Michael Bay to roll out another Transformers movie?

With Transformers: Dark of the Moon breaking the magical billion dollar mark at the global box-office on its way to becoming one of the biggest hits of all time, it wasn't much of a surprise when producer Don Murphy began to talk about extending the Autobots' war against the Decepticons on the big screen, even going so far as to propose a second trilogy of movies. In October, Variety revealed that Hasbro were in discussions with in discussions with Paramount, executive producer Steven Spielberg and director Michael Bay about the future of the franchise and although it was thought that Bay would pass on directing duties on a fourth installment, it now seems that he's open to a return, with Vulture suggesting that Paramount "is not far from closing" a deal with the filmmaker to continue his Transformers adventure.

According to the report, the next installment in the blockbuster series will continue on from Dark of the Moon and is likely to "delve deeper into the Transformers canon to mine older characters and lore" [presumably that would also include bringing Megatron back from the dead (again), unless the studio finally decides to go down the route of The Transformers: The Movie and turn him into Galvatron, which would of course necessitate the inclusion of the giant planet-devouring Unicron]. Nevertheless, should the deal be made, Bay is expected to start work on his next project, Pain and Gain, by Spring 2012, with cameras likely to roll on Transformers 4 by this time next year.

So, with Bay now likely to return, could Shia LaBeouf perform a U-turn and reprise his role as Sam Witwicky for a fourth outing, along with co-stars such as Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and John Turturro? Or would you rather see a new cast of characters for the next installment, such as the previously rumoured Jason Statham?

Update - Bay has responded to the speculation by posting a response on his official forum: "Studio's are passing rumors but I'm not sure what I'm doing? I know I'm going to do Pain and Gain early spring but that's it for right now. I'm leaving all my options on the table. I've got several Studio meetings in the next two weeks." You'd have to imagine one of those meetings concerns giant robots, so assuming Paramount makes him an offer which reflects the series' $2.675b box office haul, I guess we're seeing more Transformers from Michael Bay.