ROTTEN TOMATOES: Paramount Gives G.I. Joe Its Official "Yo"

Paramount Gives G.I. Joe Its Official "Yo"

Sommers' adaptation gets the green light.

by Jeff Giles | October 31, 2007

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For Stephen Sommers' live-action G.I. Joe feature, getting the green light from Paramount has been half the battle -- and now, as IGN Movies reports, the battle is half won.

According to a report posted yesterday, G.I. Joe is good to go, with a rumored budget of $170 million, and filming scheduled to begin early next year. Sommers will direct, and take a production credit along with Bob Ducsay, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, and Hasbro's Brian Goldner. Despite earlier rumors to the contrary, Sommers will be directing from Stuart Beattie's script; later rewrites by John Lee Hancock, Brian Koppelman, and David Levien were scene-specific, and left the bulk of Beattie's work intact.

Recent speculation has had Paramount rushing into G.I. Joe due to strike concerns, but -- according to IGN's sources -- Joe is gathering steam for other reasons. From the article:

The most interesting piece of information we gleaned...is that Paramount isn't rushing G.I. Joe into production because of the looming Writers Guild strike, but rather -- as our sources claim -- because the studio stands to lose the rights to the property if it doesn't shoot soon. Hasbro and their reps at the William Morris Agency control G.I. Joe so if Paramount doesn't make the film within a specific window of time they could lose out on another potentially lucrative film franchise a la Transformers.

So the studio is still rushing the movie -- just not for the reasons everyone thought. Potato, po-tah-to. Meanwhile, speaking of the studios' strike contingency plans, Variety has posted an enormous list of pictures that are good to go in the event of a writers' walkout. There's no way we're going into it here -- suffice it to say that the studios aren't worried about the writers' strike impacting their release schedules. Yet. From Variety's report:

Unlike in television, which is far more exposed, the natural cycle of making movies means studios have had ample time to prepare for a walkout, whether by writers, whose contract expires at midnight, or actors, whose contract is up next summer.

"For now, it's a television strike, not a movie strike. Everybody has done their films for 2008 and part of 2009. It would need a very long strike, six or seven months, to have an impact," said one veteran industry player.

For more on G.I. Joe and what the studios have up their sleeves for the next couple of years, click on the links below!

Source: IGN Movies
Source: Variety

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Movie:	Transformers
Celeb:	Stephen Sommers
	John Lee Hancock
	Bob Ducsay
	Stuart Beattie
	Brian Koppelman
	David Levien
	Lorenzo Di Bonaventura

(1-20 of 26 posts) | Reply

dahluzz writes:
on Oct 31 2007 06:53 AM

GO JOE! ok, sgt. slaughter (the WWF wrestler) needs to play himself in the movie. dwayne "the serious actor" johnson will get Duke, famke jannsen gets Scarlet and ving rhames as Roadblock. what are they gonna do in terms of the red and blue lasers that never hit anyone being substituted for actual bullets? I wonder if anyone except random cobra foot soldiers will die. Oh, and best character ever: Snake Eyes. I hope cobra comander turns into a giant snake like in the animated version.

(Reply to this)

dracus writes:
on Oct 31 2007 07:01 AM

The fact that Summers may also have George Clooney as the lead has already made it a credible movie. I'm hoping that G.I. Joe is a huge hit if for no other reason than to encourage a studio to finally turn Sgt. Rock into a movie.

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Astr0creep writes:
on Oct 31 2007 07:15 AM

This is the kind of material that is tailor made for Michael Bay who, with Transformers, has made the best military recruitment commercial ever.

Perhaps it was because of bad timing but after the success of Transformers I would've liked to see Bay typecasted as a 80s cartoon-based films director and I woul've given him GIJoe, followed by Thundercats.

Sommers is very "meh", at least when one looks at his works so far. The Mummy films are a pale copy of Indiana Jones movies.

But to have a true opinion on this project I will need to read some of the script though. Personnally I'd like to see a film version of the first 5 episodes miniseries of the first season of GIJoe, the series in which the third or fourth episode involves the team going underwater and having to fight giant sea snakes.

That was awesome.
;)

(Reply to this)

jacog writes:
on Oct 31 2007 07:44 AM

Heh, dracus... George Clooney was also the lead in Batman & Robin, and that was just dreadful.

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drtruebl writes:
on Oct 31 2007 07:49 AM

The problem with GI Joe is it isn't anything unique. It's essentially a military movie that is no different than any other military movie. Yes it will have Cobra and the same character names but that's the only unique characteristic about it. Transformers worked (mostly) because it had something different to offer. To me GI Joe is just another military movie cashing in on the born-in-the-80's 20 somethings.

(Reply to this)

Matanuki writes:
on Oct 31 2007 08:24 AM

You've got a lot of faith in Bay, Astrocreep. Me, I'm holding out for the Transformers sequel.

(Reply to this)

0LDB0Y writes:
on Oct 31 2007 08:29 AM

Gosh, I wish Arnold Schwarzenegger was still young...

(Reply to this)

blank blank writes:
on Oct 31 2007 08:46 AM

i know this movie is going to suck... and knowing is half the battle

(Reply to this)

cmonsteve writes:
on Oct 31 2007 08:48 AM

170 million?!? i love my action figures and the cartoon as much as the next guy, but sheesh. it seems that you could actually start your own military with that kinda scratch.

but on the movie note, i would love to see it if they went no CGI, real hardware, real explosions, stuntmen, the whole nine yards, but with the helmer of the mummy movies on board i'm not holding out hope.

(Reply to this)

Sparky123 writes:
on Oct 31 2007 09:24 AM

It's gonna blow. Gimmie a break.....G.I. Joe? Invest the money into the Halo project, so we all can see a good movie.

(Reply to this)

Bloody Mathias writes:
on Oct 31 2007 12:18 PM

I like Stephen Sommers for his original and good Mummy movie.
I hope he learned his lesson from Van Helsing, easy on the CGI!
Stuart Beattle wrote Collateral so the guy has definite skills.

But $170 million budget seems ridiculous. I know Sommers is a big budget director now but it seems stupid to invest a cent above $100 million on a dated property like GI JOE.

(Reply to this)

dracus writes:
on Oct 31 2007 12:37 PM

In reply to this comment (#1236368)
Good point jacog, but no one could have survived Batman and Robin. I was thinking along the lines of Peacemaker when I heard that Clooney has offered to play the lead in G'I. Joe (of which I'm not a fan). I just think that a successful G.I.Joe movie would pave the way for Sgt. Rock which would make for a better franchise than G.I. Joe with the renewed interest in WW II. Picture Vin Diesel as Rock.

(Reply to this)

Floor Man writes:
on Oct 31 2007 12:53 PM

"...another potentially lucrative film franchise a la Transformers."

Wow. Really? I don't foresee G.I. Joe being anywhere *near* as popular as Transformers was/is.... Makes me laugh.

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lilheclou writes:
on Oct 31 2007 01:51 PM

yessssssssssssssssssss there are going to make a g.i. joe movie

(Reply to this)

screwhead100 writes:
on Oct 31 2007 02:45 PM

I wish Arnold Schwarzenegger was still young...i agree

(Reply to this)

The Arrow writes:
on Oct 31 2007 03:19 PM

Yes finally. Hopefully they get a good cast and a decent story. Not that god awful G.I. Joe Movie plot either. God was that hard to sit through as an adult.

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Drew914 writes:
on Oct 31 2007 03:19 PM

Yo Joe!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope Serpentor is in it.

(Reply to this)

The Arrow writes:
on Oct 31 2007 03:20 PM

Yes finally. Hopefully they get a good cast and a decent story. Not that god awful G.I. Joe Movie plot either. God was that hard to sit through as an adult.

(Reply to this)

BrianInSD writes:
on Oct 31 2007 03:28 PM

Sure to be this generation's "Patton."

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taran72 writes:
on Oct 31 2007 04:26 PM

George Clooney?!?!?! HAHAHAHA!! Are these guys serious? Like Clooney will get within 500 feet of this POS. Hell, he probably won't even glance at the script without gloves on. This movie will absolutely blow chunks. While we are dreaming, let's get Denzel as RoadBlock, Jet Li as Storm Shadow, and Bruce Willis as anyone. Man the hype machine is out of it's MIND.

dahluzz - I can't believe you remember the lasers. Bravo!

(Reply to this)