While all the movie studios are struggling to deal with falling DVD sales, one studio is smiling.  Paramount Home Video sold 7.5 million DVD/Blu-ray copies of “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” in its first week of release including 1.2 million Blu-ray’s, making it the year’s highest selling HD title. To put that in perspective, “Twilight” was the year’s biggest selling title and has sold 8 million copies since March 21st.  So if you were wondering why Michael Bay jumped right into making “Transformers 3″, it’s because the movies make a lot of money.  Sorry to dispel the notion that Bay does it because he deeply believes in the “Transformers” mythology and the soul-searching questions it raises.

Of course, the big question is whether or not Bay will listen to outside voices on TF3, because from what I heard, he was left completely alone when making the sequel.  While I didn’t hate the movie like some people, I was definitely let down.  But I can’t think of another filmmaker I’d want to see making “Giant Fucking Robots That Punch Each Other 3″*.  So Michael, if you’re reading this, your visuals are awesome but please get a good script and try to listen when people give you helpful advice.

*Not the official title.

With Michael Bay’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” now out on DVD and Blu-ray, we’ve been given 10 copies to giveaway. So if you’d like to enter to win a copy, hit the jump to see what you need to do:

Platinum Dunes, the company owned by Michael Bay, Brad Fuller, and Andrew Form has signed a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures - whom Bay has worked with on the “Transformers” movies. Now it’s being reported that Platinum’s next film will be “The Butcherhouse Chronicles”, which is being described as “The Breakfast Club” in a haunted house. More details after the jump.

Dust off your machetes, citizens of Crystal Lake, Warner Brothers has finally set a release date for the sequel to last February’s “Friday the 13th” franchise reboot/remake/whatever other buzz word. The follow up is set to be released August 13^th, 2010, and awesomely enough will be the 13^th film in the long running series beginning with Sean S. Cunningham’s original “Friday the 13th”. Hit the jump for some musings and a few rumors that have been circulating the interwebs about the continuing adventures of Jason Voorhees.

Today, we have an exclusive clip for a special feature from the upcoming Blu-ray/DVD for “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” .  The feature focuses on the filming of the action scene so I don’t understand how this feature doesn’t have a disc unto itself.  Either way, if you’re a fan of TF2, you’ll definitely want to hit the jump and check this out.  The DVD and Blu-ray for “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” hits shelves on October 20th.

So much for needing a little down time before jumping into “Transformers 3″.  Michael Bay just announced that today is Day 1 on “Transformers 3″ and that they’re already shooting for a release date of July 1st, 2011 which would put it against Peter Berg’s “Battleship”.  If both movies hold this release dates (and I can’t imagine Universal not blinking and pushing “Battleship” to another date), then expect to see a moment in “Transformers 3″ where a Decepticon or an Autobot (whatever the non-existent logic of the story dictates) destroy a fleet of battleships.  Actually, you should just expect that anyway.

Read the full text of Michael Bay’s announcement along with my thoughts after the jump.

Most of the time, finding out what a major A-list director is going to do next is a major scoop. But, occasionally, it’s as simple as reading his official website. So thanks to MichaelBay.com, we know Michael is figuring out what his next project will be. Acoording to the site, he’s either doing “Transformers 3″, “Bad Boys 3″, or “Pain & Gain”. More after the jump:

While a sequel is always “in development” some place as long as the prior entries in the franchise are successful (and sometimes even if they’re not) but when you start hiring people to make that sequel a reality, it shows that you’re serious.  That you’re willing to make this sequel, this “shit”, if you will, real.

Hit the jump to find out how Columbia Pictures is doing it (and how I think they should do it) with BAD BOYS 3.

Screenwriting team Al Gough and Miles Millar (”Smallville”) have signed on to adapt “I Am Number 4″.  The film will be based on the unpublished science fiction novel written by Jobie Hughes and controversial “A Million Little Pieces” author James Frey.  The story involves a group of teenage alien refugees assimilating to high school on Earth when they discover that their home planet’s enemy is now hunting them on their new turf.  Michael Bay will be producing the project with a potential to direct.  More after the jump:

Paramount has just announced an October 20^th release date for the DVD/Blu-ray of Michael Bay’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”. While the film was beaten up by both critics and fans, the movie has already made over $820 million dollars at the worldwide box office. I think every filmmaker would take that kind of box office no matter what people say. Anyway, if you’re curious what extras are coming on the home video release, or just want to see the cover art, it’s after the jump:

Sometimes all it takes is an email from Michael Bay.

While director Samuel Bayer had been pursued by Platinum Dunes for a few of their movies, it was an email from Michael Bay that finally got him to direct his first feature for the company and it’s the remake/reboot of the classic “A Nightmare on Elm Street”.

If you’re a fan of Freddy Krueger and have been awaiting his return to movie theaters, after the jump you can watch Samuel Bayer talk about what you can expect from his movie, what he showed the Comic-Con audience, what making his first feature has been like, and a lot more. It’s a great interview so take a look:

As of Sunday the estimates for Michael Bay’s “Transformers” sequel put the film at over $201 million - just shy of the all-time five day box office record.  By Monday afternoon, however, it appeared that Paramount Pictures had been a bit over zealous in reporting their weekend estimates (they’re called estimates for a reason).  The actual weekend numbers for “Transformers 2″ came in at $198.2 million - three million under what had been reported.  But here is where it gets really complicated - Paramount also apparently UNDER reported its grosses for Wednesday and Thursday.  In the end the domestic five day total for “Tf2″ stood at about $200 million so it all evened out - pretty much.  Now on to better news for you robot lovers - Monday’s $14.8 million estimate, when added to the film’s international box office haul of $204 million brings “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” above $418 million total!!  Those fabled first five days have also given the film the biggest June debut of all time as well as the highest grossing non-holiday, non-Friday opening and the seventh biggest debut weekend overall.  I know this is getting kind of confusing so I have included an updated chart to help make sense of all the crazy:

In case you’ve been in a coma for the past week, the news has been all about director Michael Bay and his sequel to “Transformers”… oh yeah, and a couple of people died.  The unexpected loss of Michael Jackson may have slowed “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” down on Thursday (Bay will have to blame that one-day drop of 53% on something) but Friday saw the film rebound with $36.7 million.  That was good enough to snag the biggest non-opening Friday title and give the suits over at Paramount some hope that a strong weekend would propel the film past $200 million in its first five days - which is exactly how things went down.  Saturday’s $40.6 million clinched an estimated weekend total of $112 million.  That, plus the $89.2 million the film earned in its first two days, pushed “Transformers 2″ over $201 million as of Sunday - achingly close to the $203.7 million five-day record of “The Dark Knight”. More after the jump:

While I already posted parts of my exclusive Megan Fox interview during the week (where she talked about the kid trying to hand her a flower and how she’d like to walk around Comic-Con as Slave Leia) it’s time for the last part and it’s just as good.

In the video interview you can see Megan Fox sing Simon Pegg’s name and she also talks about what director Michael Bay made her do when she had to try on her costumes for “Transformers Revenge of the Fallen”. Trust me, it’s a crazy story and you’ll either hate Michael Bay more, or have tons of new found respect. It could go either way.

But before getting to the interview, two things. First, a big thank you to Simon Pegg for giving me the first question asked in this interview. Not only did I get Megan Fox to sing on camera, but I’m sure it helped with all my other questions. Also, a big thank you to my partners at Omelete for letting me cover the junket for them.

Take a look at what Megan said after the jump:

We all knew Michael Bay’s “Giant F*ucking Robots” movie was going to open big, I don’t think too many people expected a 60 million dollar opening day. While reviews on TF2 are mixed, this thing is going to break 200 million by Sunday night. Wow. Say what you want about Michael Bay, he can definitely open a movie.

Anyway, here in Los Angeles we have the best movie theater I’ve ever been to. It’s called the Arclight and it’s in Hollywood. While they’ve done plenty of midnight shows for every major Hollywood release, “Transformers Revenge of the Fallen” is the first time in its history that the midnight show sold out all 15 screens. I don’t know when this photo is going to be repeated.

Click on the picture to see a clearer image.

Shia LaBeouf and I have some history. That’s because back when he was promoting “Surf’s Up” in Hawaii, I surprised him with an “Indiana Jones” question on a red carpet and his reaction was priceless. Here’s the interview. Since then, he’s always remembered me and been extremely friendly. He’s never acted like the movie star he is.

So when I walked into the interview room to speak with him about “Transformers Revenge of the Fallen” as a reporter for our partners at Omelete, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would he remember me? Would he tell his publicists to escort me out? Or would he be the same Shia that is willing to talk about anything.

Thankfully, it was the Shia that I’ve always encountered and he greeted me like a friend. Before the cameras rolled we talked briefly about his hand (he said it’s doing well) and caught up a bit. I then told him I had a few surprises to ask him and he said he not only expected them, but was ready for whatever I could ask.

What he didn’t know is…I’m friends with someone he grew up with, and the first two questions came from our mutual friend Bo Barrett. Once again I surprised Shia and his reaction is great. Same with his answers.

So after the jump watch Shia talk about his childhood, Michael Bay, traveling the world to promote the movie, and “Y: The Last Man”.