Transformers 2 in ’09

UPDATE – Variety has confirmed that news that Paramount has set the release date with one exception: June 29, 2009 not June 26th. Michael Bay and Shia LaBeouf are set to return as well. (Ed. note: That was a Variety misprint. It is June 26th after all. June 29th is a Monday. And that would be just plain ridiculous.)

After some giant metal foot-dragging on the part of the studios, it looks like confirmation has come down that TRANSFORMERS 2 is rolling forward like some sort of large vehicle that turns into a robot or something. And one of my favorite chaos-bringers will be directing again.

According to Box Office Mojo, the Paramount/Dreamworks sequel has slotted a release date of June 26, 2009 — putting it in a prime (pun acknowledged) position for the coveted holiday one week later. This follows an LA Times article from last week that rather blithely stated director Michael Bay and exec producer Steven Spielberg had signed on for the sequel.

There’s no confirmation yet at Bay’s official site — last we heard from him was grumblings that the suits hadn’t pulled the trigger on the sequel yet, and he was getting antsy to work before this supposed Hollywood strike that probably won’t actually happen. But considering TRANSFORMERS has made almost $700 million globally (and will probably generate ten figures by the time DVD sales and other media factor in), they’d be foolish not to secure Bay’s services for more loud crunching alloy and cardboard characters.