The Kidd here...
Where should we begin?
Paramount Film Group president Adam Goodman recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter, giving a "State of Paramount address," so to speak, and among the topics to come up were the plans for a TOP GUN sequel that definitely looks like it's happening sooner rather than later and the direction of TRANSFORMERS 4.
So let's start with TOP GUN 2. Goodman confirmed that Tom Cruise would star, reprising his role as Maverick from the 1986 original. Jerry Bruckheimer is producing. Tony Scott is directing. Peter Craig is writing. All of this we know, but the most interesting piece of info to come from Goodman is the plans to do TOP GUN 2 first before they move ahead on another MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. GHOST PROTOCOL was the highest grossing of the M:I series worldwide, and actually became Tom Cruise's biggest money maker as well. There's no script currently for another sequel and no director attached either, with Brad Bird recently commenting that he probably wouldn't return, thinking it best for each installment to get a fresh vision. However, you would have thought Paramount would be fast-tracking another M:I rather quickly after their uncertainty in the future of the franchise was proven wrong. There's no set date for TOP GUN 2, but it's definitely moving along at a brisk pace.
As for TRANSFORMERS 4, Shia LaBeouf will definitely NOT be returning, which is sure to please those of us that couldn't take another minute of his nervous rambling speech patterns pushing the robots into the background, so that's a little bit of good news to take away from the next sequel. I know it's still in Michael Bay's hands, and that can be discouraging, but, if what I've been hearing about his approach to the next one is true, if he wants it to be much more in line with the end of DARK OF THE MOON, with some all-out serious action in the hands of the Transformers, and less of the jokey stuff that plagued the previous three films, perhaps we could have a TRANSFORMERS movie on the horizon that we could once again look forward to proudly.
Then there's the matter of Ehren Kruger though, who Goodman stated would be writing the fourth movie. Kruger is responsible for writing the last two TRANSFORMERS films, in addition to SCREAM 3 and also rewriting parts of SCREAM 4 (after Kevin Williamson departed). He does have ARLINGTON ROAD to his credit, but that was more than a decade ago, and he followed it up with the likes of REINDEER GAMES and THE BROTHERS GRIMM. How's your confidence in TRANSFORMERS 4 now? Can it possibly be any different when it just looks like more of the same, minus The Beouf?
-Billy Donnelly
"The Infamous Billy The Kidd"
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