Two scripts are currently in 'active development', according to Variety.

One is being penned by British writer and producer Joby Harold, who penned the ill-fated King Arthur: Legend of the Sword for Guy Ritchie, the bizarre-sounding zombie heist movie Army of the Dead soon to drop from Zack Snyder, and also the forthcoming Flash movie for DC.

The other is coming from James Vanderbilt, who penned the likes of Zodiac for David Fincher, along with the first draft of Independence Day: Resurgence, The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel, and recent Adam Sandler comedy Murder Mystery.

Directors have not yet been assigned, but Deadline reports that one of the movies will be based on the 90s Transformers animated series Beast Wars.

It featured the 'Maximals' and the 'Predacons', descendent of the Autobots and Decepticons, which turn from robots into robotic animals like cheetahs, gorillas and rhinos.

The franchise has proved a vast money-spinner for Paramount, making nearly $5 billion over six movies, with Michael Bay helming all but the most recent movie, Bumblebee.

It was hoped that the Travis Knight's spin-off movie would reinvigorate the franchise, but it came in with a relatively disappointing $468 million worldwide.

Franchise fatigue could have been to blame there, however, with Knight's Spielberg-esque movie receiving vastly better reviews than any of Bay's efforts, with a 92 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.