With nearly a gadjillion dollars banked in cinemas alone, the Transformers franchise show no signs of slowing down. Tech-auteur Michael Bay, a force of nature even in his quieter moments, is turning his thoughts to a fourth instalment that, he promises, will "start off smaller".

Speaking pre-Superbowl with Forbes magazine, Bay revealed that Transformers 4 will be set a few years after the end of the third one - presumably to give them time to rebuild Chicago. So, asked Forbes, a reboot? "No, that’s wrong," replied Bay. "We keep the Transformers the way they were, it’s just four years later. There’s a reason the Transformers are redesigned. We’re trying to broaden the franchise and give it more places to go."

He's got a new lead and fresh cast to work with, including Mark Walhberg, a man who's survived a few movie apocalyptuses in his time. "Mark is really excited about it and it’s a great redesign," Bay explained. "I said that 3 was going to be my last one. Paramount was letting me do Pain & Gain and the Transformers ride was opening at Universal and it was bittersweet to think of passing it off. I wanted to set it up on a really sure footing and to bring someone else in on that, it would have been overwhelming."

Pain And Gain is out on May 3 (here's the trailer, folks), with Transformers 4 scheduled to shoot soon afterwards for a June 27, 2014 release.