taken over the franchise from Channing Tatum (Duke) and looks like he's going to be very entertaining. This could be a similar move with hiring Statham for the next Transformers sequel.

Jason Statham To Headline Transformers 4 & 5?

Variety reports that Michael Bay and producer Steven Spielberg are in talks to make more installments to the Transformers franchise. They also state that Transformers 4 and Transformers 5 could very well shoot at the same time. Considering how much money these movies make the studio it would make sense they would want to release two films soon. While the quality of the films are suspect in my opinion having the worst voice/acting and overall dialog in a blockbuster series. There is a glimmer of hope that a new direction could be in the cards. British action star Jason Statham has been rumored to be taking over the franchise from Shia.

It seems like a similar move made by studios to bring in Dwayne Johnson to boost the action-creditability of G.I. Joe 2 and Fast Five. Shia is a man in a boy's body at this point and hasn't really ever been believable as the film's leading man, none of the male actors have. The studio would be wise to go more full on action. So that Sam's side stories don't effect the pacing and the less comic relief the better. It would be nice if they hired a professional to run and jump around while being able to fire off guns.

I can't say that I'll ever be looking forward to more Transformers films but that might light a fire under the studio, since I'm not the only hater of the franchise. There are also people who enjoyed the first film but got burned by the terrible sequels. If Bay is able to make a "serious" Transformers film pumping in new blood with actual action stars it might turn my opinion around. However, with the last installment it didn't seem that Bay actually listened to what fans and critics alike hated about the first sequel. So they very well could continue what's been dragging down the quality.