Transformers Producer Gives Update On GI Joe Crossover, Standalone Movies

Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura has made a whole lot of films since he began up his manufacturing firm 20 years in the past, however he is in all probability finest identified for shepherding the Transformers franchise. We had the prospect to talk with Di Bonaventura as a part of the press tour for Madame Net, his first Marvel flick, and we could not assist however ask concerning the standing of the potential crossover between Transformers and GI Joe that was teased on the finish of final summer season’s Rise of the Beasts, which noticed its protagonist character recruited into GI Joe.

“We’re exploring now how to try this,” di Bonaventura advised me. “And we hope to return in the summertime of [2026], we’re positively going to ship on the promise of a Joe coming into the world. Folks hold speaking about crossover. It isn’t a crossover the best way I see it, it is a GI Joe character or characters coming into the Transformers world so it isn’t the mashup of the 2.”

In different phrases, the plan is not to leap straight into some big shared universe, however to get the ball rolling by integrating slightly little bit of GI Joe stuff within the subsequent live-action Transformers film in 2026.

Later within the dialog, although, di Bonaventura mentioned one thing that will illuminate the roadmap for GI Joe x Transformers slightly bit extra. I requested if he has an older movie or dormant franchise in his catalog that he would possibly need to deliver again, and he introduced up the potential for doing one other GI Joe film as properly.

“I feel GI Joe has been perceived that manner [as dormant]. So I might actually prefer to deliver a standalone GI Joe film in some unspecified time in the future in time,” he advised me.

That assertion is not a assure that it’ll occur or a reveal that there are plans in place for a brand new GI Joe film. However alongside the Transformers scenario, these solutions would possibly re-emphasize that the need is there for extra GI Joe on the massive display screen even after the Snake Eyes movie bombed on the field workplace throughout COVID.

Within the meantime, although, one other Transformers film is arising this summer season: the animated Transformers One, a prequel to the live-action movies set on Cybertron, which stars Chris Hemsworth because the voice of Optimus Prime.

“Making the choice to make it animated made it reasonably priced, humorous sufficient,” di Bonaventura mentioned. “You may not have made that film reside motion. So lastly agreeing that it is time to make an animated film, it permits us to open up a narrative that I feel goes to be actually thrilling for followers and for individuals who do not know the story.”

Given his expertise as a blockbuster producer, having di Bonaventura’s identify on a Marvel film feels fairly regular. However it’s nonetheless uncommon, as a result of he is by no means labored with Marvel, and Madame Net is just his third film with Sony. So how did he find yourself right here? It was director SJ Clarkson’s fault, it seems.

“I wished to work with SJ for a very long time. And so Sony was taking over this character, they usually actually wished SJ. And so we mentioned it. And he or she actually wished me to return on as a producer. And so it is actually by means of her that I am a part of this,” di Bonaventura mentioned. “And the humorous a part of it’s, I had provided her a number of initiatives, which she had turned me down every time. So it was superior to finish up lastly working along with her.”