Megan Fox Starting to Grace Magazine Covers…

Who wants another hot Megan Fox picture?

(I can almost here you saying, “Me! me! me!”)

The publicity machine keeps ramping up for Revenge of the Fallen, and the latest step is getting Ms. Fox to grace the cover of Empire Magazine, which you can check out below…

As for the actual article…well, who cares?

Transformers Screenwriters Won’t Return for 3rd Film

Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman announced via a forum that they wouldn’t be writing the inevitable third Transformers movie:

“Time for fresh blood!” writes Orci. “The main reason we would move on is because we risk getting stale and comfortable. If you only sing one song for too long, you miss the opportunity to sing news songs. We’ll see.”

Orci and Kurtzman also wrote the screenplay for May 8th’s Star Trek reboot and co-created Fox’s Fringe.

This news comes on the heels of Michael Bay saying he’ll only direct a third Transformers movie if Paramount agrees to a summer 2012 (and not summer 2011) release.

Michael Bay Says He’s Not Doing Transformers 3 Until 2012

Paramount recently announced via Variety that a third Transformers movie would come out on July 1st, 2011, maintaining the two-year break between films.  Awesome, right?

Not exactly.  Following the news break, Michael Bay posted a retraction of sorts on his own website:

Paramount made a mistake in dating Transformers 3 - they asked me on the phone - I said yes to July 4[th weekend] - but for 2012 - whoops! Not 2011!!! That would mean I would have to start prep in September. No way. My brain needs a break from fighting robots.

Three things may result from this bit of news.  From least likely to most likely:

1. Paramount fires Bay and finds someone else to release the movie in 2011.

2. Paramount offers Michael Bay a staggering amount of money to get it in theaters by 2011, and he accepts, because let’s face it, he’s a hack and everybody likes money.

3. Paramount lets Bay push the release date back a year, because he’s made them obscene amounts of money and he can do what he wants.

Ironically, the least likely among those (#1) is probably the most cost-effective.  Get a lesser-known director and pay him a tiny percentage of Bay’s asking fee, and secure a surefire 2011 hit.

Would fans be mad?  What a strange world that would be, when fanboys get mad about Michael Bay leaving a franchise.

Frank Welker to Play Soundwave?

Frank Welker, the voice of Megatron in the original Transformers animated series, may lend his voice to one of the Autobots in Revenge of the Fallen.

When the first movie came out, Michael Bay landed Peter Cullen to reprise the voice of Optimus Prime but passed over Welker for Hugo Weaving (V for Vendetta).  Weaving will return as Megatron for Revenge of the Fallen, but Bay announced on his website that he’s probably going to ask Welker to play Soundwave.

‘Revenge of the Fallen’ Coloring Book Spoils the Movie

Michael Bay’s constant battle to keep Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen plot points secret is getting funnier all the time.  Thwarting him this week?  The official Revenge of the Fallen coloring book, which contains gems like the following (click to enlarge):

See more screencaps here.

John Turturro to Voice Jetfire

A lot of fans of the previous Transformers movie had one major complaint — John Turturro’s character was perhaps the worst character to ever appear in a movie — so apparently Turturro has decided to try again with another character.

No, that doesn’t mean his Agent Simmons won’t appear.  He will.  It’s just that Turturro is also voicing Jetfire, a Decepticon-turned-Autobot who , according to WorstPreviews, “becomes an Autobot due to his wounds and old age.”

Jetfire — sometimes known as Skyfire — has been a character in Transformers lore from the beginning, but did not appear in the 2007 movie.

Michael Bay Opens Mouth, Lies Again

Michael Bay should really just give it up.  He doesn’t do secrecy well.  He’s not J.J. Abrams.  His attempts at misinformation are badly delivered, easily refuted, and only make him look stupid.

He announced a while back that Megatron would not appear in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen — and everyone immediately called B.S. after pointing out that Megatron is all over the packaging of Revenge of the Fallen toys.  So on his website yesterday, he revised his statement:

Okay cat is out of the bag. Megatron is back —- but you will only get to see him from the long lost past. We go way back in time as this movie explains the mythology of the Primes. He is not a tank like everyone suggests, but an alien vehicle. But sadly he does not has much screen time.

Michael

An alien vehicle?  You mean…an alien vehicle that could definitely be called a tank?

And as for the “you will only see him in the long lost past” and “not much screen time” lines, while I don’t have photographic evidence to disprove it, the guy is a really bad liar.

Megan Fox Grabs a Few More Franchises

In case the whole Transformers craze dies down anytime soon (hah, that’s a good one), Megan Fox has assured she’ll still get continued employment by signing onto two high-profile projects that might become franchises in their own right: Fathom and Jonah Hex.

Jonah Hex stars Josh Brolin as a Wild West bounty hunter and John Malkovich as his nemesis, and is set to open in August 2010.  Fox joins the cast as a badass who helps Hex along the way.

And then there’s Fathom, apparently a.k.a. the most absurdly sexualized comic book character this side of Witchblade.

All Fox has left to do is another high-profile magazine photoshoot, so bloggers everywhere can finally stop using those five-year-old FHM photos.