I am thinking that a new trailer is coming in the next week or so. On Friday was a bit of a mini info dump related to Transformers: Age of Extinction and now had another today that includes an new article from USA Today that has three fantastic promotional images (I don't think they are movie stills) and an interview with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura as he promotes the film. All we need now is an Entertainment Tonight tease of an on set visit or the like to seal the trailer deal. Highlights and other two images below.

They "are bigger and badder-ass than they have ever been," says Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who has produced all four films, with Steven Spielberg and Bay as executive producers.

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While promoting the new movie Jack Ryan, Transformers: Age of Extinction producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura commented again on how the series isn't rebooting but simply going in a new direction. Really, what Transformers is doing is the same as what comic books do with new #1 issues that re-launch the same series with new costumes, new team and direction. The X-Men books practically do it once a year. Soap operas do it too. Continuity and canon remain but the writers may not really touch on it beyond a vague reference as needed for the current story. It is a decades long writing tool that really has never been done for movies before. If Transformers can pull it off, it might allow for other franchises to gain the confidence to stop thinking a reboot is always a solution.

It’s definitely not a reboot. It’s an interesting question about what you should call it. On a certain level it’s a continuation of the previous stories, in the fact that it acknowledges what has transpired before it. It acknowledges in the last movie, the destruction of Chicago, it’s actually something that carries through the sort of emotional repercussions of that, not unlike 9/11 has emotional repercussions in the real world. In a fantasy world there are repercussions to what occurred.

That plays into the movie, moving forwards with a totally different human cast, who doesn’t know anything about the other humans, it’s not a reboot, but a continuation, yet you’re continuing with a new cast and group of characters. It was a big decision to do that.

We miss our friends that we did the first three with, and they were great, and they probably could’ve done more. But the advantage of doing it this way is that it feels almost like a first movie. It’s a very different dynamic than I’ve seen in a movie, I’m very curious. I guess Star Wars did that a little bit, but not so close together, the way we’re doing it.’

At a the premiere of G.I. Joe: Retaliation that just came out, Transformers and Joe producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura answered a few questions about the movie including the suggestion of a G.I. Joe vs Transformers movie. He said that he starts on Transformers 4 "at the end of May."

On a not really related note, he also said while he would be open to a G.I. Joe vs Transformers movie if the story was right, he doubts it will happen. So do I, the budget alone would make it non-starter even assuming a great story that could juggle that many characters could be written. Read More »

Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura spoke with MTV about Transformers 4 while at the premiere of Side Effects. He spoke about his hope that Bay returns to complete the 2nd Transformers trilogy by directing Transformers 5 and 6. He also reiterated Bay's statement that the film isn't a reboot but "it's completely different." It should be interesting to see what the final result is. Considering that the Transformers cartoon side goes through a redesign (and reboot) about once every five years, the movies are schedule for the same. The idea of a redesign without reboot is a intriguing one and hope designs start leaking soon.

"I can't speak for Michael. I hope he would [direct the next two]. It would be great, but it's certainly something in our design of this," he said. "It's going to be an ongoing story, so the possibility, again, as long as the audience shows up for us, there's a lot of story still to be told."

"There's a lot of new elements. I wouldn't say we've completely changed this world, and yet it's completely different," he said. "There are new characters, new situations. I don't think we revisit a single location. Michael really has a great way of approaching this thing."

On Shia LaBeouf cameo: "I don't believe that would be true. You never know. Things are not set in stone, and if something evolved and that came naturally. That wouldn't be the intention," he said. "The intention is this is new world, with new characters, with Mark Wahlberg leading us. It's a different movie, but a lot of the things that you love about the other ones are joining the ride."