Holly Fournier

The Detroit News

Transformers will again descend upon downtown Detroit with filming scheduled Saturday and road closures all weekend, according to a Paramount Pictures letter released to area businesses.

The letter, dated July 14 and headed by a “Transformers” logo, announced filming for “an upcoming feature film in your vicinity.” Producers are working alongside the mayor’s office, Detroit police and fire to coordinate a “seamless and positive experience,” according to movie officials.

The fifth installment of the series, “Transformers: The Last Knight” is expected to film for eight weeks in Detroit, after also visiting locations including Arizona, Cuba and London.

Road closures for filming this weekend will begin 6 p.m. and last until 5 a.m. Monday, officials said. Off-limits areas are just west of Campus Martius:

■ Shelby Street from Michigan Avenue to Jefferson

■ West Fort Street from Griswold to Washington Avenue

■ West Lafayette from Griswold to Washington Avenue

The closures are scheduled to allow preparatory work Friday into Saturday, with crews working “around the clock” along Shelby, Fort and Congress, officials said in the letter.

Filming will occur during daylight hours Saturday, on Shelby and Fort streets.

Michigan Avenue, West Congress, West Larned and Jefferson will mostly remain open to traffic this weekend, officials said. There will be intermittent traffic control by police along those roadways for “brief individual takes” on Saturday.

People in the area may notice city traffic signals and street lights removed along Shelby at the intersections of Congress, Lafayette and Michigan Avenue, officials said. Several city street signs and parking signs also will be altered or removed for filming.

Saturday’s filming day will follow another late last month, when loud booms could be heard June 24 coming from the corner of West Fort and Shelby.

Passersby that day whipped out cell phones to snap photos and speculate on the plot of the movie starring Mark Wahlberg, Josh Duhamel and Sir Anthony Hopkins, as security ushered them to keep moving.

Of the production’s 850 cast and crew members, 450 will be Michigan residents, and around 700 extras will be hired, according to officials.

The movie is expected to spend $80 million in Michigan and will receive $21 million in tax incentives under an agreement made prior to the Michigan legislature’s decision to end film subsidies in July 2015, according to the Michigan Film Office.

The franchise has grossed approximately $3.7 billion worldwide and has plans to continue beyond the movie currently being filmed. “Transformers 6” and “Transformers 7” are due June 8, 2018, and June 28, 2019, respectively.

“Transformers: The Last Knight” is scheduled to hit theaters on June 23, 2017, 10 years after the first “Transformers” movie opened in 2007.

HFournier@detroitnews.com

(313) 223-4616

Twitter: @HollyPFournier