'Transformers' filming downtown this weekend, road closures

DETROIT (WJBK) - Filming for the fifth installment in the "Transformers" series has begun and it's back in th Motor City. The crew began filming earlier this week just outside of the Fisher Building in Detroit.

Filming is expected to last for eight weeks, which is the longest they'll film at any location for the movie. The crew is fresh off filming in the Arizona desert.

More than 400 Michiganders will be part of the production's cast and crew. Officials also say 700 extras will be hired.

"We're trying to hire as many local people in every capacity that we can," Maryellen Aviano told us when she was here in studio telling us more about the casting call. "[Director] Michael Bay loves Detroit and loves the iconic landmarks and the architecture."

The movie is expected to spend 80 million dollars here in Michigan and will receive 21 million dollars in tax incentives

Expect road closures for filming this weekend. We're told they will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday and last until 5 a.m. Monday.

The areas that are off limits are just west of Campus Martius.

"Transformers: The Last Knight" is scheduled to hit theaters in June of 2017, 10 years after the first "Transformers" movie premiered.