Michael Bay responds to Paramount's abandonment of Blu-ray: "No Transformers 2 for me!"
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Aug 21st 2007 5:59AM
posted Aug 21st 2007 5:59AM
Update: Ha, so much for standing up to the boss-man. Michael's latest post now says that, "I drank the Kool Aid" blah blah blah "so I think I might be back on to do Transformers 2!" Whatever, wuss.
[Thanks, Pilam69 and Carl G.]
one less michael bay movie?
i can feel myself becoming an HD-DVD fanboy already
QFT!!!
I am surprised that people actually liked the transformers movie
Matthew, it's ignorant comments like yours that really piss me off. Why don't you do the world a favour, go back and crawl under your slimy green stone. Michael Bay Movies Rock.
@Ang:
I second matthew's feelings on the matter.
I happen to be a Michael Bay Fan. Yes I like his style of direction:
Transformers (Exec Producer/Director)
The Island (Producer/Director)
Pearl Harbor (Producer/Director)
Armageddon (Producer/Director)
Bad Boys, Bad Boys II (Director)
The Rock (Director).
Also these movies did quite well at box office.
And is currently working on a another Cool Movie - 2012: the War for Souls.
I second matthew's opinion.
I don't care about the format wars, but any move that prevents Michael Bay from helming a pic is a blessing in my book.
Michael Bay sucks? Interesting that Spielberg would support him. But then again, perhaps Spielberg sucks as well. Michael Bay has pushed fx integration into films in brilliant ways, and he can tell a story at that. Most people mistakingly believe the popular opinion that his movies are nothing more than fx driven spectacles-wrong. Until we've been responsible for a multi-million dollar budget and have a delivered a product that makes money as well as pushes a film's element's envelope artisitcally, I don't think we can criticize Bay.
Besides, as in all first movie franchises, TF had to introduce characters and build a believable reality, the second movie would have been free to spin a good yarn without the shackles of exposition.
>one less michael bay movie?
>i can feel myself becoming an HD-DVD fanboy already
Is your point that MB movies are bad? Because then you'd be a Blu-Ray fan. HD-DVD has the film, Blu-Ray doesn't. That's why he's cross. He wants both to have it.
(Not that I blame you though, this article sucks. "Paramount has dropped support for Blu-ray... so has a notable Hollywood director."
"For them to deny people who have Blu-ray sucks!" So has he dropped blu-ray support or does he want it Engadget? -10 for clarity.)
Not only one less Michael Bay movie...
but also a chance that someone else will make a decent Transformers movie.
thank you, michael bay sucks
I'm pretty OK with the guy who directed Pearl Harbor not making some movies. Very much so indeed.
I can understand thinking it's something of a jackass move to put people who own blu-ray players out in the cold, but really, it's a decision that had to be made sooner or later. Two formats with the same general use is bad for business - instead of one market for a product, you've suddenly got the blu-ray market and the hd dvd market to worry about. Frankly, it's better this happens sooner than later before more people buy players for the losing format, whichever it ends up being.
This is link is why its a jackass move:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/technology/21disney.html?ei=5088&en=d4e1f285e2f41437&ex=1345348800&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1187698143-B5wO3L/F+4r1NyAsum87vQ
18 months, $150 million thats what prolonging this stupid war is worth.
@Patrick:
> Michael Bay has pushed fx integration into films in brilliant ways, and he can tell a story at that.
I'm not arguing the sfx--although great effects hardly make him a brilliant director--but telling stories?! Do go on, please give a few examples of how Mr. Bay has great story telling talent. The biggest commonality of the movies listed by Ang a couple of posts above yours is cringe-inducing dialog, at times painfully so. Transformers was full of storyline discontinuities and dropped sub-plots and characters. The single biggest annoyance in my eyes were the highly jarring changes in plot focus, the worse example of which is probably the never-ending scene where the boy was looking for the glasses in his room, while the robots were trying to hide from his parents and were destroying the flower bed. Considering that the scene just prior to this was a frantic chase of save-the-world intensity, throttling down to teenage angst humor and worrying about flower beds while the fate of the world hangs in the balance is absolutely ridiculous. That about sums up Michael Bay in my book.
@ Partick
First of all, your entire post rests on the package-deal fallacy which is a problem, just because he doesn't like Michael Bay, who is against blu-ray doesn't mean he's against Steven Spielberg. I don't like Steve Jobs, therefore I don't like all Americans. Doesn't work that way.
Second, yeah, I can't say that I respect Spielberg's decisions as of late either. He hasn't made a decent movie in 5 years. Let's take a look at his recent track record: Terminal, War of the Worlds and Munich. And considering he made his stance known recently, his opinion may be just as bad as Michael Bay's.
Finally, a person's success in one area doesn't guarantee that his opinion is valid in another. Al Gore is a successful politician, that doesn't mean that his opinion on global warming is correct or holds any intrinsic value.
add one more vote the distatse for bay. odds are they don't want him back anyways so he's throwing a temper tantrum "fine I don't want to do another one anyways!"
remember the island? a greta story idea turned into a hoverbike shit fest? or, hey look a turned the reactor off, so it explodes. I go through the same thing wehnever I turn off the lights in my apartment.
the mans makes horrible movies. the only reason tranformers was half descent is A) robots B) we all went in with SUCH LOW expectatiosn after hearing it was the man behind bad boys 2 that just about anythign would have looked good. i mean, bad boys 2 for god sake.
micael, if you're trollingand reading these, which I 100% bet you are, stop making movies, hollywood needs less braindead flicks, audiences aren't stupid and hollywood jackasses liek you that think all people want/can handle is 3 lines of dialog + explosions need to go away. there are so many great film makers not able to make movies right now it's mind blowing. we don't need anymore bad ones.
@sycks
What a great article to site for information... unnamed sources, no quotes for HD DVD, and a writer that obviously isn't to engaged with technology. Not to mention the flat out flub with the Target reference. The article was full of over generalizations and depicted HD DVD as the bad guy.
Why is everyone so cranky that now we actually have a real format war? Sorry for your luck, but nobody should just hand stuff on a platter to Sony. Also, if you want to talk about payoffs... I hope you honestly don't think that Sony magically conjured up all this support for Blu-Ray without dropping a dime.
The bottom line is this doesn't even matter yet. Half the people with HDTV's don't even know how to use them.
Right, because killing the competition is great for the consumer.
Michael speaks the truth! Him and Spielberg are legends. If the bluray consumer boycotting paramount won't have an effect, i'm sure Michael Bay doing it will :D
Michael Bay a legend?
Well I guess his movies are so bad they are legendary....
I believe I will be picking up an HD player in the near future now.
Please, Micheal Bay isn't shi*. There have been countless movies released on only Blu Ray and I don't see anyone complaining! WHERE PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN HD DVD??? HUH?? Transformers 2??? GTFOH
I am not much of a fan of him. Want to see transformers, but I agree with what he has said. I heard that Paramount and Dreamworks were paid $150million to pull this little stunt, and all it will do is prolong the format war.
Blu-ray will and should win, but with films like Shrek the Third as HD-DVD exclusives, HD-DVD will be able to hold out even longer before throwing in the towel which is a bad thing for all of us.
HD-DVD is the better format and it should win. Discs are cheaper, players are cheaper. And it has requirements for the audio used on the discs. So you are gurenteed to have better sound on HD-DVD, it's optional on blue ray.
Note phantom of the opera in HD-DVD has TrueHD sound and in Blue Ray is just 5.1
HD-DVD disc features are compatible with all players. New blue ray features are not and require newer players to access newer features placed on discs.
I have a PS3 and want to see High Definition movies.
If any movie (like The Good Shepherd) is not on Blu Ray, then I will see it when it hits HBO. I'm not going to buy a HD DVD player just to see a movie that's not on BD. It's that simple.
So childish...
What the hell is up with these fanboys?
"Best formats possible"? Both of them are using the same freaking codec!!
I think he meant that if you have a bluray player you should be able to buy it on bluray and not just standard dvd. I think he is suggesting that "choice" has been taken away from us and any time that happens it is not good for us.
Wait... you're saying the Format War is a *good* thing?
does he even film his movies in HD??
Film is better than HD. That's why we get things like the original Star Trek and Knight Rider in HD. They were shot on film.
@Namarrgon: Brian stated ""choice" has been taken away from us and any time that happens it is not good for us".
IMHO, Choice/competition is a good thing!
You stated "Format War is a *good* thing". Wars are to annihilate the competition! Wars are not good p.e.r.o.i.d.
what is he, like 8 years old? "i'm taking my ball and going home!"
get a life, besides, you made Optimus look like a little girl in the movie. Great movie, but I'm sure others can do better.
p.s. thanks for pearl harbor, I lost at least 100 brain cells and 3 hours of my life, and one recovering...I CAN'T GET THAT TIME BACK! CAN I!
Great move Mr. Bay! Thanks for the support! I mean in the end he's right, they're getting paid to limit his HD movies install base.. which in turn makes Mr. Bay lose money. I'd be pissed too!
"
What the hell is up with these fanboys?
"Best formats possible"? Both of them are using the same freaking codec!!"
is that true? i thought br was h264 and hddvd was something microsoft cooked up? hhmmm
Both HDDVD and Blu-ray have available to them the same codecs: Both HDDVD and Blu-ray can play movies encoded with MPEG2, VC-1, and AVC (h.264). Blu-ray's space and bandwidth advantage can help give it a slight edge in PQ even when both formats use the same codec, by using a greater bitrate during the encode.
(HDDVD bandwidth is somewhere about 30Mb/s vs. 48Mb/s for Blu-ray).
Having the movie on both formats is the best thing for the consumer.
I agree. I refuse to believe it costs companies *that* much more to support these 3 disc formats(dvd, blu-ray, hd-dvd). As far as I'm concerned... Paramount could front both sides with ease.
I think in the long term it's better. Being able to choose from movies from any distributor is more important, having them all on the same format, so I think this is a positive thing if it means one format will eventually pull ahead. I think there's little to distinguish from the two, but HD-DVD is cheaper and has no region encoding, so I'll side with that. However I'd be almost as happy to see a move that gave Blu-Ray a genuine upper hand.
Of course, ideally everybody would release on both.
On the other hand, you could argue that releasing on both formats just prolongs the whole 'format war' thing.
In the short term, yes, having a movie on both formats is good, but in the long term, companies need to make these decisions - or the format war will just go on forever.
Brian say: Having the movie on both formats is the best thing for the consumer.
??? How can that be a highly ranked comment? The BEST thing for the consumer is for the format war to die, regardless of which is victorious. This point in time is anything BUT the 'best' thing.
@Dom
The best thing for the user is for THEM, the user, to choose which format should die, not M$ with their 150 million bribe (note: they were choosing HD-DVD by buying more than twice as many Blu-ray discs.)
Awesome, Transformers was great but imagine how great it will be with a competent director!
"Pear Harbor"? Never heard of it... Is it any good?
Yes. It was an over-the-top movie about the ignominious Japanese sneak attack on the United States' pear orchards. The US was without full fruit salads for years.
Oh, and yeah, hes being very childish.
Michael Bay sucks, and while he does make a good point saying that this deal basically screws the consumer... then again this whole format war screws the consumer, and I for one just want it to be over with already so I can get my HD-DVD/Blu-ray player so I wont have to live in a sense of constant paranoia of my seemingly wise purchase becoming obsolete.
Pearl Harbor Sucked.
I would like to see another director for Transformers 2 anyway :/
Matt and Trey got it right in their song Pearl Harbour
Hey ! Good idea !
Thanks Mickael for not making your next bad movie.
so funny he said that. the "format war" is far from over and the recent decision bei paramount and dreamworks just put a lot of fuel in the fire...
I think everybody will be fine with the lowered player and disc prices this "war" brings us. and every hd-fanatic needs to have both formats... but that was clear before p&d made the move.
I dont think he is being childish at all, He made the film at a time when he thought anyone would be able to watch it on hd-dvd or bluray..
Now we know paramount will make money from this deal, but he will probably loose money, he wont sell as many copies of the film if it isnt on both. He looses out while the production company gets a paycheck.
His pay probably includes money from bluray/hd-dvd sales.
up to half his audience, maybe more is lost, for no real reason. Up to half the money he could have made from the high def market gone..
I would be highly annoyed.
Annoyed to the point of ending your relationship with an entire studio? He's taking the "things aren't going my way so I quit!" approach here. He should have been lobbying them when they were making the decision about whether to accept the funding or not.
You can't just stick your head in the sand for months then decide to cry about something without seeming childish. Besides, if the contracts didn't specify the distribution formats he has no right to expect distribution to be done a specific way.
If it was that fucking important to him he should have got it put into his contract, it's got nothing to do with him really, if blu-ray owners really want to see it they will buy it on DVD. If they want it in HD they will need to buy HD-DVD. I didn't see people kicking up such a stink when it was the other way round and blu-ray had the exclusives.
He's done his job, and been paid his money - he doesn't own the movie or the rights to the Transformers name. He's just talked himself out of a sequel deal, over one type of HD format that would have represented what 0.5% of DVD sales, baby.
So what if you think everyone should get paid and told to get lost? some people have invested interest in their work and continue to get paid after the work is done. You will just have to learn to accept that. You will also just have to accept that they will get annoyed if they think they will lose out on money or market share.
Maybe it is in his contract that he gets a percent of bluray sales, but 0% of 0% is what? Are you realistically saying that he should have had them put in his contract "we promise to release the film in both bluray and hd/dvd" because i dont think they would do that for any director, they would just promise a percent of sales for each format the film sells in.
Id like to point out that i dont even care what format the film goes to, I dont have a hd-dvd player, or a bluray player or even a high def tv. They simply havent reached the quality i would expect no matter how many pixels they can squeeze in horizontally or vertically. I also have no interest in a transformers film even on dvd, I probably wont watch it until its on tv and i have nothing else to do.
But i do think he has a right to be annoyed.
And the annoyance, is probably mainly due to the fact that he had no say in the matter. That he wasn't told that Paramount was planning this move. If someone just uprooted your home to another location cause they felt it would look better over there way yonder, wouldn't you be annoyed? Perhaps making you want to rebel against the situation?
I think there should only be one transformers, a second one wouldnt be as good.
Oh no. What will Transformers 2 be without Michael bay.
perhaps less robot-pee jokes.
Why does Michael Bay get to keep on making movies? Pearl Harbor sucked....
and i miss you?
Digital Rights Restrictions screw the customer. Phasing out analogue screws the customer.
And so on.
Amazing how quickly we forget what's really going on when movie-watchers get moist about their latest movies, or the subtle differences between two craptastic formats.
Good move Micheal, Teach those Flying ignoramus's not to mess with your movies! Pearl Harbor wasn't that bad. I enjoyed it. You guys are a-s-s-holes for dissing something so intense in our nations history.
You do realise that the movie "Pearl Harbour" was not a documentary don't you.
You do realize that not everyone on this site is American, don't you?
Also, the movie was very poorly presented and Mr Bay totally missed the point.
> dissing something so intense in our nations history
Are you talking about Pearl Harbor or Transformers? 'Cause I fully agree about the latter.
"You do realise that the movie "Pearl Harbour" was not a documentary don't you."
I have no issue with Brits wanting to spell the english words their way, some argue the "right" way, but writing "Pearl Harbour" is stupid for several reasons:
1. The movie's name was "Pearl Harbor". Literally.
2. The actual place is named "Pearl Harbor". Literally.
3. The actual place is located in the US, which spells "Harbor" without the u.
Thanks Michael!
What's amusing is that before this announcement by Bay, the HDDVD fantards were screaming "TRANSFORMERS EXCLUSIVE! GR4TE 4 ME! LOL DIE SONY LOL"
but now it's:
"Well, Bay sucks anyway".
Now this is getting interesting !! especially what the forum admin mentioned below:
Bay: Forgot to ask...
Is it possible that Spielberg could get Transformers released on both HD DVD and Blu-ray? Paramount/DreamWorks are exclusive to HD DVD except for Spielberg-directed films. His movies will continue to be released on both formats. Do you think he could get this film released on both since he produced it?
One can hope. Let's find out how strong the Spielberg card is.
***********
interesting times indeed....!
Well, I think that Bay sucks anyway....just like most other movie watchers. I liked Transformers, but, that was about it from him that I can stand to watch more than once.
This decision is just childish. He says that he's doing it for his fans, that's B.S., HE HAS NO FANS! Seriously, a director that will refuse to make movies because the studio isn't going to release them in hit format of choice is too full of himself for his own good. Paramount loosing the next Michael Bay film may save them millions because he's due for a couple of flops before next hit. He'll have as much of an effect on Paramount as I will if I decide not to buy Transformers to protest his whining....none.
I hope this format war ends soon and I really don't care who wins, I'm just sick of hearing about it... I've got an HD DVD player so I am a little biased, but, I'd be much happier with digital distribution in the end. I love the fact that I can download HD movies on the Xbox Live Marketplace, even those Blu-Ray exclusive titles.
Bad PR for all involved in these stupid format siding deals. It only serves to alienate the consumer all the more. I won't be buying Transformers on HD-DVD or DVD. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
I didn't mind Pearl Harbor. In fact, I watched it a few times and enjoyed it. Also liked Transformers. Wouldn't mind purchasing both.
I think the format's over as to who WalMart carries this coming Black Friday.
Nice. \m/
I HAVE A BRIGHT IDEA!!!
Since Michael Bay Left, let's get Uwe Boll to make Transformers 2.
hehe, come on, bay isn't THAT bad!
Oh...no one is as bad as Uwe Boll. But I bet he's the person Paramount is thinking about for Transformers 2. In fact, we can get the guy who did TransMORPHERS (the Asylum home Entertainment) to direct the Actual Transformers 2 movie--I bet the folks over at Asylum would wet their pants. If you don't know about TransMORPHERS, google it.
Michael Bay did a good job with transformers, and it's sad to see that he won't do Transformers 2 (which means it'll suck), but I stand behind him 100 percent for standing up to Paramount.
These companies have to pick a side. We can't have both formats forever. One of them needs to die. The sooner that happens the sooner I can buy my reasonably priced HD player. I refuse to buy in to either camp until there is only 1 format. Until then I'll just deal with crappy DVD quality.
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!
seriously stfu, "crappy dvd quality" are you freakin kidding me
It was a joke. I debated telling everyne it was sarcasm. I had hoped you would just get that it was sarcasm. Sadly I was mistaken. :(
That are you talking about? I loved Transformers and I am going to watch it again as soon as it hits the IMAX theaters.
Transformers was a cool movie, that's why HD-DVD fanboys liked having it.
I don't think anyone ever cared that Transformers was directed by Michael Bay, but rather that it had giant robots that transformed into cars. Michael Bay occasionally gets things right (The Rock), but usually they suck (most everything else). Given how many stupid things were in Transformers, and how it still kicked *ss, it's obvious that anyone--ANYONE could have directed it and it would have been awesome. Except maybe Uwe Boll.
Also, hooray HD-DVD, down with Sony.
im going to have to pass on this movie till it is on blueray... I saw it in theaters 3 times in high def and im not going to ruin my experience by watching it on dvd
Something tells me that the tractor trailer load of cash that they will be dumping at his feet to make TF2 will more than remedy his rage for not being "progressive" enough about optical disk distribution (perspective is crucial in life).
I give it 3, maybe 5, days until he puts out some form of retraction -- maybe quietly to save face. Then suddenly the production rumors for TF2 will ramp up, and surprise surprise, Michael Bay's name will be all over them...
no thank you mr. bay
i'll just download your movie to my HTPC regardless of the disc format
I happen to be a Michael Bay Fan. Yes I like his style of direction:
Transformers (Exec Producer/Director)
The Island (Producer/Director)
Pearl Harbor (Producer/Director)
Armageddon (Producer/Director)
Bad Boys, Bad Boys II (Director)
The Rock (Director).
Also these movies did quite well at box office.
And is currently working on a another Cool Movie - 2012: the War for Souls.
he made all those turds? I had no idea.
Actually the rock was ok. The rest had very good CGI and the general style they were filmed were ok but the rest stinks. bad plots, forced love stories, and complete lack of substance. I think Armageddon is the worst movie ever. When people mention it I cringe. Deep Impact cam out about the same time about the exact same subject and it light years better.
Jeez, stop bashing on the Transformers movie.
Michael Bay had a really good direction making the movie catered to the generation who grew up watching them, while catering to the action mongering gurus, and even the kids!
Come on, you can NOT deny that those transformers looked frickin' amazing. Never has one movie blended such insane CG with real life capture. You cannot deny that whole theatres upon finishing had this heightened sensation, running around looking for trucks, rubbing your steering wheels, in hopes that they somehow magicall transformed -- and then of course got disappointed lol. THAT is why Transformers was awesome.
And Michael Bay definitely got it right sometimes (though wrong more than right). The Rock, Armadeddon? Both of those are absolute CLASSICS. Amazing directing from Michael Bay for those films.
And lol @ Uwe Boll comments.
If he feels so strongly about it, he should have been smart enough to negotiate that into his contract. As in "I'll only direct this movie if you agree to distribute it in every format available" or something similar. Very simple, but apparently he feels blogging about it gives him more leverage than a signed, legal contract.
And what reason did he have to suspect Paramount would do this? Up until the announcement they still had a Blu-ray line-up, and just recently news that their forthcoming BD titles were to have better encodings than the HDDVD counterparts. This is a surprise to pretty much everyone.
Transformers is a movie with a target audience of 10-25 year old males. Seems to be an almost perfect overlap of the target consumer for Playstation 3s, which play Blu-Ray.
The "format war" is not for studios to decide, it's for consumers. Make both and see which one you sell more of. Whether or not he has hidden motives, at the base of Bay's argument is trying to give freedom to consumers.
How about making good movies in any format? :D
maybe this means in the next transformers movie there won't be any 360 gritty shots up at the face of the hero and no chase scenes through abandoned neo-classical warehouses. I could be down for that. bye bye bay
Seriously...
Whats the deal with all of you people openly complaining about Michael Bay's direction? Am I along in the fact that I enjoy a movie for its most simple act of creation and display. I thought Transformers was great, I loved the Island(absolutely compelling movie). Pearl Harbor kept me entertained. Armageddon was fricking stunning! Bad Boys, can you say non stop laughter, great movies. The Rock was brilliant. The fact that many people choose to downplay his direction shows that you have very little enjoyment in movies to begin with.
I'm not giving Michael Bay reps for his comments, as they borderline someone with a teenage frame of mind, but he does have a point. It's less cash in his pocket, considering I along with my friends, would have picked up the Blu Ray edition of Tranformers from retail this coming holiday season. We deserve the choice, I would be just as upset if for some reason Transformers went Blu Ray exclusive. If there's a blockbuster title, it deserves to be released in all formats consumers demand, for we are the ones who pay into this debacle.
engadget or gizmodo, I forgot which, had a story yesterday about the amount of money MS paid to get paramount to go HD DVD exclusive. I wouldn't be surprised if Sony did a little paying off of their own to try and engineer a PR disaster to get Paramount to go back on their decision. I can guarentee you that Michael Bay, hack that he is, wouldn't be above taking a little money to bitch about something stupid like a dvd format.
"Blu-ray will and should win"
Er, why? Because Sony "deserves" to finally have one format out of all its many failed formats succeed? Because then we can go back to the crappy antiquated MPEG2 codec that Bluray's capacity was originally designed for? Because then we can wait until BDA "finishes" the Bluray spec? Because you own a PS3/BD player/stock?
Do you understand the concept of "attach rate?" The 4 million Bluray "players" sold have translated into fewer than two million BD discs sold. OTOH, the 200,000 HD DVD players have sold well over a million discs. You tell me which format is selling more discs per player.
"HD-DVD will be able to hold out even longer before throwing in the towel"
Don't bet on HD DVD being the one to throw in the towel... it clearly has the popular grassroots support. If you just take a moment to read through Sony's creative accounting spin, you'll see it's true.
It is very simple. Paramount and DreamWorks sold us out for $150 million in Toshiba money to put out two the best movies of the year on HD DVD. Plain and simple. If you read comments from the management of both studios they are completely opposite of their statements yesterday. All this bashing of Bay is crazy. Transformers was a great movie and I was looking for seeing it on Blu ray but the point is not the format but that somebody just made a decision on what format you can watch the film on for nothing more than getting a bigger home in Malibu or New York or someplace. I am happy that Bay took a stand and didn't sell out like the rest of them. I hope he sticks to it.
I have never posted before, and probably won't again, but I feel so sick to my stomach over this idiot that I needed to share my thoughts.I am not a huge Michael Bay fan at all, but I have kept my thoughts and opinions to myself until I read this post today. Transformers was no more then an Okay movie. It was sitting on a fence leaning back and forth between good and bad. He did a good job trying to cater o a new audience, while trying to maintain a little bit of a standard for the old audience. Me being an avid fan of G1 Transformers left the movie feeling it was Okay. I can point out lots of things that flat out sucked, like character development, a mountain dew machine, and frenzy just to name a few. This being said I do not like Michael Bay as a director and I like him less as a mouth piece. He has gotten a lot of praise for something that I think is not deserved, and it has all gone to his head. Anyone with half a brain could have produced a successful Transformers movie. The name and brand is what made it a success, not Michale Bays version of it. Mr Bay is a person who thinks his importance is more the it really is. All through out the making of this movie we have heard stories of how
it was his way or no way at all. He feels that he is the sheriff with the pistol, in a town of blind criminals with there hands tied behind there backs. I own a PS3, and a 360 but no movies for hd, or blu ray. i refuse to buy them until someone gets a foothold in the market. If I were to make a choice it wouldn't be on which is better quality, because they are both great. For me the choice would be HD just because I love my Xbox, 10 fold over my PS3. My son is begging me for his own 360, and all his friends own 360's. So that is just my preference. This crap about Michael Bay using the production of Transformers 2 to try and make a studio adhere to his opinion, is pure BS. It is no different then a means of extortion and I hope that the studios or fans don't fall for it. If they do then we deserve what we get, because I would much rather see a better, director take the helm of the Transformers movies. Michael Bay needs to grow up and stick to what he does best which, I have no Idea what it is because it certainly isn't directing. I am not trying to make fan boys mad or start a format war here, I am just trying to make a point of how ignorant it is of him to use his status as a director to try and dictate how a format war is going to turn out. I feel celeberties and and people of his status, should be held to a higher standard, and should be more responsible as human beings. As far as Paramount and Dreamworks going exclusive to HD for a price, good for them. That is business, and as long as the public keeps buying both formats, the war will still rage. Only we have the power to change that. I will wait as I have been up till now.
thats why people pirate movies, get those burn drives ready
I think you are all missing the real point here. The plain fact is that Paramount took $50 million in "consideration fees" from those that govern HD-DVD, Dreamworks did the same for $100 million.
I'd be pissed too if the studio I worked for sold out to the highest bidder without consideration of the userbase. Both Paramount and Dreamworks were supporting both formats, and now the people that own Blu-Ray sets that buy movies from these 2 studios will have to buy an additional box if they choose to purchase future titles.
Everyone wants to whack Michael Bay and say that his movies suck, but it could be anyone's name here, and I'm sure they would be just as upset.
BTW if Transformers sucked so bad, how in the hell did it gross over half a billion dollars worldwide?
Pearl Harbor: $449 Million
Armageddon: $553 Million
The Rock: $335 Million
I'm sure all of you would be singing a different tune if it were your favorite director instead.
Has anyone checked out this "personal blog"? Don't get me wrong...it could be legit...but man something smells fishy when you're looking at the original post.
That's coming from an unabashed blu-ray fanboy.
Here is the link. It's a forum, not a blog.
http://www.shootfortheedit.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2299
1) "Personal blog" is directly from the article.
2) This looks completely bogus to me.