Michael Bay Responds to Paramount's Decision

[Woundup]

The director behind such films as 'Bad Boys', 'Pearl Harbor', and the recent 'Transformers' movie is upset by Paramount's decision to drop support for Blu-ray. On a post on his personal web forum entitled, "Paramount pisses me off!", Michael Bay says, "I want people to see my movies in the best formats possible. For them to deny people who have Blu-ray sucks! They were progressive by having two formats. No Transformers 2 for me!"

It appears the accountants who thought the $150M was a good deal didn't take into account that they would lose one of their star directors.

link

[GoatMother]

Well that really f'n sucks.. Hopefully Paramount will reconsider. Transformers rocked and I would love to see more. Horrible for the consumers and Transformer fans.

[Serren]

There are many directors that could do a Transformers 2. Bay added very little uniqueness to Transformers.

Good luck on your future endeavors Mr. Bay.

[Jon Liu]

I disagree, Serren. It's the Armageddon-style movie that Transformer was that appealed to me as much as it did.

While I'm sure Transformers 2 would be very good if others did it, I don't think it would had had the humor, flow or even the grandiose battles like it did without Bay.

[GoatMother]

agreed. Honestly it was much better than I remotely expected. I have a hard time believing somebody would have made it better. Great mix of action comedy, visual fx. It flowed extremely well.

[MadBryan]

Umm FAKE! What director is going to pass up the benjimens he stands to make from Transformers 2.

[GoatMother]

Come to think of it, the deal is 18 months exclusive so by the time Transformers 2 hits a lot can change. I'm sure he isn't happy about not cashing on blu-ray considering it would probably sale twice as many as the HD DVD version (based on the trends that have been happening this year). Granted these are drops in the buckets compared to DVD. Still the HDM is growing every day and I would imagine that Transformers would have done quite well on blu-ray.

[GoatMother]

Originally Posted by MadBryan

Umm FAKE! What director is going to pass up the benjimens he stands to make from Transformers 2.

Read up and follow the source, it certainly isn't fake.

[MadBryan]

I'm not saying he didn't say it, but he's already removed thread from site. I guess fake was wrong should been liar.

[GoatMother]

Good back pedal as Fake would definitely imply he didn't say it. Do you have a link that indicates he lied about something?

[Serren]

Directors always get pissy, and then the studio backs up a truck full of cash and then all is well. The nature of Hollywood.

And it's not like Transformers is a classic work of art for Bay. It's just a summer movie. Nothing special. I can see a director getting really mad if the work was a true gem for the director, such as Titanic or Lord of the Rings, those caliber of movies. Transformers is not that, nor will the sequels be.

[BiffCo]

Well, Transformers is still a huge blockbuster considering it's take in. Saying that Transformers in general is nothing special is an understatement. Bay is one of the most respected directors when it comes to action scenes. I don't think putting it up against LOTR or Titanic is fair.

-Brad

[Serren]

Originally Posted by Big Brad

Bay is one of the most respected directors when it comes to action scenes. I don't think putting it up against LOTR or Titanic is fair.

-Brad

Agreed. Bay is very good with the summer action flicks. That is his forte so to speak. But I don't think he would hold this movie up as even his directing masterpiece. Of course almost every director treats each movie as work of art and they do take great pride in the final work. So it will take many more years before he can speak freely about these things without pissing off the studios, actors, fans and such.

Transformers was a big summer hit. That is a fact. Surely big enough for a sequel (661 million worldwide so far). I guess we will all see who gets the directors job in a couple of years (Wu, Spielberg, Emmerich, that Wolfgang dude...)

[Jon Liu]

Man, I hope John Woo doesn't get to do Transformers 2. Can you just imagine, a slow cut between Optimus Prime and the next new villain, in slow motion while a dove flies in front of the camera?

Ugh...

[BiffCo]

at Jon's post.

-Brad

[GoatMother]

Some good news Transformers still not coming to Blu-ray, which would have been great news.

http://www.michaelbay.com/blog/files...ay-HD-DVD.html

Michael Bay HD-DVD post
08/21/2007 07:51 PM
Last night at dinner I was having dinner with three Blu-Ray owners, they were pissed about no Transformers Blu-Ray and I drank the kool aid hook line and sinker. So at 1:30 in the morning I posted - nothing good ever comes out of early am posts mind you - I over reacted. I heard where Paramount is coming from and the future of HD and players that will be close to the $200 mark which is the magic number. I like what I heard.

As a director, I'm all about people seeing films in the best quality possible, and I saw and heard firsthand people upset about a corporate decision.

So today I saw 300 on HD-DVD, it rocks!

So I think I might be back on to do Transformers 2!

Michael Bay

[Crippler]

That cash truck must of made a stop at his house.

[Serren]

Yep! lol!

(Or a lawer!)

[BiffCo]

"I miss you more than Michael Bay missed the mark... When he made Pearl Harbor." - Team America

-Brad