Director cum producer Michael Bay has proven his star-studded worth in the entertainment industry one too many times, especially through the masterpieces he helmed for the multi-billionaire Transformers franchise. That said, the 59-year-old artist seemingly had no intention for his robotic saga to get a crossover with Dwayne Johnson’s $712 million worth G.I. Joe franchise.
Although it may seem surprising, this was Bay’s original decision regarding his franchise when this idea was proposed to him by Brian Robbins, the current CEO of Paramount, and was rightly so for a very understandable reason. However, Robbins seems to have eventually come out victorious over him, considering how a crossover movie between these two sagas is currently in the works.
Michael Bay Never Wanted a Transformers Crossover with Dwayne Johnson’s Saga
G.I. Joe may be considered one of the most critically let-down franchises of all time, and yet, it still managed to win fans over through its star-studded cast that included fan-favorite actors like Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, and Channing Tatum (at least in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, it did).
Plus, considering how this saga and Bay’s robot-led franchise are widely popular among fans, it wouldn’t have been that bad of an idea when current Paramount CEO Brian Robbins proposed the “big idea” for these two sagas to get a crossover movie.
However, when it comes to Bay, he still wasn’t all too convinced about this thought.
If anything, the widely acclaimed filmmaker cum producer Michael Bay was anything but willing to approve this decision, and for a very valid reason at that: He was worried this merger of those two sagas could cheapen the Transformers franchise.
At least that’s what Robbins shared during an interview with Variety. Sharing how he took Bay’s approval, he said:
I called him [Bay] 50 times,” Robbins said. “I would not let him off the hook. And when he finally stopped dodging my calls, we got him to sign off.
Thus, the mastermind who helmed the first five live-action films in the $5.28 billion franchise (via The Numbers) and served as a producer for subsequent movies had to eventually give in to Paramount’s decision to bring about a crossover event between two of its biggest franchises.
But while Bay had a very valid reason for saying ‘no’, Paramount had a genuine reason for developing this project and saying ‘yes’ as well.
Paramount Had a Valid Reason for a Transformers x G.I. Joe Crossover Too
During the same interview, Robbins revealed what he felt was the reason why making movies that perfectly appealed to its target audience was so hard these days. He said:
You have to will movies to happen. The biggest problem with this business is people sit back and feel like a great movie is just going to come to them.
Needless to say, that brought about the prospect of sequels and spin-offs to grow. But to what extent?
As has already been seen, there is only so much that even major franchises can push out, after the limit of which everything seems like the franchise is just being milked to the core.
That being said, Daria Cercek, one of the co-heads of Paramount’s motion picture group, shared her own perspective on this matter as well. During the interview with Variety, she said: “There has to be a fresh approach to making franchises.”
Echoing her thoughts was Michael Ireland, who agreed, saying:
There needs to be a reason to make a sequel. It can’t just be we’ve made six other versions of this same story, and here’s a seventh.
And in this case, they decided the reason to make a sequel this time was a crossover between two of the company’s most popular franchises.
While the results of the same are yet to be known, delayed until this crossover film finally gets made and hits the theatres, we can still expect to see something good as the people behind the film are doing more than just developing yet another sequel for the respective franchises.
You can stream the live-action G.I. Joe and Transformers movies on Paramount+.
