by generalsjoes | Jul 2, 2014 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 3, G.I. Joe: The Movie
Last year, shortly after the reported success of G.I. Joe: Retaliation, a third film was announced with Evan Daugherty writing and Jon Chu directing. In fact, we even heard from Chu himself a short while ago saying they were trying to polish up the script. Well, apparently “polishing” means scrapping the whole thing and starting over.
Producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura already confirmed that Chu was no longer involved with the project, and now word has emerged from Variety that writer Jonathon Lemkin is handling script duties. Lemkin has some writing credits to his name, including Red Planet, Shooter, and Lethal Weapon 4, though no single project that really leaps out at me.
With a new writer, an incoming new director, and a film reportedly focusing heavily on Dwayne Johnson’s Roadblock, the next year or so should prove interesting in G.I. Joe movie news.
by generalsjoes | Jun 21, 2014 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation, G.I. Joe: The Movie
When it was first leaked that Duke might pay the ultimate price in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, there was much speculation that this was on the request of Channing Tatum himself. His star had risen dramatically since he appeared in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and the prevailing thought was that he didn’t want to be tied down to the second film. However, throughout all the interviews leading up to the film’s debut, he seemed to debunk that thought and said that Duke’s death just made sense within the context of the story.
Many had their doubts.
Turns out those doubts were spot on, as Channing Tatum spoke with Entertainment Weekly to promote 22 Jump Street and confirmed his own distaste for doing sequels in general:
This movie comes pretty quick on the heels of the first one. Do you both avoid sequels?
Tatum:
I try not to do them. I did not want to be in the sequel for
G.I. Joe.
You die almost immediately in it.
Hill: He’s like, “just kill me in the first five minutes”.
Tatum: “Go on without me, I’m good.”
While I have my own internal commentary for an actor that would determine the fate of a childhood cartoon hero to many merely because he doesn’t want to play the role, I think Paramount could have worked around the issue themselves with some creative re-casting.
All that being said, it is interesting to see the truth finally revealed. That would confirm that a Duke resurrection for G.I. Joe 3 (at least with Tatum in the role) isn’t happening. Thanks to Andrew Hall of the G.I. Joe Discussion Group on Facebook for the heads up.
by generalsjoes | Jun 13, 2014 | Acid Rain, Boss Fight Studio, Film, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe Comics, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, G.I. Joe: The Movie, Kindle Worlds, Other Toys, Podcasts, Sunbow, Transformers, What's on Joe Mind
We are painfully aware that we’re not recording quite as often as we did in the past, but we’re trying to make every one of them count!
For Episode 94 we excitedly welcomed back two long time friends of What’s on Joe Mind, Bill Ratner (the voice of Flint) and Arune Singh (Executive Director of Television Communications, Marvel Entertainment) to have some very different discussions.
Mr. Ratner provides awesome detail about G.I. Joe history, while also breaking down his exciting new endeavor at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Meanwhile, Arune celebrates Transformers return to movie screens this summer (and the debut of the IDW comic book) with a spirited discussion about how a G.I. Joe/Transformers team up could work.
As always, check out the latest episode on Podbean, or through the embedded player below. Show notes after the jump!
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by generalsjoes | Mar 21, 2014 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 3, G.I. Joe: The Movie
So when word emerged of the new “Jem and the Holograms” film being developed by G.I. Joe: Retaliation director Jon Chu (among others), some Joe fans perked up their ears. Isn’t the third G.I. Joe film underway? What’s up with that?
Well, Chu had a conversation with good friend of GeneralsJoes Brian Truitt from USA Today, and made some startling revelations that fell under the radar a bit (until /Film picked up on them).
According to Chu, The G.I. Joe 3 script is still getting finalized, so he was able to fit Jem into his schedule. But that does beg the question, with the length of time it takes to make a film, how “little” a window of time will this be, and how far does it push back the third Joe film?
Already some fans are calling the move catastrophic and saying it’s a clear sign that there is no faith in the third Joe film. I will be taking a more measured approach myself. You can check out the Twitter conversation with Brian Truitt below, and I am reaching out to Mr. Chu myself for some hopeful clarification. I’ll pass on whatever I can get.
by generalsjoes | Jan 7, 2014 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe: The Movie
One of the biggest gaps in G.I. Joe: Retaliation in many fans’ opinions was the lack of Scarlett among the main cast of characters. I think we all know by now that the creative team was looking to “tie up” some loose ends, but among any complaints fans had about G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Rachel Nichols as Scarlett wasn’t generally among them.
Scott Neumyer spoke with Nichols on behalf of Parade Magazine about her new film Raze, but managed to sneak in some G.I. Joe questions, and as one might expect, the female star seems eager to reprise her role as the “First Lady” of G.I. Joe:
“Any chance you might be back for the third installment?
You know, that was a real heartbreak for me and I’ve always been really honest about it. They went through a regime change at Paramount between the first movie and the second movie, and you can see that with the cast and the fact that not a lot are back, but I was really heartbroken. I had a blast on that movie.”
G.I. Joe: Retaliation director Jon Chu has made many references to the Scarlett character in various interviews about the possible direction of the third film, and I think tying Nichols back into the story could make for a really great arc tying the three films together. Time will tell, but it’s exciting to see that Rachel Nichols is open to it.
Thanks to Scott Neumyer for bringing up the G.I. Joe topic. He’s a great writer, and you can check out his work on Twitter and various online outlets throughout the web.
by generalsjoes | Jan 3, 2014 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 3, G.I. Joe: The Movie
It’s still very early in the G.I. Joe 3 production schedule, but we’re already getting some traffic from Jon Chu’s camp, mostly as a result of interviews he’s doing for the latest Justin Bieber film.
This time around, he spoke with Flickering Myth about G.I. Joe 3, and reiterated that it looks like shooting will begin this coming year and that the script is still getting nailed down. He didn’t promise it would be “bigger” than G.I. Joe: Retaliation, but he admitted that he’s got a better handle on the whole G.I. Joe “world” that he is building.
The quote I liked the most was this one:
“I don’t feel like I’ve fulfilled the promise I gave, to bring everything I love about Joe to the script. I feel like we did a lot of foundational stuff. We cleared the way. We brought the movie back to life, but at the same time, there’s so much more to do, to make it even better. I learned a lot on the last one, and I want to put that into practice and make this one even better, and make it have life for many, many movies in the future, whether I’m doing them or not.”
I think it speaks to his feelings about Retaliation (which mirror some others out there) in which he spent so much time kind of explaining and cleaning up the first film that there wasn’t necessarily enough film left over for the next leap forward. Sounds like perhaps we can expect that leap this time around.
Chu also elaborates on what happened with the proposed Masters of the Universe film and why he ended up bowing out.
Check out the full interview right here. It’s a decent read, even if there’s not a whole lot of new info.
