Michael Bay in ‘Early Talks’ For New ‘Transformers’ Movie

It looks like a new era of Transformers movies is about to begin — and it looks a lot like the old one.

According to Deadline, Paramount (or do we have to call it Skydance now?) is going back to the team that first turned the Hasbro toys into a massive live-action blockbuster franchise to do it again. Per their report, Steven Spielberg — who produced the first Transformers movie, and then remained an executive producer throughout the franchise — is coming back to “lead the creative direction for the eighth live-action installment.”

But that’s not all. They say that Michael Bay is “in early talks to return as director.”

READ MORE: Peter Cullen’s Final Transformers Performance Is a Heartbreaker

Bay directed the first five of the seven previous live-action Transformers films, starting with 2007’s Transformers, and continuing through 2017’s Transformers: The Last Knight. (The two subsequent movies, Bumblebee and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, were prequels, directed by Travis Knight and Steven Caple Jr., respectively.)

While the Transformers movies under Bay never got great reviews, and their critical reception got worse and worse as time went on, all but his final film were gigantic box office hits, with the franchise peaking with 2011’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which earned more than $1.12 billion worldwide.

While Bumblebee and Rise of the Beasts fared a little better with critics, both underperformed in theaters — at least compared to the Bay movies. Bumblebee earned $467 million worldwide, while Rise of the Beasts grossed $441 million, the lowest total for any of the seven Transformers to date.

So if you want to know why Paramount would want to bring back Spielberg and Bay, that’s why.