Michael Bay Might Be Back For 'Transformers 4' After All

Take a grain of salt with the words of Michael Bay that you're about to read, along with the advice of the back cover of "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy": Don't panic.

With "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" clearing $500 million in its first eight days in release (despite the worst reviews yet in the trilogy), Bay sounds like he's reneging on his promise that the third film in Paramount Pictures' multi-billion-grossing franchise would be his last behind the camera.

If both he and star Shia LaBeouf exit stage-left as promised after this one like Megan Fox did (by force) after "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," it would rob the franchise of the last of the core trio of stars and director that helped build the franchise.

"This is bittersweet because this is PROBABLY the last one for me," Bay told the crowd at a recent screening. Screen Rant reports that Paramount has discussed simply rebooting the franchise, if the slam-bang director decides to leave. "Last night it opened in America and did somewhere like $50 million dollars. Now in movie speak, $50 million in one day, on a Wednesday, that's freaking awesome. So..."

Paramount has made tougher sells to Bay. After Bay waffled on shooting "Dark Of The Moon" in 3D and sounded like he might not be back at all, the studio helped facilitate some conversations between Bay and Oscar-winning director and his personal idol James Cameron while Cameron was shooting the eventual top-grossing film of all time, "Avatar," in digital 3D.

Several directions have been discussed in case Bay and others don't return. "Transformers" producer Steven Spielberg's name has been tossed about as one that might be enlisted to direct. The studio has also discussed a new direction in which Jason Statham - who is dating Fox's replacement, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley - might play an aged version of LaBeouf's protagonist, Sam Witwicky.