Michael Bay Cancels Transformers 2 Over Paramount Decision to Drop Blu Ray

[bapenguin]

Just like the title says. According to a forum post (http://www.shootfortheedit.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2299) on Michael Bay's official blog, the Transformers directed has vowed to not work on Transformers 2 thanks to Paramounts decision to drop Blu-Ray (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34609). I want people to see my movies in the best formats possible. For them to deny people who have Blu-ray sucks! They were progressive by having two formats. No Transformers 2 for me!

Bay

Seen over @ Destructoid (http://www.destructioid.com).

Guess what Mikey baby? Paramount doesn't need you for Transformers 2.

[51|RandoM]

Interesting stance to take, wonder how this will play out.

[Gorvi]

That's.......... strange. And if true, that really does suck, I don't care what anyone says, Transformers was damn good.

[Telefrog]

How much money did Sony pay Mikey Bay?

[Sl1pstream]

In other words: I can't make enough money by releasing my movies on one format. I'll just make a movie for another studio and hope they release it on both formats so I can make even more millions.

I liked Transformers and I'll most likely get it on HD-DVD. While Transformers was a great movie, I wouldn't mind seeing another director make their Transformers film. Having different directors worked out well for the Harry Potter movies, I don't see how this would be a bad thing.

[WastelandDan]

How much money did Sony pay Mikey Bay?

I knew it was only a matter of time before someone else posted exactly what I was thinking before I had a chance to.

[CaptStu]

Yeah, that's okay. No harm. No foul. We'll move on without ya.

[Morpheus]

Bullcrap. Was really looking forward to this movie after seeing the first a couple times. Love it. Transformers 2 has to be directed by Michael Bay, I loved the way he made number 1.

[Typical_Michael]

Movie studios couldn't give a shit who makes the sequel, as long as they think it will make them dollars.

[CapnBob]

So there's absolutely no downside to the Paramount decision? Everyone wins!

[51|RandoM]

Movie studios couldn't give a shit who makes the sequel, as long as they think it will make them dollars.

They probably have somebody who is able to make a connection between those two things, don't you think? The popularity/name draw of a director and how much money his/her movies typically bring in?

Seems like there is probably some math involved there. ;)

[Spigot]

Maybe they'll get a Transformers sequel that actually has the robots in it for more than 1/4 of the movie.

And I liked the movie...

If this is true, and I'll assume it is for now, what a pissy thing to do.

[eth3rton]

Honestly this sucks IMO. It would be the equivalent of Lucas directing the Hobbit now...

Plus I don't want to buy a damn HD-DVD player...!

[WastelandDan]

Bullcrap. Was really looking forward to this movie after seeing the first a couple times. Love it. Transformers 2 has to be directed by Michael Bay, I loved the way he made number 1.

Dude, seriously? I liked the movie but I'm pretty damn sure it had a hell of a lot more to do with giant fucking robots then it did with Michael Bay's inability to take the useless irrelevant human actors off the screen. This was not the sort of film where people went "wow, you can really see how he perfected his craft", it was a film where people said "why are the giant fucking robots only in a quarter of the film and why is Michael Bay such a prick about Optimus Prime's faceplate."

[Flatpicker]

As long as they don't replace Bay with Rattner I think Paramount made the right decision.
I'd like to see DelToro try his hand at Transformers.
This could be Bay just starting negotiations for T2 though.

[Typical_Michael]

They probably have somebody who is able to make a connection between those two things, don't you think? The popularity/name draw of a director and how much money his/her movies typically bring in?

Seems like there is probably some math involved there. ;)

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a247/phenom1223/B00003CXIA01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Meh, weird shit happens.

[Wedge]

This just made my day. Thanks, Mike!

but now that he is out of the way, I bet they'll get someone worse for Trans 2. I got the feeling that this is not a movie they will "spend" big time directors on. They know Transformers 1 made them money, so the same people will come and see #2, so why bother?

[GunnyMo]

How much money did Sony pay Mikey Bay?

That's so true. Wow, what a big baby. Good riddance, then, if he's going to be so infantile. Sheesh. :rolleyes:

[eth3rton]

They know Transformers 1 made them money, so the same people will come and see #2, so why bother?

For Transformers 3 ;)

[Mdot23]

Smells like a blessing in disguise to me.

[KamaItachi]

Oh no! Who will direct the explosions in the sequel?!

[Yeti2005]

Is it just me or does Bay sound like a whiny kid in his post? Why should Bay care about what HD format Transfomers is coming out on? Blu-Ray and HD-DVD COMBINED only account for 2.5% of the DVD market so it's not like the movies sales are going to be impacted by this move. If Bay is going act like a child "No Transformers 2 for me!" then I think maybe Transformers2 is better off.

[TheDancinMan]

Well, he has been holding out for more money or whatever to make Transformers 2, so this might be a part of him hardballing for cash, not more formats. Meh. We'll see what happens, but I can't see Paramount bending backwards to the will of Bay.

[Lunar Blue]

Here's a better headline: Michael Bay shills for Sony!

[menage]

Yeah right mr Bay, so you gonna stop making making now??

[LugNutX]

I dunno...when I originally read that post, I got the impression that he was just being facetious. He does sound like a whiny kid, but I don't think anyone in their right mind would fuss about ~1% of the home video market (most of that percentage is made up of videophiles that have both anyway).

I don't have the official stats to back it up (and someone please correct this if I'm off), but I do recall reading somewhere that 80% of a movie's revenue is made at the box office, both domestic and international - in which case, what does he care what format it ends up on?

I personally think he just made the statement to stir the pot and not "take sides", but it's just a guess.

[lazymanschair]

I read PAramount are allowing Indiana JOnes HD boxset to release on Blue ray and HDDVD, because Spielberg himself is a supporter of Blue Ray, this is probably just a similar play by Bay to get a dual release, probably on Spielbergs advice since he produced.

I'd love Bay to do the sequel, but if he does jump ship, i hope he lands in the Justice League movie.

[violentp]

Oi. I'm an hair away from wiping my ass with both formats and start reading more. Mental Definition FTW.

[Typical_Michael]

You bourgeoisie and your HD formats...I still buy $6 DVDs at Best Buy, so this format war probably wont mean anything to me until you can get the dual player for $100.

Which goes along with the less than 3% of households actually caring whether a movie comes out in blu-ray or HD-DVD.

[Morratut]

Bullcrap. Was really looking forward to this movie after seeing the first a couple times. Love it. Transformers 2 has to be directed by Michael Bay, I loved the way he made number 1.

I'm with Morpheus on this one. Better the devil you know. I loved the first movie. So I would love for him to do the second one.

Different directors in sequels and trilogies = bad.

I'm not bothered who wins the format war. I just want one format either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. The BR player I have is just a side effect from the console I own. I've a PS3 so BR is more convenient for me. If however HD-DVD was the only platform then yes I would get one.

I'm not buying a dedicated player till a winner is announced. Why would Paramount not release it on BR?

[iamhurtin]

this is the best news ever

i knew there was a reason for the format war
i say we all start buying hd-dvds till bay decides never to do movies again :)

[Vermillion]

Yeah! I would love to see a new, BETTER director at the helm of Transformers. For as decent as the movie was, it really did a crap job with the transformers themselves and developing any kind of bond with them.

Personally, I am happy about this.

[Gorvi]

Since Spielburg had a hand in Transformers, I wouldn't be surprised it this is part of a movement by him to try to get Transformers released on BR as part of the exceptions made for the movies he himself actually directed.

[RUSKULL]

Smells like a blessing in disguise to me.

QFT!!

Thank god!!! I always knew that the Transformers movie to see would be the sequel until I heard Micheal Bay was directing that one too. Now he longer is, so there is hope that somebody who knows what they are doing will take over.

Oh, and the fact that Bay supports Blu-Ray speaks volumes IMO. I actually just assumed Transformers was a Sony movie (they distributed the animated movie DVD), and then I remembered Spielberg was involved.

This is good news.

[BigJonno]

So prior to release, it was going to suck because Bay was directing. Now the general consensus is that it's awesome, it's awesome despite Bay directing it. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[Sl1pstream]

Different directors in sequels and trilogies = bad.

Is that why the latest Harry Potter movie turned out as good as it is?

[Stormwatcher]

Best movie news in a long time.
Michael bay is a mediocre director, and probably got a nice cash prize for spewing such crap.

[Stormwatcher]

Different directors in sequels and trilogies = bad.


Your statement = wrong.

[Cefca]

This is great news to me. Transformers was the worst movie I´ve seen lately. I even fell asleep in the cinema.

[TheFlyingOrc]

This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Isn't Blu Ray actually slightly worse than HD-DVD by most estimates? (I might be wrong about this)

[RUSKULL]

Now the general consensus is that it's awesome, it's awesome despite Bay directing it.

Uhh, no. I would not say that was the general consensus. The movie was as bad as Bay could do, and he delivered in that suckage, big time.

[NightRain]

I don't understand why he says "I want people to see my movies in the best formats possible". I mean other than space Blu-Ray doesn't compare to HD-DVD. I love the IME system that HD-DVD has, the Java Blu-Ray thing sucks in comparison.

Not directing a movie because it won't be on a disc format that may sell 250,000-500,000 copies at best is crazy. Even if the HD movie formats take off and sell double that number in 2 years who really cares, the box office is where the movie will be successful and that is what the studios care about most.

[Mal.Reynolds]

wonder if Speilberg will Direct :P b/c of this

[Venkman]

Perhaps we will get a director who will hold the damn camera still during the final act.

[Podfork]

How much money did Sony pay Mikey Bay?

Maybe something in the same region as the $150m HD DVD group is rumoured to have paid Paramount and Dreamworks to 'promotionally consider' their format.


Look both ways before crossing the road.

[TheFlyingOrc]

wonder if Speilberg will Direct :P b/c of this
You have bad ideas. This movie should either be directed by Peter Jackson, or possibly someone Japanese with a love of giant robots.

[vherub]

excellent, perhaps more studios will switch to hd-dvd, blocking bay's involvement in a great many projects

[DjinniMan]

He did say the best FORMATS (plural!) possible. If I were a director, I'd not want to be shoehorned into one format or the other, either. I'm a huge Transformers fan, and want to see it on Blu-ray, but if Bay thinks he is going to swap Paramount's decision, he is sadly mistaken. Maybe if Speilberg raises a fuss, but not Bay.

[digitalErich]

A director wanting a movie out on all formats is much better than a director that picks a side, IMO.

[Zander]

I would like to know how big the money hat from Sony that Bay has to be wearing.

Seriously, why the FUCK would a director care between two so similiar formats?

[Sense Field]

Um.....Good...maybe in the next one they will get a director that films the movie from the perspective of the robots...then you might be able to tell what is going on when they fight instead of seeing a huge ball of metal moving around on the screen. keep michael bay away!

[Inspector Fowler]

Michael Bay is a diva. His movies range from entertaining (I loved Transformers) to horrible (I hated Bad Boys 2).

I think Transformers only became what it did because of Spielberg's influence reigning Bay in and keeping the movie from going totally overboard.

Although I liked Transformers I was hoping they would get a different director for the second one. Everybody complains that the robots didn't have enough personality but do you want Michael Bay doing that?

Michael Bay on action scene = awesome robots doing flips powered by cannons built into their hands.

Michael Bay on character development = Optimus Prime staring at Bumblebee saying, "This shit just got real."

Let the baby have his bottle. There are plenty of directors who can whip up a CG action scene and put a hot chick in a movie.

[Roc Ingersol]

bull. shit. blu-ray and hd-dvd both support the same codecs.
visual quality is not a concern in picking one or the other.

So ... what? Bay's pissed off at Paramount for not prolonging a format war?
That's not exactly something I'd cheer for.
The sooner studios pick sides, the sooner this mess gets sorted out.

[kokyunage]

Um.....Good...maybe in the next one they will get a director that films the movie from the perspective of the robots...then you might be able to tell what is going on when they fight instead of seeing a huge ball of metal moving around on the screen. keep michael bay away!

Ignorance. All that paragraphs sounds like is ignorance.

A local radio station did an interview with the guy that is Optimus Prime's voice. They asked him about why there weren't more robots on the screen. It came down to a simple cost decision. They had X money and making the robots appear more on screen required 2X money which they didn't have.

And I personally liked the transformers movie the way it was. I think if they focused solely on robots it would have been cheesy and just a jerk off fest for all the fanboys.

[digitalErich]

Seriously, why the FUCK would a director care between two so similiar formats?
I read his comments as him wanting movies out on all formats. As it's already been pointed out that he used the plural formats.

[Kweli]

Personally, i thought the movie was entertaining.. but the action sequences were shot SO fast that it doesnt matter WHAT format your watching it in...

Give me some real action scene's and ill care a bit more for Michael Bay

[Gorvi]

bull. shit. blu-ray and hd-dvd both support the same codecs.
visual quality is not a concern in picking one or the other.

So ... what? Bay's pissed off at Paramount for not prolonging a format war?
That's not exactly something I'd cheer for.
The sooner studios pick sides, the sooner this mess gets sorted out.
Actually, they are prolonging the format war. HD-DVD was being outsold pretty much everywhere 2:1, with Universal being the sole HD-DVD exclusive studio. Without this, HD-DVD could have potentially been gone completely within a year, thus ending the format "war" (I'm really getting to hate that term). Doing this just drags it out further.

[Sense Field]

Ignorance. All that paragraphs sounds like is ignorance.

A local radio station did an interview with the guy that is Optimus Prime's voice. They asked him about why there weren't more robots on the screen. It came down to a simple cost decision. They had X money and making the robots appear more on screen required 2X money which they didn't have.

And I personally liked the transformers movie the way it was. I think if they focused solely on robots it would have been cheesy and just a jerk off fest for all the fanboys.

try reading what i said....the camera was at eye level of a human. when the transformers were fighting all you saw was big metal pieces on screen. That is a flaw in the cinematography. Robot fights should have been filmed higher and from a wide angle. I don't care how much time they had on screen. You had no idea what i was talking about.

[Binkley]

Best news all day, I can't believe Michael Fucking Bay was responsible for such a poor use of shaky cam. Has he not seen the Bourne films? Why couldn't he just direct Transformers like ALL his other action films? I'd take Bad Boys 2 over the mess that was Transformer's action sequences.

That scene near the end when Shila is running around would been perfect for the Gears of War roadie cam...like they used at the end of Children of Men.

[kokyunage]

try reading what i said....the camera was at eye level of a human. when the transformers were fighting all you saw was big metal pieces on screen. That is a flaw in the cinematography. Robot fights should have been filmed higher and from a wide angle. I don't care how much time they had on screen. You had no idea what i was talking about.

And you don't think the camera angles or the perspective used has any effect on cost? I don't know the science of it but I would bet the industry does. This Y angle and distance requires Z detail level costing $$$. This V angle an distance requires X detail level costing only $$. It wouldn't surprise me if those details were finalized preproduction.

[Gnomesbane]

I hope this means the second movie won't suck.

Let's see, for the first we have:

A Transformers movie...

- that's about some annoying, unrealistically portrayed teenagers
- that portrays every adult character as having the intelligence of a pre-schooler
- that gives more screen time to a previously unknown Jar-Jar-esque robot over old favorites
- that has virtually no character development for any Transformer aside from the above mentioned Jar-Jar bot and Bumblebee
- that gives Starscream one line
- that has Bumblebee summon the other autobots to earth by beaming the bat signal into the clouds
- with gratuitous product placement, including Xbox and Mountain Dew vending machine transformers

What's NOT to love about Bay's version?

[oldjadedgamer]

Let's take a wild guess that his next film is published by a Sony studio...

[Schnoogs]

All of the movies weaknesses were classic "Bayisms".

The sequel will be better without him.

[Dracula-X]

He wants Transformers on both formats, he basically complimented Paramount for being progressive (by supporting both, until now that is). So implying Sony moneyhatted is kinda... laughable.

[Schnoogs]

Different directors in sequels and trilogies = bad.

True...kind of like how Empire Strikes Back sucked. Oh and Aliens sucked too.


NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ;)

[Roc Ingersol]

Actually, they are prolonging the format war. HD-DVD was being outsold pretty much everywhere 2:1, with Universal being the sole HD-DVD exclusive studio. Without this, HD-DVD could have potentially been gone completely within a year, thus ending the format "war" (I'm really getting to hate that term). Doing this just drags it out further.
I don't buy that. Blu-ray sales had an abberant spike that corresponds to small chunk of PS3 owners picking up a single movie. It's just like when UMD looked like a hot format for about 3 months.

There's no way Paramount would walk away from twice as many sales from Blu-ray if that was a trend they could count on.

Regardless of that: picking a side is better than riding the fence. Even if Paramount picks wrong, that'd still be better than nothing.

[Chimpster]

They should get Neil Blomkamp (for those who forgot he was the guy chosen by Peter Jackson to direct the Halo movie). Since the studios big complaint was that he has no feature film credit to his name what a perfect film for him to cut his teeth on. It's pretty safe to assume that whomever ends up directing Transformers 2, the film is gonna earn big dollars. With that under Neil's belt I could see the Halo film return to production and everyone knows what a cash cow that film will be.

[cool8man]

Oh God I hope this is true. Bay sucks so bad and was destroying Transformers. He wants to create his own characters and has no interest in or respect for the source material. The movie he made was not about the Transformers at all. He treated the Decepticons like shit, mixed up the names of the characters on purpose, and rejected Frank Welker's (the voice of Megatron/Soundwave) audition for the movie cause he wanted to go in a different direction. And just as a summer movie alone having nothing to do with Transformers it was a shitty film.

They should get someone good to direct Transformers 2. If it was up to me I would choose Ridley Scott because Transformers is meant to be more like Gladiator than it is like the Island or Bad Boys 2. Transformers is about the dialogue, battles, and infighting between Optimus, Megatron, Star Scream, Soundwave, and IronHide. Bay didn't give a crap about the robots or their storylines. I really hope he gets the axe along with the writers of this shitty Transformers movie. Other pie in the sky choices would be James Cameron since he does really well with Sci-fi and special effects driven movies and Peter Jackson since he does a good job staying true to source material (wouldn't make sense for him to work with ILM though). Definitely wouldn't want Spielberg to direct since all of his sci-fi flicks for the past 15 years have sucked.

[J3DI]

I don't exactly understand why he would make this announcement? I mean what is it that he wants to do on BR that he can't do on HD? This just sounds too silly to be true. The same for Speilberg, what is it that they want to/think they can do on BR that would hold back their films?

[Gorvi]

I don't buy that. Blu-ray sales had an abberant spike that corresponds to small chunk of PS3 owners picking up a single movie. It's just like when UMD looked like a hot format for about 3 months.

There's no way Paramount would walk away from twice as many sales from Blu-ray if that was a trend they could count on.

Regardless of that: picking a side is better than riding the fence. Even if Paramount picks wrong, that'd still be better than nothing.
We had a thread going here (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28760) for a while tracking BR and HD-DVD sales ratios. It hasn't been updated since June, but the best HD-DVD managed was 48%, with 29% being the worst, but on average it was in the mid-30s.

[Citizen Philip]

I thought The Island was pretty good... pretty good up until you know, all the explosions started. - A Bay movie. I think the movie started to suck as soon as the young Jedi jumpd onto the hoverbike.

[jspeak32]

And I just sold my hd-dvd add-on and bought a ps3! Oh well...if there is some small distant chance that hd-dvd becomes the winner, the add-on drive is only $180 and will probably drop in price by then away, that's not that big of a deal to buy it again...
I think this is a horrible move and will not make hd-dvd win, just might take blu-ray down with it if anything...
But do we know how long the exclusive rights agreement is with paramount/hd-dvd? Lets hope they were only bought off for the rest of the holiday season...

[silv]

Sounds like someone has a case of the mondays.

[Reanimated]

I mean this is actually great news. There are approximately 4,500,607 better directors in Hollywood.

[Roc Ingersol]

We had a thread going here (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28760) for a while tracking BR and HD-DVD sales ratios. It hasn't been updated since June, but the best HD-DVD managed was 48%, with 29% being the worst, but on average it was in the mid-30s.
If that's a sustainable trend, why is Paramount walking away from buckets of money?

[digitalErich]

If that's a sustainable trend, why is Paramount walking away from buckets of money?
I'm guessing larger buckets of money coming from elsewhere.

[Gorvi]

If that's a sustainable trend, why is Paramount walking away from buckets of money?
Erich got that already. The reported $150 million they received from the HD-DVD group probably had quite a bit to do with it.

[bapenguin]

Guys...he's just pissed that they aren't supporting BOTH formats. He's not saying he wants ONLY Blu-Ray or ONLY HD-DVD. He's saying he wants BOTH.

[TheFlyingOrc]

Erich got that already. The reported $150 million they received from the HD-DVD group probably had quite a bit to do with it.
It's kinda sad that they can't make $150 million with the money they would make selling BluRay discs, though. This format war is crap.

[Gorvi]

It's kinda sad that they can't make $150 million with the money they would make selling BluRay discs, though. This format war is crap.
Agreed. The pricing structure of HD discs is completely broken. The high cost of entry for players is one thing, but $30-$35 discs in a market where $15 DVDs exist is not something that's going to promote growth.

[boratika]

Yay, the format wars bring some good for a change.

[bKangy]

Erm, okay, Transformers was only really good because they made the characters look good when they were fighting, it was hardly fantastic outside of any scene that didn't have them in it. Maybe it'll be better without him :V

[Grimmjow]

transformers 2 = garbage confirmed!

[D.D.D.]

That's.......... strange. And if true, that really does suck, I don't care what anyone says, Transformers was damn good.

Damn straight~

And so what about hddvdbdraywtfever. Anyone that knows anything will have a hddvd/bdray player so it won't matter what flicks are released on what... At least for me.

[wezlypipz]

Is Sony holding your family hostage or something Mr. Bay? That is a very strong opinion, but I agree and I loved Transformers. If he doesn't do Transformers 2 it will probably be a little worse than the original and more generic, but I'm just guessing.

[Khash]

Guess what Mikey baby? Paramount doesn't need you for Transformers 2.

So he can be replaced by Paul W.S. Anderson? God created Michael Bay to direct Transformers and it was much better off for it.

[Johan]

So what.

tooshortblowme.

Edit: I LOVED the movie; he did a great job. However, he doesn't own the rights. It can still be made. And it can still be excellent.

[Serapth]

Smells like a blessing in disguise to me.

If that was a pun, that was fucking awesome.

[karak]

Yes transformers 2 will be good. Blessings.

[Wolvie]

No Micheal Bay? No worries, Transformers 2 can be handled by a better director and be better then the first. Which would make it completely awesome x10. This is good news to me.

[markster3000]

Looks like Michael Bay and Warner Brothers will be having a long, long relationship together.

(what with WB being the only dual supporter left)

[92miata]

good news. time to return my ps3. don't use it anyway. i punish with returns.....:)

[Xerxes]

That sounds like shilling. The best formats available? More space doesn't blow most of the extra features that HD comes with standard. But I'm not getting into that.

Nooooo, I want to get into Bay and Transformers. We couldn't tell who was fighting who most of the times. He gave them 1 dimension personalities and killed Jazz for no fucking reason. Then there was the roll out scene that looked like a fucking commercial he did a few years ago. Honestly they can go hire Stick Stickley, just keep the franchise the hell away from Brett Ratner and I think we can sleep peacefully at night. They ought to get the guy who is to direct the Halo movie on the scene. It'll be a while before he can get his feet wet on that movie it seems.


Not the movie kicked ass. But I almost to give too much credit to Bay. Hell, I give Anthony Anderson and his throw away part more credit.

[Nuggsy]

How much money did Sony pay Mikey Bay?

This is irrelevant, I think. Bay took a rather large pay cut in order for Transformers to work; although I'm sure he saw plenty of cash on the back end. In addition to that, as well as other connections that he has, he was able to bring the project in under budget and on time. Also, if he is a shill for Sony then why is it that Pearl Harbor is his only movie available on Blu-Ray?

Paramount would be nuts to not try and get him back. Case in point? Superman Returns. Michael Bay was attached a long time ago, and then Bryan Singer got it. And Singer was, in my opinion, a large part of the reason that Superman Returns faltered. Certain iconic characters will only succeed on the big screen if the director is good enough to represent that status. Regardless of what you think of his "talents", Michael Bay is an amazing filmmaker, but he's not delusional. And that's all that he is: a director. As far as Transformers went he didn't write the script, develop the narrative, etc. It's not like you're seeing "Howard's End: A Michael Bay Film". He sticks to what he knows and what he does best. And what he does best are films that are light on plot and heavy on eyeball-raping effects and action. Frankly, I don't think that there is another director out there who would be capable of bringing a Transformers sequel to any good level. Maybe if Spielberg himself stepped up to helm it. Bay's techniques are just as iconic as other great directors', they're just different; he's not too worried about content and narrative, he's more interested in composition and visceral action and he accomplishes that tenfold. He's not Hitchcock or Kubrick, but the movies that he makes aren't the same type either.

And for people complaining that the robots weren't on screen enough? Really good CGI is really, really, expensive. You have got to sacrifice in order to get films like Transformers made.

And lets be honest the only really good Harry Potter movie was Azkaban. Cuaron made that flick his and all of the other films have paled in comparison. Phoenix was alright but lacked the visual flair and influences that Cuaron brought to it.

This format war is silly, and I doubt we'll see the end of it anytime soon. This smells more like a PR stunt to me. Test the waters, you know, see how fandom reacts to the news and then steer their decision towards whatever will be most profitable.

[Venkman]

You have bad ideas. This movie should either be directed by Peter Jackson, or possibly someone Japanese with a love of giant robots.

War of the Worlds had some really good giant robot action, without the motion sickness inducing hand held camera. I have faith in Spielberg after seeing WotW.

[Venkman]

And you don't think the camera angles or the perspective used has any effect on cost? I don't know the science of it but I would bet the industry does. This Y angle and distance requires Z detail level costing $$$. This V angle an distance requires X detail level costing only $$. It wouldn't surprise me if those details were finalized preproduction.

One thing according to the ILM interviews in 3d world mag, was that Michael Bay's camera work and filming techniques made many, many scenes way more difficult than you'd imagine.

The 3d tracking of those wildly panning, hand held, human eye level shots was extremely time consuming and particularly difficult to match things like motion blurred hilights and reflections.

Did you know that Michael Bay filmed the whole opening sequence with a real model of the chopper sitting on the tarmac? ILM had to remove that shit, then put in another one that was transforming. Plus, he often films with lights pointing INTO the camera, and as that moves behind objects during his camera movements, don't think for a second that it doesn't become a bitch in post production.

[Dracula-X]

I don't buy that. Blu-ray sales had an abberant spike that corresponds to small chunk of PS3 owners picking up a single movie. It's just like when UMD looked like a hot format for about 3 months.

There's no way Paramount would walk away from twice as many sales from Blu-ray if that was a trend they could count on
This is nothing like UMD. The trend has been this way since the PS3 has been released. Market Share As of 7/29/07:

Week Ended 7/29: 66:34 (Blu-ray)
Year to Date: 67:33 (Blu-ray)
Since Inception: 60:40 (Blu-ray)
(http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom080507/)

The trend has basically mirrored neutral studio releases, where the Blu-ray version outsells the HDDVD version 2:1 typically (Departed, 300).

According to Time Warner, 300 has quickly become the fastest selling high-def movie of all time, shifting more than a quarter million copies since its release a little over a week ago. The Spartan epic, easily outpaced The Departed and Casino Royale which both took a couple months to hit just 100,000 sold.

When broken down between format types, 65% of consumers picked up 300 on Blu-ray, while 300 on HD-DVD accounted for only 35% of the sales. According to the USA Today article, this mirrors sales for the year with Blu-ray handily trampling HD-DVD with solid 2:1 sales.

And the figure was something like 162,000 sales that first week of 300 on Blu-ray, which pissed Warner off because they put more effort and extras into the HDDVD version. The following week HD sales of 300 dropped off significantly while BD kept going.

So yeah, Paramount wouldnt walk away, but $150 million in moneyhats (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/technology/21disney.html) can change minds :)

[dimsumx]

Thank goodness, and good riddance. Tranformers could have been a much better movie without all the characters that nobody cared about. Section 7, anyone???

[donkeydrop]

How much money did Sony pay Mikey Bay?

You're confused. It was the HD-DVD people that payed Paramount $150 million.

[donkeydrop]

In other words: I can't make enough money by releasing my movies on one format. I'll just make a movie for another studio and hope they release it on both formats so I can make even more millions.



No, it's: you took millions to restrict the potential sales of my movies. F you, Paramount.

[Nuggsy]

No, it's: you took millions to restrict the potential sales of my movies. F you, Paramount.


Wonderfully concise.

[Roc Ingersol]

Erich got that already. The reported $150 million they received from the HD-DVD group probably had quite a bit to do with it.

Unless there was a second round of buying off, that was $50M to Paramount and $100M to Dreamworks for 'promotional consideration' - which isn't really any different than the deal Sony arranged with Target and BBV. (excepting that we don't have a leaker who will put a number on that deal)

But if $50M is enough to outright buy Paramount's support, this 'war' is more stillborn than I originally thought. And I've been calling it S-VHS vs ED-Beta since the beginning.

[the soUL TRAder]

So, Bay has the artistic integrity of a gaming fanbois, no wonder I don't like his films.

[Roc Ingersol]

This is nothing like UMD. The trend has been this way since the PS3 has been released.
Since it released. The trend was different before.

And the trend in hardware still shows that people who buy stand-alone next-gen disc players buy HD-DVD. And there are far more movies sold per HD-DVD player in the wild than movies per Blu-ray player. Which reinforces the extent to which the PS3 is inflating blu-ray's numbers.

Non-gamers, if they ever buy into one of these two mistakes, are far more likely to wind up with an HD-DVD player, and they are by far more numerous than people with PS3s who are buying movies.

It's very similar to UMD, in that a new format looks like it's enjoying brisk uptake, but the sales are being skewed by passing curiosity on the part of those who incidentally wound up with a player but have no real attachment to the format.

If you gifted four million people HD-DVD players, they'd probably combine for enough weekly movie sales to shift things back in favor of HD-DVD. But that wouldn't mean HD-DVD was being preferred by the marketplace either.

[kokyunage]

If you gifted four million people HD-DVD players, they'd probably combine for enough weekly movie sales to shift things back in favor of HD-DVD. But that wouldn't mean HD-DVD was being preferred by the marketplace either.

Isn't that flawed in that HD-DVD consortium already tried that? A few months ago weren't stand alone HD DVD players available for like 200 dollars because they were subsidized? I know that's not exactly like the PS3 scenario but it's close enough.

[Nuggsy]

I think that the real tragedy about this is that, in a perfect world in 2010 we'd get:

"Transformers 2: An Alfonso Cuaron Film/Executive Producer: Stephen Spielberg"

In reality we'll end up with this:

"Transformers 2: A Len "I can't believe I've fucking Kate Beckinsale" Wiseman Film/Executive Producer: Some Hack from MTV"

[Xerxes]

I think that the real tragedy about this is that, in a perfect world in 2010 we'd get:

"Transformers 2: An Alfonso Cuaron Film/Executive Producer: Stephen Spielberg"

In reality we'll end up with this:

"Transformers 2: A Len "I can't believe I've fucking Kate Beckinsale" Wiseman Film/Executive Producer: Some Hack from MTV"

Did you see Die Hard 4? Don't diss Len Wisemen ass hat.

[KingGorilla]

I like to subscribe to the flowery idea that Bay is fed up with the studio wars over disc formats, that by Transformers going to only one platform, that he has lost out on significant sales and residuals for his film.

[Roc Ingersol]

Isn't that flawed in that HD-DVD consortium already tried that? A few months ago weren't stand alone HD DVD players available for like 200 dollars because they were subsidized? I know that's not exactly like the PS3 scenario but it's close enough.
Not really. That still requires people to go out and spend 200 on an HD-DVD player on purpose, rather than it just showing up on their doorstep as part of something they bought for entirely different reasons.

[Gorvi]

Not really. That still requires people to go out and spend 200 on an HD-DVD player on purpose, rather than it just showing up on their doorstep as part of something they bought for entirely different reasons.
So then if a PS3 doesn't "count" as a player, then doesn't BR have a much higher attatch rate as opposed to HD-DVD, since there two times more BR discs sold with less (dedicated) players out there?

[Nuggsy]

Did you see Die Hard 4? Don't diss Len Wisemen ass hat.

Yeah, I saw it. It was good, but the movie was more of a spiritual successor to the other films than it was a good Die Hard movie. You might as well have stuck a red cape on Bruce Willis. The guy has three directorial credits, three, including DH4, and the Underworld movies are some of the most contrived pieces of genre filmmaking ever. The guy films crap and then puts a cooling filter over it in post and thinks it's cinematic gold. HE is the ass hat, compadre; and yet he still gets to bang one of the hottest women on the planet.

Oh, and what else does Len "I fucked a leprechaun to get where I am" Wiseman have in store for us? Another fucking Underworld flick. Seriously, if he just wants to see his wife in tight leather and vinyl outfits just fucking ask her. Paying her to make those movies is the moral and artistic equivalent of whoring her out to a studio.

[Xerxes]

I don't think he could control the robots either. :(
I would say the Equilibrium guy, but then he became the Ultraviolet guy. :(

[Vader582]

So there's absolutely no downside to the Paramount decision? Everyone wins!

I disagree with this. The consumer is the loser here. Multiple choices and exclusivity will only stalemate the HD disc format. This Holiday season is going to be extremely frustrating for a lot of lay-people. And who benefits from that?...that's right MS and XBL. I can't blame them. They've wanted a download service for years and this is their moment. It's a nasty tactic but a sound one. Ends up being really shitty for (non-hardcore) consumers though.

[Adam Blue]

I disagree with this. The consumer is the loser here. Multiple choices and exclusivity will only stalemate the HD disc format. This Holiday season is going to be extremely frustrating for a lot of lay-people. And who benefits from that?...that's right MS and XBL. I can't blame them. They've wanted a download service for years and this is their moment. It's a nasty tactic but a sound one. Ends up being really shitty for (non-hardcore) consumers though.

Nah, I see competitive prices for the consumer, saving tons more money than if there was only one format.

Oh, and I'd prefer a different director. Transformers turned out good, but it could of been better if made by someone who didn't think the idea was stupid.

[Roc Ingersol]

So then if a PS3 doesn't "count" as a player, then doesn't BR have a much higher attatch rate as opposed to HD-DVD, since there two times more BR discs sold with less (dedicated) players out there?I think you misread there.
I didn't say it doesn't count as a player. I said the cheap HD-DVD player doesn't equate to the 'free' BDR people get when they buy a PS3.

Even a cheap HD-DVD player still requires someone to justify $200 on HD-DVD alone. In the PS3's case people are justifying 500/600 on it being a PS3; an actual desire to buy blu-ray movies rarely enters the decision.

To get a similar anomalous bump in HD-DVD sales, you would literally have to bundle them into something people are buying anyway. Like, say, an HD TIVO or the 360 Elite. (fuck knows it could use some added value to justify that $100 premium. $15-worth of extra storage doesn't really cut it.)

[Gorvi]

I think you misread there.
I didn't say it doesn't count as a player. I said the cheap HD-DVD player doesn't equate to the 'free' BDR people get when they buy a PS3.

Even a cheap HD-DVD player still requires someone to justify $200 on HD-DVD alone. In the PS3's case people are justifying 500/600 on it being a PS3; an actual desire to buy blu-ray movies rarely enters the decision.

To get a similar anomalous bump in HD-DVD sales, you would literally have to bundle them into something people are buying anyway. Like, say, an HD TIVO or the 360 Elite. (fuck knows it could use some added value to justify that $100 premium. $15-worth of extra storage doesn't really cut it.)
Yeah, I can see your point there, but even the 360 comparison doesn't work because you can buy one without the drive.

Either way, though, the PS3 at the very least is driving disc sales, which is really the most important thing in all of this.

[Vader582]

Nah, I see competitive prices for the consumer, saving tons more money than if there was only one format.

Competitive prices won't mean shit if people just give up on the HD formats altogether. SACD/DVD-Audio went through this battle already and look how that ended up.

I don't really care which HD disc format wins. I just want to be able to purchase an HD disc (preferably only one format) and not be herded into a download only environment. Going back to S-DVD at this point is/would be somewhat painful. ;)

[drakkarim]

Guess what Mikey baby? Paramount doesn't need you for Transformers 2.

no they don't, but T2 is now even more likely to suffer the fate of a typical sequel; suckage.

either way, i have a 360 and a ps3, so i already have a blueray player, and i'm sure as heck not about to waste my time/money and get another format just for some movies. if something comes out on blueray and dvd i'll consider the blueray format if its a flick that would benefit in the higher fidelity (i.e. harry met sally doesn't need anything better than vhs, but some sci-fi would be much nicer on the higher res formats) if its not out on bluray, oh well, i guess i'll get the dvd format.

who knows, maybe when the hddvd addon goes for 50 on ebay i'll pick one up :)

[ÜberJumper]

I think HD-DVD seems to be the smart way to go format wise. It supports the ability to have DVD media on the same disc as the HDDVD media, thus allowing purchase of a single Disc that's playable retroactively in DVD players.

I purchased the 300 in HDDVD/DVD format, but I can play it in a DVD player (like my laptop, or say the DVD player in our master bedroom), and when I get a HDDVD player (I expect to eventually get a player capable of bluray and HDDVD playback) I can play it there too.

Now if I wanted to take the 300 with me on a business trip, and I purchased it in Bluray format, what would I play it in? My laptop's got a DVD player in it.

How many bluray players are in cars?

Dual format HDDVD/DVD for the win.

[Dracula-X]

And the trend in hardware still shows that people who buy stand-alone next-gen disc players buy HD-DVD. And there are far more movies sold per HD-DVD player in the wild than movies per Blu-ray player. Which reinforces the extent to which the PS3 is inflating blu-ray's numbers.

Non-gamers, if they ever buy into one of these two mistakes, are far more likely to wind up with an HD-DVD player, and they are by far more numerous than people with PS3s who are buying movies.

It's very similar to UMD, in that a new format looks like it's enjoying brisk uptake, but the sales are being skewed by passing curiosity on the part of those who incidentally wound up with a player but have no real attachment to the format.

If you gifted four million people HD-DVD players, they'd probably combine for enough weekly movie sales to shift things back in favor of HD-DVD. But that wouldn't mean HD-DVD was being preferred by the marketplace either.

Now I don't buy that, it's still nothing like UMD, which tanked quick from market flooding and allowing Hollywood to dicate the ridiculous pricing scheme, and there was no competing portable movie format to draw this comparison. I'm also not saying the PS3 is the sole reason that BD has been selling more movies, but if you frequent home theater enthusiast forums you'll find tons of people with PS3s strictly for BD playing (reviews of the PS3 movie playing experience put it on par with the best player at the time). Just how many, is hard to quantify, but at the end of the day, and every since december, BD titles have been outselling HDDVD titles 2:1, and that's what Hollywood cares about. Toshiba has had a marginal and eroding sales lead of less than 40,000 standalone players as of a month ago or so (and they cut their sales forecasts by 44% because of increased competition). And then of course there's that survey that says 60% of PS3 owners don't even know they can play Blu-rays to begin with. Man, I hope they don't catch on for HDDVD's sake :)

[sleepbox]

Transformers the movie was like a confused love child.

[Holiday]

Get M. Night Shyamalan for #2. Bumblebee's optical circuit is on the fritz and can see dead robots. Hey there Jazz old buddy! :D

[Roc Ingersol]

Now I don't buy that, it's still nothing like UMDI said it was similar, not that it was exactly the same. And it is similar in that people buying alot of these discs don't really care about the format. They wound up with the player for other reasons and the discs they buy aren't really indicative of the general health of the format. Because without that unrelated purchase they probably wouldn't be buying anything.

at the end of the day, and every since december, BD titles have been outselling HDDVD titles 2:1, and that's what Hollywood cares aboutApparently not, if 50M can shift Paramount over to the weaker-selling format.

My guess is that both formats are money-sinks for the studios, because so few people are buying. So what Hollywood really seems to care about is the option that costs them less to support as this thing drags on.

[Vandenh]

He should start learning how to make movies. Transformers was a piece of junk anybody could do it better. I almost walked out of that movie...

[kickmybum]

This is no big deal. What Bay did for Transformers is not anything special compared to how other directors stamp their name on their work. Like how Remi handled Spiderman or Jackson handled LOTR. Transformers 2 will be fine without Bay at the helm.

[ECM]

I'm a big fan of Blu-Ray and I can only say: "thank you Michael Bay!"

[Wyrm]

I actually think going with HDDVD is one of the few things Microsoft did correctly this generation. And, by not shoving it into the console at launch, you're not forcing gamers to choke down an extra 200 bucks on top for something that none of us actually need, and fewer people even want. Sure, more people own HDTVs. That's still a really small percentage, and even fewer yet are gamers. These formats, at this point, are simply not worth fighting about because they are still so niche, they seem insignificant.

There are better things already being made, and the next wave will be a huge step up from either format, it's silly to adopt like crazy, and frankly, it really is a waste of money to buy movies that you owned already on DVD in order to get that "boost in quality."

[Crenor]

very gay reason not to do a movie. He reasoning means he knows nothing of HD-DVD. If he was bitching about Xbox360vsPS3 then sure.
What a dumbass.

[Yeti2005]

No, it's: you took millions to restrict the potential sales of my movies. F you, Paramount.

Nice try. Bay lost next to nothing from Transformers going to just HD-DVD. The combined sales from both HD formats is 2.5%.

[Sense Field]

And you don't think the camera angles or the perspective used has any effect on cost? I don't know the science of it but I would bet the industry does. This Y angle and distance requires Z detail level costing $$$. This V angle an distance requires X detail level costing only $$. It wouldn't surprise me if those details were finalized preproduction.


The camera viewpoint was chosen because michael bay wanted the movie to be shot from the perspective of a human...I followed this movie forover two years...from when they didn't know if it was goi g to happen to when me along with other fans rallied on the chat boards to get peter Cullen as the voice of prime...please don't challenge me on any aspect of this movie as I have a vat of knowlege pertaining to the production of this movie which runs deeper then most other people.

Please disregard any typos..I am on my iPhone

[dimsumx]

Michael Bay's comment has been removed from the site by the way. The admin has this to say:

I spoke to Michael a few minutes ago.

He said he just wants people to know that we should be able to view his movies in the format of our choice. Period.

Nothing more, nothing less.

When asked if Bay was serious about not doing TF2:

Keep in mind he quit Pearl Harbor abut 4x during pre-production. :D

So guess we're probably still stuck with him...

[the soUL TRAder]

Nice try. Bay lost next to nothing from Transformers going to just HD-DVD. The combined sales from both HD formats is 2.5%.


There is an eye opener.

BluRay can distroy HD/DVD but if it's stuck at less than 20% of the market for very long, it will be a losing proposition.

Sure makes all this "debate" seem meaningless.

[Crabby]

Ignorance. All that paragraphs sounds like is ignorance.

A local radio station did an interview with the guy that is Optimus Prime's voice. They asked him about why there weren't more robots on the screen. It came down to a simple cost decision. They had X money and making the robots appear more on screen required 2X money which they didn't have.

And I personally liked the transformers movie the way it was. I think if they focused solely on robots it would have been cheesy and just a jerk off fest for all the fanboys.


Instead we got some literal jerkoff jokes interjected into Shia's parental interaction.

[kokyunage]

The camera viewpoint was chosen because michael bay wanted the movie to be shot from the perspective of a human...I followed this movie forover two years...from when they didn't know if it was goi g to happen to when me along with other fans rallied on the chat boards to get peter Cullen as the voice of prime...please don't challenge me on any aspect of this movie as I have a vat of knowlege pertaining to the production of this movie which runs deeper then most other people.

Please disregard any typos..I am on my iPhone

You do realize the start low, aim high camera angle is a classic technique used since the 1800's to make something appear larger on the big screen? One of the reasons he probably wanted that view was to show how imposing and large these robots are.

Instead we got some literal jerkoff jokes interjected into Shia's parental interaction.

Movie rated PG-13. 2007 (current year) - 13 yrs old through 16 years old = 1994 - 1991. Most of the target audience wasn't around when the original cartoon aired. They had to make it appealing to the target audience, which, by the way, isn't you or me. The demo is not the mid 20's to mid 30's male that grew up on the cartoon. We're a side demographic. They're just try not to piss us off that much to avoid the movie and trash talk it.

What is the demo of 13-15 year old's into? Jerkoff Jokes. Why? Because they jerk off a lot.

[Hellstorm]

A Transformers 2 without Bay is like Terminator without James Cameron. Also take solace in the fact that a different writing team will be doing part 2. Writers have just as much place in blame as directors. But Bay and team hit a homer with Transformers. Suck it haters.

[dimsumx]

A Transformers 2 without Bay is like Terminator without James Cameron. Also take solace in the fact that a different writing team will be doing part 2. Writers have just as much place in blame as directors. But Bay and team hit a homer with Transformers. Suck it haters.

You have got to be kidding me. You're gonna compare Bay to Cameron?

Honestly. TF was ok. There was plenty of room for improvement, and I think any of the known directors out there can do a better job than Bay.

Cept Brett Ratner. It'd be probably the same level.

Hell, I'd love to see James Cameron's take on it.

[BlackPete]

Uwe! Boll! Uwe! Boll! Uwe! Boll!

Hey, he can't be much worse than Michael Bay :D

[Yeti2005]

Wonderfully concise.

You won't happen to be the Joe Nuggs of the MuCrew would you?

[Hellstorm]

You have got to be kidding me. You're gonna compare Bay to Cameron?

Honestly. TF was ok. There was plenty of room for improvement, and I think any of the known directors out there can do a better job than Bay.

Cept Brett Ratner. It'd be probably the same level.

Hell, I'd love to see James Cameron's take on it.

I have respect for both of them on different levels. Bay took my fav toy and made it a major mainstream sci-fi/action hit. I did not come into the movie looking for high thought provoking ideas, if you did, I suggest you watch the cartoon series again and tell me where the deep social commentary is. I came to see a popcorn flick in the vein of ID4. Which is what it was, but even better. I am not so poor soul stuck on nostalgia, crying waaaaa waaaa, that's not Prime! I know that the Prime I liked when I was a kid, won't win over the kids of today.

When I want smartly written sci-fi, with stunning technical ability, I go for Cameron.

I side with Roger Ebert (games as art or not aside) that Transfomers is the best movie Bay has made, and if not for the last 20 minutes and the useless hacker sub-plot, it would have been a 4 star movie.

Let's not even start talking about Spider-Man 3, even Raimi fucks up.

[Murph the Surf]

Maybe they'll get a Transformers sequel that actually has the robots in it for more than 1/4 of the movie.

And I liked the movie...

If this is true, and I'll assume it is for now, what a pissy thing to do.

Exactly! Bay needs to wake-up --- he didn't do as good a job with Transformers as I feel another director could. Let him walk...

[tombofsoldier]

Guy who should direct #2:http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000386/

Ok, Eight Legged Freaks was underrated, Day After Tomorrow was just about the coolest disaster movie ever made. Even though he made Godzilla the best summer movie ever (Independence Day) more than cancels that out.

[Nuggsy]

Nice try. Bay lost next to nothing from Transformers going to just HD-DVD. The combined sales from both HD formats is 2.5%.

That's why he used the term potential. ;)

And let's just hypothesize that the TF dvds/hd-dvds sell about 37 million. That's probably generous, those are actually Shrek 2 numbers, but work for our purpose. Say the profit Bay receives from each disc sold is $1 - once again, for sake of argument. That's about $18.5 million. Which means he's losing almost a half million dollars from their deal. Now, when speaking in these terms, a half million sure doesn't sound like alot, but it is still a crack-ton of money that he's out of. And any one of us would be pissed at losing that kind of money that, I'm sure through some legally binding contract, was once a sure thing, through a decision that we had no input on. Say your boss comes to you and says, "That last project you did for us gave us the best numbers we've had all year. You did a great job. But that half million that you should have made? Yeah, that's not gonna happen now. Hope to see you deliver the next project on time and under budget as usual! Keep it up!" Get real, we'd all be just as pissed.

Now, if he had no deal for a percentage of the dvd sales and was still complaining then I'd be more apt to say that he could go fuck himself.

And even though most of you are blasting him, you're still granting Michael Bay far more credit when it comes to that script than he deserves. Other than getting that shitbag script to look nice on the big screen, he had little to do with the actual story.

The narrative, the plot, these are things that he isn't too concerned with. And the rest of his body of work would support that unquestionably. Transitioning those elements to the screen and making them exciting is, however, his bread and butter. Name me one director whose style would have fit the material as good as Bay's. Not a single one, in my opinion. Roland Emmerich? Please, the guy used up all of his good stuff on Stargate and ID4, thel latter of which can be accused of the same wishy-washy plot structure and sentimentality that most of you are levelling against TF. If you think it's that easy, then by all means, shoot your own flick and post it all up here for us to see. And the old adage, "With all that money I could do better" doesn't hold up.

In fact, I think that there are probably a few people who could do that property justice in terms of visuals and Bay is at the top of that list. His style simply works for that type of film. Other director's on that list? Maybe Timur Bekmambetov, maybe Yimou Zhang, maybe Peter Jackson (WETA still has Evangelion options if I'm not mistaken) or Spielberg.

And until Avatar comes out, and even then only if it's any good, James Cameron is on the shit list for spending the last decade on a ship that sank almost a century ago. He needs to get his head out of his ass and back to making some quality flicks again. At least Michael Bay has been entertaining us consistently for the past few years and not dropping shit like Titanic on us. And the effects haven't even held up that well over the years. People always use that excuse, "Titanic sucked but I just went to see the effects." Well I got news for ya, those effects haven't aged well at all.

And although I might sound like a pompous ass, at least I didn't take Sense's route and claim to know more about the production than anyone else and then brag about having an iphone. :D

[grunter]

What an amazing turnaround... :)

Last night at dinner I was having dinner with three Blu-Ray owners, they were pissed about no Transformers Blu-Ray and I drank the kool aid hook line and sinker. So at 1:30 in the morning I posted - nothing good ever comes out of early am posts mind you - I over reacted. I heard where Paramount is coming from and the future of HD and players that will be close to the $200 mark which is the magic number. I like what I heard.

As a director, I'm all about people seeing films in the best quality possible, and I saw and heard firsthand people upset about a corporate decision.

So today I saw 300 on HD, it rocks!

So I think I might be back on to do Transformers 2!

Michael Bay

Link to Michael Bay's Blog (http://www.michaelbay.com/blog/files/Michael-Bay-HD-DVD.html)

[Johan]

^^^That's a great find.

And fucking hilarious. Good to see that even big-time directors are not immune to dumb-ass knee-jerk responses! :) Also makes this entire thread damn funny, as well.

Edit: Grunter, I think you should try for a separate news post. That's a big find there.

[Wasson_]

I'm with Morpheus on this one. Better the devil you know. I loved the first movie. So I would love for him to do the second one.

Different directors in sequels and trilogies = bad.


Empire Strikes Back?

[oldjadedgamer]

He went to dinner with three Blu-Ray owners? Were they PS3 owners? If not, they have way too much money to waste if they are buying a stand alone player right now.

Obviously, these guys are not the target audience.

[Yeti2005]

That's why he used the term potential. ;)

And let's just hypothesize that the TF dvds/hd-dvds sell about 37 million. That's probably generous, those are actually Shrek 2 numbers, but work for our purpose. Say the profit Bay receives from each disc sold is $1 - once again, for sake of argument. That's about $18.5 million. Which means he's losing almost a half million dollars from their deal. Now, when speaking in these terms, a half million sure doesn't sound like alot, but it is still a crack-ton of money that he's out of. And any one of us would be pissed at losing that kind of money that, I'm sure through some legally binding contract, was once a sure thing, through a decision that we had no input on. Say your boss comes to you and says, "That last project you did for us gave us the best numbers we've had all year. You did a great job. But that half million that you should have made? Yeah, that's not gonna happen now. Hope to see you deliver the next project on time and under budget as usual! Keep it up!" Get real, we'd all be just as pissed.


Just to keep it in perspective, 300 has the highest sales record for HD movies (blu-ray and HD-DVD) with a total of 250,000. It's said that 2/3 of the 250,000 is Blu-Ray so you're talking 166,666. Now compare that to the 7,000,000 DVD copies of 300 that sold in ONE week. HD disc sales can't be Bay's motivation for his whiny bitching.

[BlackPete]

What an amazing turnaround... :)

Link to Michael Bay's Blog (http://www.michaelbay.com/blog/files/Michael-Bay-HD-DVD.html)

LOL!

But what else can you expect from the director of gems like Bad Boys II and Pearl Harbor?

[laggerific]

hell yeah paramount doesn't need him for transformers 2...as mdot23 said, it's a blessing in disguise.

[TrainwreckX]

hell yeah paramount doesn't need him for transformers 2...as mdot23 said, it's a blessing in disguise.

If you bothered reading the 5 posts above yours, you would see he has retracted his comments.

[Odyzen]

Bay went back and decided that HD-DVD is ok after all.

http://www.michaelbay.com/blog/files/Michael-Bay-HD-DVD.html

Glad to hear a Transformer 2 is possible. However I still want the option to be on Blu-ray. C'mon consumers need choices!