Paramount delays upcoming Transformers and Star Trek films to 2023

After directing five straight Transformers live-action movies, Michael Bay finally vacated the director's seat in 2018. This paved the way for Travis Knight's soft reboot of the movie franchise, Bumblebee. Bumblebee "only" made $468 million at the global box office (against an estimated $135 million budget), which is a franchise low. However, the movie, which was set in the 1980s, was still good enough for Paramount to greenlight a sequel.

The sequel, Rise of the Beasts, will be directed by Steven Caple Jr. Similar to Bumblebee, Michael Bay is still onboard as one of the film's producers. The movie is reportedly a sequel to Bumblebee and will be set in the 1990s as a pair of archeologists discover three warring factions of Transformers: the Maximals, the Terrorcons, and the Predacons. It's interesting that Paramount still decided to delay Rise of the Beasts. Caple announced just last October that production on the film had already been finished.

As for the next Star Trek installment, it appears that it will still be a part of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot franchise. After directing 2009's Star Trek and 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness, Abrams served as the producer of 2016's Star Trek Beyond by Justin Lin. He will be back to produce Matt Shakman's Star Trek film, who you might know for his work on the MCU's WandaVision.

Unlike the Rise of the Beasts, we do not know much about Shakman's Star Trek movie. Initial reports suggest that Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth were going to reprise their respective roles. Unfortunately, negotiations fell through. This leaves very few casting details available about Abrams' fourth Star Trek film.