In case you don't want to go to CNN, here's the article:
Geek-fave 'Transformers' seek film deal
Friday, June 13, 2003 Posted: 9:18 AM EDT (1318 GMT)
Features a photo of Cyclonus, one of Hasbro's Transformer robots.
We figured the technology had finally caught up to the point where we could actually show an 18-wheel truck turning into a giant robot.
-- Don Murphy, film producer
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The shape-shifting "Transformer" robots from the 1980s may soon be using 20-something nostalgia to fuel a Hollywood movie.
The Hasbro toy company has teamed with the production company Angry Films to create a live-action version of the popular cartoon series that ran from 1984 to 1987, about a group of alien robots who disguise themselves on Earth as common vehicles.
"The basic thing is that if you've been going to the comic-book festivals and seeing all that stuff, the '80s kind of came back last year in a huge way," Angry Films producer Don Murphy said.
Based on original lineup
The story of "The Transformers" centers on a war between two mechanized armies -- the heroic Autobots, led by the red tractor-trailer Optimus Prime, and the evil Decepticons, ruled by the gigantic silver gun Megatron. Seeking new sources of energy, both factions crash-land on Earth.
Although the "Transformers" toys have changed over the years -- from animal shapes to the current series of futuristic machines -- Murphy said the movie would be based on the original lineup.
The 1980s Hasbro toys, which the cartoon helped turn into a money-machine for the company, have recently been reissued by the original Japanese manufacturer, Takara Co. A recent comic book based on "The Transformers" and a DVD of the original cartoon series have also become best sellers.
Murphy and his producing partner, Tom DeSanto, whose credits include "X-Men" and "X2: X-Men United," are still in the early stages of the "Transformers" movie. The project has not yet settled at a studio and no potential release date has been set.