According to the Washington Post, comingsoon.net, and the Transformers fansite seibertron.net, the next film in Michael Bay's blockbuster series has begun shooting in the nation's capitol. However, things have not gone smoothly according to the Washington Post:

Plans are underway for portions of the third segment in the blockbuster Transformers series to be filmed in D.C. this September, a chance for the city and its businesses to reap spending on hotel rooms, meals, equipment rentals, taxi rides and temporary jobs from a production budget some have estimated to total more than $200 million.

A dispute with the Park Service, however, over where and what the film crew will be allowed to shoot has producers from Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks scaling back their plans for the city. The companies had planned a colossal number of filming days -- about 14 -- in addition to an expected month or more of time in D.C. for other production needs. Now the period of "principal photography" might be whittled down to less than a week, despite the project having director Michael Bay and producer Steven Spielberg at the helm.

Paramount spokeswoman Gabriela Gutentag said with negotiations ongoing, she did not know how many days the company would end up filming in D.C. "We've gone from two weeks to 10 days to three days to seven days; I don't really know," she said.


Bill Line, Park Service spokesman, said the producers "have asked to do some things that simply are not done on the National Mall," among them staging a "car race" along the Mall's gravel paths and flooding it with artificial light in order to shoot at night.

Kathy Hollinger, director of the D.C. Office of Motion Picture and Television Development, acknowledged that the plans amounted to "a lot more than D.C. has ever been accustomed to in terms of scale and impact," including, for instance, simulated explosions and pyrotechnics at locations along Pennsylvania and Independence avenues.

In addition to this, Seibertron.net has gotten its hands on some images of the vehicles to be used in next summer's action film. These new models include a new take on Iron Hide, Optimus Pride, a Predator Drone, and Ratchet (Pictured Above).