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The countdown has been on for a few weeks now, just wondering when it would come, and if estimates hold true throughout this weekend, by the time Monday rolls, around, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra will have broken 300 Million dollars internationally, an almost even 150 million domestic and 150 million International.  This comes at the same time as Entertainment News International reports that The Rise of Cobra also hit the Top Ten list for summer films.  For a film released at the tail end of the summer blockbuster season, I think this is a great sign and absolutely a successful indication in Paramount’s eyes.

Look…in spite of what the 25 – 30 year old fanbase will tell you, G.I. Joe has never been purely about gritty military drama.  It’s never been about hardcore special ops soldiers in realistic military uniforms fighting terrorists down and dirty.  Sure, it’s had those elements, but the core of G.I. Joe has always been the science fiction and fantasy elements of the story, and what made Larry Hama so special was his ability to seamlessly work that new age technology into a more real world story and make it work.

Rise of Cobra had the military action, it had the next gen realistic weaponry, and it also had super-futuristic technology and fantasy elements, just as G.I. Joe has had since it’s inception.

I would never say the film is perfect, it had it’s healthy share of faults (just as Resolute did, I might add…) but it was entertaining as hell, and like it or not, the movie has done more for G.I. Joe’s public “street cred” than anything else since the 90’s.  Fans of all era’s and all ages should be appreciative that at least the G.I. Joe brand is once again in the public consciousness.  I know it’s easy to slam the film, but before doing that, just try and remember a time when you could find 10 – 12 feet of G.I. Joe product in your local store shelves, I can guarantee you haven’t seen it in the past 20 years, not even when the 25th Anniversary line was in its hey day.

There are plenty of things that I would change about the film if given the chance, and I hope the inevitable sequel gets a chance to improve on the mistakes of the first film, but from a pure brand-awareness perspective, I have a hard time getting mad about anything the movie did or didn’t do.  For all of its faults, it’s put the words “G.I. Joe” on the lips and tongue of the American public again after being forgotten for a long time, and that can never be a bad thing.