Last summer, Universal Pictures put Ouija into turnaround after having developed the project as a tentpole action-adventure that would've cost in the neighborhood of $100 million.  After several months during which development continued outside the studio to make a movie based on the Ouija board, it's now back at Universal, but it's a whole different movie, a little horror movie with a considerably more modest price tag.

Last week, Relativity Media announced big news on The Crow – which just found a new director and writer in F. Javier Gutierrez and Jesse Wigutow – and Timeless, an action-drama starring Liam Hemsworth and directed by Phillip Noyce.  Now, the distributor has kicked off a new week with big news.  Relativity is teaming up with Hasbro to create a Stretch Armstrong feature film based on the squishy elastic action figure first produced in 1976.

On Monday, Hasbro CEO and franchise executive producer Brian Goldner revealed that talks between the toymaker, Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, and Paramount Pictures were actively in discussions regarding a fourth installment in the Transformers franchise.  Then yesterday, word emerged that Paramount is considering shooting two sequels back-to-back, possibly with Jason Statham starring and with a remote possibility of Bay returning as more than a producer.  Well, the director himself has called shenanigans on these reports.  Michael Bay will not stand for inaccurate information circulating online, and the man behind Bad Boys, The Rock, and Armageddon has denied that he's in talks for any further Autobot adventures.

Just yesterday, Hasbro CEO and franchise executive producer Brian Goldner confirmed that discussions between the toymaker, Paramount Pictures, and executive producers Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg are taking place regarding a fourth film in the Transformers series.  Not terribly surprising, given that Transformers: Dark of the Moon was the most commercially successful entry in the franchise.  Goldner said he hoped to have official news early in 2012, and word from inside Paramount suggests that the news could be big for robot-action fans, as the studio is reportedly giving serious consideration to shooting Transformers 4 and Transformers 5 back-to-back as one big production.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon made more than a billion dollars globally over the summer, and given that its two predecessors raked in about a billion and a half with their grosses combined, it doesn't take an elaborate formula to conclude that the Transformers franchise will continue, and will likely do so sooner rather than later.  Hasbro, the toy company that owns the extraterrestrial robots and a plethora of other recognizable properties being developed as features, is evidently in active discussions with Paramount, Steven Spielberg, and Michael Bay to get Transformers 4 up and running.  That's according to company CEO Brian Goldner, who also provided updates on several other Hasbro movie hopefuls, including Ouija and Monopoly.

As one of the most in-demand directors on the face of Earth, Ridley Scott keeps a multitude of projects in development at all times so as to constantly keep busy and have a new film on which to work rather than languishing with a single film that's never going to get a greenlight.  He's been attached to Monopoly, a feature version of the Parker Brothers board game, for a few years now, and though he's currently in post-production on the science-fiction tale Prometheus, Monopoly has not yet lapsed into hopelessness.  In fact, a pair of new writers are now laboring away on the project, Heat Vision reports that Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski are now on board for the real estate-based adventures of a thimble, an old-timey car, and an iron.