In a week already chock full of G.I. Joe: Retaliation news and information, USA Today comes through with another awesome G.I. Joe onslaught!
Courtesy of USA Today resident geek Brian Truitt, and mere days before the 2012 Toy Fair, we get our first looks at upcoming G.I. Joe: Retaliation action figures. The excellent USA Today article gives us a peek at:
Roadblock
Cobra Commander
Cobra Trooper
Duke
G.I. Joe Trooper
Red Ninja
Snake Eyes
Storm Shadow
Zartan
Upon first glance, it would appear many of these figures are not necessarily movie accurate, but bring a very cool modern style with some classic elements, too. Some more insight after more digestion. Hit up USA Today to check out the entire article! Also be sure to follow Brian Truitt on Twitter to keep all up to date with the latest intel.
As the NFL playoffs ramp up towards the Super Bowl in two weeks, ESPN.com promises to be a destination website for millions of fans around the world…just in time for some well placed advertising right on ESPN’s website:
Very cool, huh? Well, the whole Joe Pa death thing isn’t so cool, but I dig the advertising blitz hitting already. Let’s hope the Super Bowl spot and some TV spots are just around the corner. Kudos to the Retaliation team for getting this marketing push going already!
Thanks to Jay from Carded Heroes for bringing this to my attention.
I’m going to start sounding like a broken record. Through this blog and the What’s on Joe Mind podcast, I’ve been pretty adamant that Channing Tatum (and thus Duke) was going to likely have a smaller role in G.I. Joe: Retaliation. With both Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Bruce Willis making a splash with the film sequel, it seemed like there would be less and less room for another headliner.
Now, he has spoken with the folks at Crave Online, and while he doesn’t come out and reveal anything specifically, he maintains that he was absent for a lot of the New Orleans shooting, and didn’t really interact with folks like Elodie Young, Johnson, or Bruce Willis. Actually, when asked about Elodie specifically, he says:
“She’s insanely beautiful in her movements, just elegant like I don’t even know. I wish I would’ve stayed to get to watch her fight though, do her scenes. She’s a very good athlete for sure.”
Which confirms my suspicions earlier that he wasn’t even in New Orleans for much of the shooting. Crave also asked him about transitioning the “lead” to some other big name stars, and his response was that he was “…very, very happy with the arrangement for sure”.
What does that say to me? Just further confirmation that Channing Tatum is definitely stepping away from the G.I. Joe motion picture franchise, and if the trailer is any indication, the character of Duke may be going with him. Definitely something to watch.
While we all agree that G.I. Joe: Retaliation is, at best, a “soft reboot” of the G.I. Joe motion picture franchise, it turns out that at least one star of the previous film seems to think that a full reboot might have been preferable. Over at HitFix, Drew McWeeny talks to Channing Tatum about the G.I. Joe: Retaliation and what his hopes are for the second film. It’s a short clip, but Tatum seems for the idea of a “full reboot”. Check out the video below.
Interesting. It’s a short video, but I think it speaks volumes. Channing Tatum wishes for a “cleaner” second film, and does not once deny what Drew McWeeny calls a “hand off” to a new cast of characters. I might be looking too much into it, but that sure sounds to me like he is moving on from the G.I. Joe franchise, and might confirm some of our questions the trailer brought up.
Interesting. Check out HitFix for the original source, and big thanks to GeneralsJoes reader Curtis for the heads up!
Thanks to Entertainment News International for pointing out via LA Times that several studios have lined up advertising for the upcoming Super Bowl, which is notorious for being the largest source of advertising for the entire year.
One of those movie studios is Paramount, and thinking among industry insiders is that the featured film will be G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
This has not yet been confirmed, but it certainly seems likely. Time will tell if any new footage will be shown, but let the countdown begin again!
Thanks again to ENewsI and the LA Times for the information.
