Screenwriting partners Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, known for Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man franchise, penned the script.
The project is acting as a prequel of sorts to the live-action Transformers movies, and will explore the origin of the heroic Megatron and the seeds of conflict between the harmony-seeking Autobots and domination-loving Decepticons.
Michael Bay directed five big-screen Transformers efforts from 2007-2017. Travis Knight helmed the ’80s-set prequel Bumblebee, which hit theaters in 2018.
For Cooley, the move positions him to be the animated version’s Bay, should the movie turn out to be a hit. In addition to winning the animated feature Oscar for Toy Story 4 earlier this year, Cooley was nominated for the original screenplay Oscar for 2015’s Inside Out.
He is repped by CAA, Grandview and Jackoway Austen.
