Thanks to TheTransformers.net for pointing out the BBFC rating page for the Transformers 2-disc boxset. The page lists previously unannounced features, including the 10 deleted scenes which are included in the IMAX showing.

The inclusion of the features goes against previous reports from Michael Bay regarding the DVD and IMAX footage.

Thanks to Mirage for reporting on our message board, that Sci-Fi Wire has an article regarding the Transformers movie where they quote varity as reporting the that the rumoured release date of June 26th, is not an official date. What's interesting is that they report that Michael Bay has currently not signed onboard, where as previous articles on sites such as LA times reported he had

Transformers 2 Gets 2009 Date

Paramount and DreamWorks are holding the date of June 26, 2009, for Transformers 2, with Michael Bay expected to return to direct the sequel, Variety reported.

The first Transformers, starring Shia LaBeouf and based on the toy robot line, has grossed nearly $700 million worldwide, giving DreamWorks its first live-action franchise, the trade paper reported.

Steven Spielberg, who took an executive-producer credit on Transformers, was closely involved with the film, including bringing Bay aboard to direct and LaBeouf to star. He's expected to be involved in the sequel.

Bay has not yet signed a deal to helm the follow-up but is in the final stages of negotiation. With Bay's involvement, LaBeouf is expected to return as well.

LaBeouf stars alongside Harrison Ford in Spielberg's upcoming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which opens May 22, 2008.

DreamWorks and Par are hoping to at least begin production on the Transformers sequel before a possible strike, even if they have to finish after it.

The BBC has an interesting article on viewing figures in the UK. The report shows that the Simpsons out performed Transformers (which was the exact opposite of what Paramount Pictures UK had expected). You can see the original report here or read it below.

The summer weather has contributed to the season's best UK box office numbers in 40 years, according to figures.

More than 50m cinema visits were made in June to August - a 27% increase on the same period in 2006.

The wettest summer since records began in 1914 had contributed to the "sensational" figures, said the Film Distributors' Association (FDA).

The biggest attractions over the summer were the latest outings from Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean.

'Broad population'

The Simpsons big screen outing took third place, with Shrek The Third and Spider-Man 3 in fourth and fifth.

Transformers, The Bourne Ultimatum, Die Hard 4.0, Ocean's Thirteen and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer made up the bottom half of the top 10.

Foreign language films also performed well at the UK box office over the summer, with Germany's The Lives of Others, France's Tell No One and La Vie En Rose and Hindi language film Partner attracting more than one million admissions each.

A "very broad population" made visits to the cinema in the last three months, according to the FDA.

The organisation's chief executive, Mark Batey, called the summer's box office figures "sensational" and "unprecedented".

"It's thrilling that so many people have enjoyed the uniquely immersive, high quality experience of the cinema this summer," he added.

ComingSoon.net is reporting that Paramount Pictures has now set a release date of June 26, 2009 Transformers 2. We were the first Transformers fansite to pick up on the news which Nelson (Shoot for the Edit) broke concerning the June 2009 release date.

This would also tie in nicely with BotCon 2009 (if it were to stay on a similar time scale as this years event).

In an article regarding the problems between Paramount Pictures and Dreamworks founders David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg, LA Times report that both Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay have both signed up for Transformers 2 which is currently scheduled for release in the summer of 2009.

You can read the original article here, credit to Nelson from ShootForTheEdit for the original report.

Remember that our Transformers Movie IMAX competition, in association with Paramount Pictures UK, ends tonight.

You can win a pair of tickets to any Transformers IMAX showing in London (which starts from tomorrow).

You can see the full Transformers IMAX showing times and competition by clicking on the banner at the top of the page, or visiting this news story.

Chicago had a pre-screening of Transformers at it's IMAX, an event attended by Seibertron.com. They have written a nice little summary of the new sceens, which you'll find below or originally here.

First off, there was no more than TWO MINUTES of extra footage, dialouge, etc. NONE of the footage contained new CG. I will list the new scenes in order of appearance.

1. Additional footage with Sam and Miles - (Placed right before arriving at the party on the lake with Sam's friend Miles) Sam arrives at Mile's house with his brand "new" ride. Miles lives on a hill, it looks something like San Francisco. They exchange a few words before jumping in and cutting to the next scene (original scene of Miles and Sam driving up to the lake party)

2. Extended cop interrogation scene - After the 50-cent line and Sam saying "Are you on drugs??" There is about a minute more of dialouge between the cop, Sam's dad, and Sam. There is another kid in the background with a mohawk being held for some other charge. The officer tells Sam's dad he needs to see a video to "get the message". It is the old "Don't do drugs" video of the girl swinging the frying pan around the kitchen. Sam grumbles that he gets the message and they are finally out of the police station. Here is a link to the video they make him watch! It's classic, especially if you are a Robot Chicken fan! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyXFN4ocN_o

3. Extra bits in the Sector Seven Escalade after being taken from Sam's house - After asking the kids about aliens, Simmons attaches some archaic looking device with a tube and eye attachment over Sam's right eye ball. A screen he is holding has a blown up view of Sam's eye. He is using this device to determine how truthful Sam is being. He calls him a liar again and detaches the device. Mikela then says her line about him being a mall cop. Then Simmons gives the line of "Criminals are hot..." but this dialouge is extended and he makes another comment about how he would know from his line of work but not from personal experience or something. Then the ticker goes crazy and Prime stops the car.

4. Hoover Dam briefing - Before Simmons talks about NBE's to everyone outside the dam, he has some lines about Area 51. "You guys have heard of Area 51?" "yeah" "Well this is Area 50!" then continue to NBE lines.

5. Pre AllSpark and "Energizer Bunny From Hell" extended scene - The dialouge "You're about to see our crown jewel..." is extended and the footage is completely different. They are outside of the office where they view the AllSpark from. Simmons goes on some rant about how all the presidents have been in this room since Hoover, and they are going to get the opportunity that only presidents have gotten. He names each president quickly and it is quite humorous. Calls our president "W". Then they go into the room and the scene continues as normal.

6. Rhonda's Pawn Shop revealed - This is the best of all the extra footage. Lennox is pleading with the owner of a pawn shop to give him the short-wave radios Eps uses to radio the Raptors. Lennox is doing a bad job and gets frustrated at which the robust pawn shop owner pulls a gun on him. He flatters the woman and she is charmed. She gives him the radios and the scene cuts back to the regular scene of Lennox handing the radios to Epps.

7. Extended IMAX Credits - I guess this counts? There is a static scene of IMAX Credits at the end of all the other credits.

I'm not sure why, in the original report, the writer believes Starscream fired on Megatron at the end of the movie. We had been told the ending was changed, with Starscream originally flying off before Megatron was defeated.

Transformers fan / collector / dealer, The Spacebridge, has posted some stills of deleted scenes from the Transformers live action movie over at TFW2005. Paul states that though these stills do not include more robot action, that the extra scenes in the IMAX version will indeed include more scenes with the Transformers. You can see the stills here.

Don't forget that you still have time to enter our exclusive competition to win tickets to the IMAX screening of your choice (at the London screenings) here.

Below is a full list of the times which the Transformers movie is showing at the IMAX in the UK.

• Friday 21st September 2007 at 17:00, 20:00, 23:00
• Saturday 22nd September 2007 at 17:00, 20:00, 23:00
• Sunday 23rd September 2007 at 17:30, 20:30
• Monday 24th September 2007 at 17:30, 20:30
• Wednesday 26th September 2007 at 17:30, 20:30
• Thursday 27th September 2007 at 17:30, 20:30
• Friday 28th September 2007 at 17:00, 20:00, 23:00
• Saturday 29th September 2007 at 15:00, 20:00, 23:00
• Sunday 30th September 2007 at 17:30, 20:30
• Monday 1st October 2007 at 17:30, 20:30
• Tuesday 2nd October 2007 at 17:30, 20:30
• Wednesday 3rd October 2007 at 17:30, 20:30
• Thursday 4th October 2007 at 17:30, 20:30
• Friday 5th October 2007 at 17:00, 20:00
• Saturday 6th October 2007 at 17:00, 20:00
• Sunday 7th October 2007 at 17:30, 20:30
• Monday 8th October 2007 at 17:30, 20:30
• Tuesday 9th October 2007 at 17:30, 20:30
• Wednesday 10th October 2007 at 17:30, 20:30
• Thursday 11th October 2007 at 17:30, 20:30
• Friday 12th October 2007 at 17:00, 20:30
• Saturday 13th October 2007 at 17:00, 20:00
• Sunday 14th October 2007 at 17:30, 20:30
• Monday 15th October 2007 at 17:30, 20:30
• Tuesday 16th October 2007 at 17:30, 20:30
• Wednesday 17th October 2007 at 20:30

"NEW Transformers IMAX Screenings!

Tranformers the movie is hitting the bigger screen at IMAX sites in London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and Bradford. The movie will also feature brand new, exclusive footage. Contact your nearest iMAX cinema to find out more."

We shall be running a competition, in association with Paramount Pictures UK, to win tickets to an IMAX screening on the 21st September. Details are being currently being finalised, but we hope to open the competition at some point tomorrow.

Last friday, NTFA reported that The Scandinavian DVD release of the live action Transformers movie has been set as December 4th. The DVD will include Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish subtitles and is available for pre-orders already by now.

Thanks go to Nelson, admin of Michael Bay's website and forum for posting a link to the below YouTube video over on shootfortheedit.com.

In a post over on his official message board, Don Murphy comments on one of the reasons behind why there has been little news on the expected Transformers Movie 2 film and how it relates to an expected strike in May 2008.

"For those of you most anxious about TRANSFORMERS 2, the silence you hear is primarily because people are fretting about a presumed strike in June 2008. Will it happen? I don’t know- does the public care about strikes anymore in this day and age? What do rich people have to strike about anyway? I don’t have any side here ( you hear about the writers and the Producers but that actually means the STUDIOS) I just think stopping work is kind of pointless. But since no one wants to be filming IF a strike happens, everything needs to be done filming by the end of May 2008. So this is affecting the lack of news about Transformers 2 at least for now. Stay tuned."

US websites ComingSoon.net and Superhero Hype have teamed together with Paramount Pictures to give away 50 pairs of tickets to see Transformers in IMAX theatres in the United States (Similar to the competition we ran a few months ago). The grand prize winner will also receive additional Transformers Movie merchadise in the form of a Megatron toy, a hat, that Optimus Prime key chain and a BEEOTCH air freshener. To enter the competition, simply click here.

If you click on the thumbnail below you'll be taken to a larger image showing some of the Transformers Movie toys scheduled for release in 2007/2008. Included in the lineup are the Swerve and blue Ironhide toys, as well as Evac (Blackout repaint) and the Sector Seven Transforming vehciles.

Most of these toys appeared in the Hasbro panel at BotCon 2007