Remember that international poster for Battleship that waddled its way online last week?  The one with Taylor Kitsch looking every bit an action hero against a background sugesting naval action and alien invasion?  If you were befuddled by the idea that Battleship will be sold around the world as a vehicle starring Tim Riggins from Friday Night Lights, then four new international character posters will lower the eyebrow that you've presumably raised.

All throughout the lead up to Transformers: Dark of the Moon's release, franchise director Michael Bay made no bones about his reluctance to return following two consecutive films about extraterrestrial robots chasing cosmic MacGuffins through nonsensical storylines.  By all indications, Dark of the Moon was to be his Hasbro swan song, but now it appears that Paramount Pictures backed up the money truck to Casa de Bay, as it's official: the studio will finance his passion project Pain & Gain, after which he'll direct Transformers 4 for a release date of June 29, 2014.

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.

This week we've had several reminders of the fact that we are indeed smack dab in the middle of awards season thanks to three batches of nominations from professional guilds.  To cap off the work week, though, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has gone ahead and released the first trailer for the 84th Annual Academy Awards.  The trailer clocks in at just about a minute, and it's an intentionally-cliche ridden mock epic that has Transformers stars Megan Fox and Josh Duhamel hunting down an elusive figure known simply as "The Host."  Along the way, the intrepid duo (a trio if you count Duhamel's mustache) encounter a couple familiar figures who help on their quest.

Let's break this down numerically.  Number of dimensions in which owners of 3D television sets will be able to watch Transformers: Dark of the Moon as of January 31, 2012: 3.  Number of discs included in the just-announced "Ultimate Edition" Blu-ray: 4.  Number of hours covered by the special features on those four discs: more than 10.  Number of discs included in "Limited Collector's Edition" Blu-ray Trilogy: 7.  Number of plaques featuring movie images and Michael Bay's autograph accompanying said 7-disc trilogy: 1.  Number of minutes spent by gluttons for punishment who insist on watching all three films in the toy-based trilogy: 448.  Number of times Casablanca could be viewed in those 448 minutes: 4.392.

"From days of long ago, from uncharted regions of the universe, comes a legend; the legend of Voltron, Defender of the Universe, a mighty robot, loved by good, feared by evil."  So began the 1984 animated series Voltron, and now, twenty seven years later, the story of five Space Explorers and the mighty robot lions they pilot has proven to be a remarkably resilient bit of popular culture, with fans across all demographics.  Those fans now have the opportunity to engage with the Space Explorers, their interstellar lions, and the mighty Voltron itself, as a new multi-platform videogame experience, Voltron: Defender of the Universe, is available on XBox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The game allows players to take specialized lions, each with their own unique weaponry and strengths, across the galaxy in order to defeat King Zarkon and other familiar villains from the series.  This journey incorporates 1-2 player offline co-operative play or 1-5 player online co-op so that fans can strategize and combine lions, wielding the blazing sword of Voltron.

Voltron: Defender of the Universe even includes cutscenes from the original animated series, featuring the original voice talent in character.  While promoting the release of the new game, three members of the cast took the time to talk to IAR about revisiting Voltron.  Michael Bell, B.J. Ward, and Neil Ross, who voiced Lance, Princess Allura, and Commander Keith, respectively, are all prolific and versatile voice actors, with well over 600 credits between them (and that's not even counting commercial work).  The three, who have lent their voices to many iconic and beloved characters, engaged in a lively, convivial discussion about the return of Voltron and their place in popular culture, as well as some of the ins and outs of being a voiceover performer in a variety of media.

A new poster and theatrical trailer for Battleship have splashed down online, following the first look at the board game movie back in July.  While that trailer focused on setting up Taylor Kitsch as the lead character and Liam Neeson as his overbearing commanding officer (and father of his would-be fiancee, played by Brooklyn Decker), this one is mostly action, as the United States Navy faces off against some alien invaders at sea.  Early on, the trailer proclaims, "From Hasbro The Company that Brought You Transformers," but it really didn't need to make the connection explicit.  The sound design and the visuals – from clickety-clackity armored aliens to military fetishization to crumbling skyscrapers – all scream Transformers, albeit without the cars that transform.  But still, the similarities are pretty striking.

Given that the three live action Transformers films grossed just about $2.7 billion globally since 2007, it is all but inevitable that Paramount Pictures will continue to pump out the exploits of the Autobots and Decepticons until the world has finally had its fill of warring extraterrestrial robots disguised as automobiles.  At which, the franchise will be rebooted to suit whatever is in vogue.  Michael Bay, that most controversial orchestrator of explosions and shots that visually caress every curve of an unnaturally beautiful woman, has long said that, after three consecutive robo-movies, Transformers: Dark of the Moon would be his very last.  While Bay's next feature definitely won't be another sequel, a new rumor suggests that he might swerve right back to Optimus Prime after that.  The man himself has chimed in, and though he's not on board yet, Bay doesn't deny that talks have taken place.

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.

So far, toy conglomerate Hasbro's most successful translation of its properties to film has been, without a doubt, the Transformers franchise, which has been hugely profitable at multiplexes and in toy aisles everywhere.  It's not terribly surprising then, that the teaser trailer for Battleship – the first of a slew of planned board game adaptations that includes Risk, Monopoloy Ouija, and Candyland – recalls the Transformers films in look and content, with gorgeous cinematography, loving shots of military hardware, lots of ridiculously good-looking actors, and big, dangerous alien ships intent on blowing stuff up.  Instead of a stammering teen as the hero, though, Battleship has Taylor Kitsch (also next year's John Carter) as a naval maverick.