Every Transformers movie needs a human star and Paramount is after Hailee Steinfeld of The Edge of Seventeen and True Grit fame to headline the first Transformers spin-off movie, Bumblebee.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Steinfeld’s character will be a tomboy student who trades in her textbooks for socket wrenches after school to work as a mechanic. She’ll likely become the human owner of Bumblebee and the two will end up on an adventure together.
Stepping in to direct Bumblebee for Paramount and the first franchise director not named Michael Bay is Laika CEO Travis Knight. For Knight, Bumblebee will mark his directorial debut. Laika’s most recent film was the critically acclaimed and beautifully animated Kubo and the Two Strings.
The character of Bumblebee, a fan favorite Autobot since his early 1980s introduction, has played a role in every Bay Transformers cinematic film. Where Bumblebee the movie falls into Bay’s timeline remains to be seen. The character will next be seen fighting Optimus Prime in Transformers: The Last Knight.
Producing Bumblebee for Paramount are Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg, Christina Hodson, Brian Holdner, Stephen Davis and Lorezo Di Bonaventura. Hodson additionally wrote the film’s screenplay.
Bumblebee is scheduled to start production in July with a June 8th, 2018 release date.
