Michael Bay Career Retrospective

'Michael Bay began his career making commercials and music videos. Today he is also a producer and entrepreneur, but is still primarily known as a director – one whose films have made billions. Here is his impressive body of work.

Bay's debut was a relatively low-budget cop movie headlined by TV comedians Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. A sleeper hit, 'Bad Boys' marked the beginning of the director's association with über-producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

Bruckheimer (and partner Don Simpson, now deceased) enjoyed so much success with 'Bad Boys' that it was a no-brainer to hire Bay for this Alcatraz-set thriller starring Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris.

This sci-fi actioner was one of 1998's two summer blockbusters about celestial objects smashing into Earth; the other was Mimi Leder's 'Deep Impact.' Bay's all-star entry wound up the box office champ.

Though his movies made barrels of money, Bay was often criticized for making films of little substance. His response: an ambitious World War II epic that, unfortunately, didn't sway many critics' opinions of the director.

'Pearl Harbor' was yet another commercial hit, and Michael Bay got yet another drubbing from film snobs. Small wonder he followed up his serious war drama with a pure popcorn movie – a sequel to the comedy that put him on the map.

Few people knew what to make of this sci-fi thriller starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson as clones on the run. 'The Island' was a major flop – a first for a director so accustomed to hitting home runs.

A movie based on 1980s toys featuring little-known actors Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox seemed an unlikely hit. Surprise: 'Transformers' was enormous, and Michael Bay's name would soon be synonymous with the franchise.

After the huge success of the first 'Transformers,' there was no question that a sequel would be made, and that Bay was the one to make it. Smart move: 'Revenge of the Fallen' earned even more box office coin than its predecessor.

A Transformers movie without Megan Fox? No one seemed to mind – as long as Michael Bay was at the helm, audiences knew they were in good hands. 'Dark of the Moon' made over a billion dollars worldwide.

Bay took a break from robot extravaganzas with this modestly budgeted dark comedy about a trio of greedy bodybuilders (Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie) who become the world's worst kidnappers.

The robots in disguise are back, and so is Michael Bay – with an all-new cast of humans, including Wahlberg. Whether Bay's next outing will be another 'Transformers' sequel or a 'Pain & Gain'-sized comedy, only time will tell.