Michael Bay Takes A Permanent Vacation in Miami

You have two billion followers? That’s cute. I’ve grossed two trillion dollars. Talk to the hand.

Forgive us for being late to the party. Like many we were mesmerized by the transcendent display of athleticism of this year’s NBA finals.

Lebron James got a parade for bringing a championship to South Beach, but the king of the hardwood still trails the king of the box office.

It seems we can never run out of faces to stamp on our months. October is for Columbus, February for St. Valentine, December for a guy named Christ, and now June is for Bay. That’s right: The Miami – Dade County Commission has officially declared June, 5 Michael Bay Day in recognition of his financial and cultural contributions to the Magic City. They even gave him a fancy plaque.

Bay, one of the highest grossing directors in history, and the master of random explosions, drop-dead heroines,  and gaping plot holes, shot his first feature film here back in 1994. You may know it as Bad Boys, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. It grossed over 140 million dollars while its sequel, Bad Boys II  (also shot in the 305), generated over 270. Both films pumped more than 60 million dollars into the local economy.

The South Florida resident is currently shooting a third film, Pain and Gain, in the city. It stars Mark Wahlberg and Ed Harris and is expected to pour an extra 25 million into Miami’s economy.

Talk about gratitude! It would be really cool if we were treated to an annual holographic South Beach showdown (Tupac style) between Optimus Prime and Megatron, with state-sized asteroids crashing into Biscayne Bay as a backdrop. But we will settle for continued exposure and recognition as a premier destination for the film industry.

Thanks, Michael!