Michael Bay has posted on his official message boards about the Transformers Movie teaser trailer coming out later this month.

It has been awhile since I’ve posted. Finished shooting end of Sept., on budget, just came under $300,000. I beat Pearl by a $100,000. I had a great time making this movie, the cast and crew were amazing.

Today I just finished the new teaser for Christmas and I think it’s AWESOME! The trailer mixing Guru who does all the big summer movies turned to me and said with a little more ump – it was “fucking awesome”.

I think some of my films have had good teasers but this one is just makes a statement. It’s hard edged to show we are not a silly “toy” movie. We show just hints of robots – and almost none of our epic shots are in this teaser, but the movie just looks big. I had a room full of 20 Tranformers adult geeks, and they all applauded at the end.

It comes out the 22nd – see it in the theater! Let me know what you think.

Michael Bay

The thread can be read here.

Some new bits of information on the Transformers Movie have been revealed on Michael Bay’s Official Blog

Nelson here…

I just barely caught Michael in between takes. Among the things he mentioned

1- They will be releasing more teaser posters in the coming months.

2- Paramount made studies and concluded that the TF “ANNOUNCEMENT” was the 2nd highest rated “teaser” this summer.

3.- They just finished shooting a lot of Pentagon interiors on a soundstage in scenes that involved many Chiefs of staff in their huge war room.

4.- Shia just was recently suspended over the edge of a 20 story building in a very dynamic and intense scene.

5.- The average transformation time from normal mode to alt mode and vice versa is about 3 to 4 seconds.

6.- The leaked pictures are legit (although a somewhat early rendering).

7.- Filming of massive chase scenes will begin in the following weeks.

8.- The CGI transformations by ILM are looking wicked and nastier every single day.

9.- Part 1 will be about why the transformers came to earth.

10.- This movie will be a new start for the live action franchise that will not be based on any particular TF TV series and/or comic book.

And last but certainly not least, the Autobots are

Optimus Prime idealistic view of humanity.
Bumblebee underdog, spy, most “connected” to humans
Jazz style, loyal, eager, contemporary
Ratchet new form, medical officer, science officer. Emergency vehicle.
Ironhide tough, tough stare, first in battle, classic cowboy, gritty. Optimus’ oldest friend.

Decepticons are:

Megatron survival of the fittest, social darwinism, less idealistic view of humanity. Sees himself as advanced, sees humans as lower.
Starscream seems faithful but plotting, “we will see a lot of that dynamic,” explains why he does not push it, waits for his opportunity.
Brawl eager for battle, jumps in. From non-G1 character, experimental, but will be in sequels. First disguised non-flyer.
Bonecrusher closest to constructicon but not giving away mode. Hates other cons except Megatron. Doesn’t want friends.
Barricade scout, hunter, lures into trap.
Scorponok closest to Beast Wars, fitted to environment.
Frenzy “had some evolution for us,” started off as Soundwave but had contradictions and changed to stay truer to G1. Smaller, able to infiltrate. Stealth spy, can hide anywhere.
Blackout comes in, takes out fighting ability, sends EMP, first-tier attack, transporter, biggest vehicle.

Michael Bay has updated his news blog with some information about the Transformers Announcement Trailer

BTW, for those of you asking

1- None of the Mars story, launch footage, and rover footage is going to be in the movie.

2.- Yes, Bay did shoot the rover footage.