Hasbro’s VP of Global Publishing on Future of Transformers and G.I. Joe Comic Books

During San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Michael Kelly, the vice president of global publishing at Hasbro, talked about the future of the Transformers license once it expires for IDW at the end of the year.

“Actually, we’re in a bit of a transition at the moment, as you might have heard,” Kelly tells Nerd Reactor. “So we’ve been with IDW on the comic book front, with Transformers and Joe, and that’s going to be ending at the end of this year. We’re not ready yet to announce who our new partner is, but we’ve already begun some creative discussions.”

With a new partner, Kelly is excited to see a new direction with Transformers and G.I. Joe in the comic book space.

“Certainly there’ll be plenty of things that they’ll be familiar with,” Kelly continued. “Because again, we’re not going to completely reinvent the brands, but I think what they’ll find is a fresh take on the storytelling and the characters. Probably develop a little bit more slowly to try and bring some new fans in as well as by starting out focusing on two or three main characters and really giving them a lot of depth and a lot of personalities and then building out the team of characters as we go along. So yeah, that’s usually what we do.”

Read the rest of the interview here.

IDW to Lose ‘G.I. Joe,’ ‘Transformers’ License at End of 2022

The rumors are true. IDW will lose the Transformers license at the end of the year.

IDW is losing the publishing licenses to G.I. Joe and Transformers, the San Diego-based comic book publisher has announced.

The moves comes in the wake of The Hollywood Reporter reporting in December that Skybound, the imprint run by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, was in talks to pick up the license from Hasbro, the Rhode Island-based toy and media corporation.

“At the end of 2022, IDW will bid a fond farewell to the publication of G.I. Joe and Transformers comic books and graphic novels,” the company said in a statement provided to THR. “We’re exceedingly proud of our stewardship of these titles – 17 years with the Robots in Disguise and 14 years with A Real American Hero – and thank the legion of fans for their unwavering support, month in and month out. We’re also eternally grateful to every one of the talented creators who helped bring these characters to four-color life through our comics.”

Follow the link to read the rest of the story. A number of Transformers projects remain to be published between now and the end of 2022.

Transformers: Kingdom Review

Transformers Kingdom dropped this week, so we’re taking a look at the series and how it fits in the animated War For Cybertron Trilogy. Come with us, won’t you, as we peek in on the CGI robots from one era mixing it up with the CGI robots from another. Anderson, take it away…

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CELEBRATE 35 YEARS OF TRANSFORMERS ON THE BIG SCREEN WHEN THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE RETURNS TO THEATERS

In celebration of the 35th anniversary of its release, the world-renowned 1986 animated feature film THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE returns to U.S. movie theaters for two days only, Sunday, September 26 and Tuesday, September 28, for an experience that’s beyond good, beyond evil, and beyond your wildest imagination! In addition to the feature, audiences of this special event will be treated to brand-new exclusive content.

Presented by Fathom Events and Hasbro THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE 35th ANNIVERSARY comes to movie theaters nationwide on Sunday, September 26 at noon and Tuesday, September 28 at 7:00 p.m. (local time). Tickets will be available for purchase later next month at www.FathomEvents.com and through participating cinemas’ box offices. (Participating theaters are subject to change). Please contact your local theater for individual safety precautions.

Follow the link for the rest of the article.

Transformers: War for Cybertron: Kingdom Trailer

Netflix has released the first trailer for Transformers: War for Cybertron: Kingdom, the third and final chapter in the War for Cybertron trilogy that hails from the streamer, Hasbro, and Rooster Teeth — and Collider is exclusively revealing the trailer today. The all-new original series offers a strikingly different animation style that depicts the Transformers like never before, and takes us deep into events at the heart of a long-beloved franchise.

Hasbro Investor Event Transformers News

During a virtual Investor event this past week, Hasbro outlined future projected growth and entertainment projects, including an outline of upcoming Transformers projects. Of note are a number of animated projects in development and a new feature film. These include:

  • Feature film in partnership with Paramount slated for summer 2022.
  • New animated full-length feature film in development.
  • The first two chapters of the fan-based animated trilogy TRANSFORMERS: WAR FOR CYBERTRON have successfully launched on Netflix, with the third installment to be released July 2021.
  • Transformers: BotBots, a new 20-episode animated comedy series at Netflix.
  • Partnering with Nickelodeon to co-produce an original animated Transformers series (26 half-hour episodes) to premiere exclusively on Nickelodeon in the U.S. before rolling out internationally.

Latest ‘Transformers’ Lands 2022 Release Date

Two different entertainment websites are reporting that both a new animated Transformers movie and a live-action Transformers movie are in development.

From the Hollywood Reporter:

An untitled Transformers film and The Trial of the Chicago 7 have been given release dates, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. 

The latest installment in the sci-fi action film franchise, the untitled Transformers movie will receive a wide release on June 24, 2022.

Paramount currently has multiple Transformers projects in the works: Joby Harold (Army of the Dead) and James Vanderbilt (Zodiachave been tapped to write separate scripts in the story universe, while the studio is also moving forward with an animated prequel directed by Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4), with a script co-written by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari (the Ant-Man franchise).

Meanwhile Deadline reports that one of the projects in development may be based off of Beast Wars:

Paramount has given a date for a new live-action Transformers movie of June 24, 2022.

The studio is in development on two different projects: one by Murder Mystery scribe James Vanderbilt and the other by John Wick Chapter 3 EP and Army of the Dead scribe Joby Harold. The Vanderbilt project, from what we’ve heard, is based on Transformers spinoff Beast Wars which are robots that transform into robotic animals like Cheetor (Cheetah), Optimus Primal (Gorilla), Rhinox (Rhinoceros) and more. The other is reportedly in the Bumblebee universe. It’s not definite yet which one will make it to production.