Yes, we were shocked too by the announcement that Paramount and DreamWorks would indeed be going ahead with a sequel to Transformers, despite the fact that it only made a little bit of dosh at the box office. What’s that? Oh, right… We’re told it actually made shed loads…

Yes, though it was surely inevitable after the first big weekend of release, the studios are only now announcing officially that the sequel will grind into production sometime next year for a set release date of 26 June 2009.

Michael Bay is expected to return to the big chair, and while he hasn’t officially committed to the job yet, Variety reports he’s in negotiations. Hopefully the problems between Paramount and DreamWorks won’t affect things too much, but we do know that Steven Spielberg is likely to be once more providing overseer support. And, if both Bay and Spielberg hop aboard, we’re betting they’ll activate the sequel clause in Shia LaBeouf’s contract and he’ll be frogmarched to the set for another couple of months’ worth of robo-mayhem and Michael Bay shouting.

Oh, and as for the pesky actors/writers/shoemakers’ strike? Apparently, the film may start shooting before the possible strike hits and then finish off afterwards…

Source: (Variety)