Not saying that there will be a third Transformers movie…I mean, what would make you assume that a gigantic, easily merchandised Michael Bay franchise would earn a third film even before the second was released? That’s crazy talk.

But if there were to be a third movie, based on the long odds, Paramount wants you to know that you’d see it on July 1, 2011. Competition for summer dates is going to build up quick, so claiming a date is just good sense.

No deals have been signed at this point. No Bay, no writer, no Shia, no Megan Fox. I assume that most of you care, at most, about two of those four factors. Breathlessly await news on this one, kids.