Bay speaks on Transformers 4

Michael Bay has revealed why he decided to return to the 'Transformers' franchise to direct the fourth film in the series.

It was thought that the director was set to duck out of a fourth film, but he says that he was drawn back in fearing that another director might 'screw it up'.

[Related story: Transformers 4 to feature all new robots]

“I thought I was done. Then the ride came out [at Universal Studios Hollywood] and the two-and-a-half-hour lines. And then you’re thinking, 'Oh my God, someone’s going to take this over'. And you start doing a lot of soul-searching,” he told the Huffington Post.

“The studio says they want to restart the franchise. And someone could come in here and screw it up, you know? So I’m thinking that if I do this last one, we set it on a new footing, we change a lot of things - but we keep the history of the three in place. But we broaden it so it can be set up and be carried on - it would have a better chance for survival, I guess. You know?”

“So it was just one of those things. It’s like, when you look what’s going on in the film business with the franchise frenzy right now, why is Cameron doing two more 'Avatar' movies? Why is Peter Jackson doing three more 'Hobbit' movies that are in the same world as 'Lord of the Rings'? When you have a franchise, it’s very hard to give it up.”

The next film in the series is thought to be introducing a whole new human and robot cast, may include off-planet sections and, according to reports, will be more serious than the previous installments.

It was also recently reported that Hasbro, makers of the Transformer toys, was unhappy with sales following the last film, and is hoping a new cast of robots will sell more action figures.