Fourth 'Transformers' film will be director Bay's last

For director Michael Bay, the fourth "Transfomers" film will be his last time at the helm of the billion-dollar franchise.

The fourth film will feature a new cast.

In an interview with the L.A. Times' Hero Complex about the new Transformers ride at Universal Studios, Bay said the fourth film will include some redesigns for the robots and an entirely new cast.

He added that the film will set up the franchise "for the next guy."

Bay's involvement with the upcoming fourth film was revealed in February when Lorenzo Di Bonaventura let it slip to MTV News that they were looking at a summer 2014 release date.

Bay's latest update falls in line with what Di Bonaventura said about the film featuring a new cast, although the latter said Optimus Prime and Bumblebee would be making returns.

The three "Transformers" films have grossed a collective $2.6 billion worldwide.

'Transformers 4' to hit theaters in Summer 2014

Director Michael Bay will be returning to his multi-billion dollar "Transformers" franchise with a fourth film due out in the summer of 2014.

The third film earned $1.1 billion.

That's what producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura told MTV News today (Monday), adding that the new film will feature new characters and storylines.

"He's excited," Di Bonaventura said of Bay, who directed all three "Transformers" films, which have grossed a collective $2.6 billion worldwide.

"I think the challenge there is we really are going to do a reboot," he said, but added he did not mean it in the "Spider-Man" sense in which "The Amazing Spider-Man" is throwing out everything from Sam Raimi's trilogy and started from scratch.

"It's an evolution," Di Bonaventura said. "There's still continuity that's going on and yet there's going to be a lot of new cast. It's going to be a whole new story."

Although at first he said he couldn't say for sure if anybody would be returning due to the fact that there is no story at this time, he did say that Optimus Prime and Bumblebee would be back for the fourth film.