EXCLUSIVE: Bumblebee, the first spinoff of the Transformers franchise based on a popular character in the series, just landed as director Travis Knight, the helmer of the Oscar-nominated stop-motion animated success Kubo And The Two Strings. That film was Knight’s directing debut. Bumblebee would mark his first live-action film.

This time, Knight will be taking on a very different project, a big-budget 2018 tentpole for the studio. The screenplay, which emerged from Transformers director and Paramount’s writers room project, is from Christina Hodson. Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg are producing with Hasbro’s Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis.

Knight, the son of Nike founder Phil Knight, is also president and CEO of Laika. Based out of Portland, the animation house was founded about 11 years ago and since then has created high-quality and beautifully created features including The Boxtrolls, ParaNorman and Coraline. Along with Kubo, Boxtrolls was also nominated for an Oscar.

Knight is repped by CAA.