It’s been six years since The Rock, Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum teamed up to fight Cobra in the last “G.I. Joe” film, “Retaliation” for Paramount Pictures, and if you’ve spent that time calmly waiting for more big-screen adaptations of the popular military action figure line, you may be in luck.
Even as “RED” and “R.I.P.D.” director Robert Schwentke prepares a spinoff featuring one of the franchise’s iconic heroes, Snake Eyes — a project currently slated to arrive in the fall of next year, and one we’ve seen little of — Paramount and Hasbro are prepping another spinoff. That’s according to The Hollywood Reporter, who say Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec are “writing a script for what is described as an ensemble piece,” one that may feature the character of Chuckles, an uncover specialist who has not yet appeared in either the 2009 or 2013 G.I. Joe movies (though the news of a new G.I. Joe series in the works was first mentioned by Full Circle).
In a time when movie franchises have been expanded to cinematic universes and audiences, perhaps more than ever, are proving that nostalgia is a huge factor in motivating them to buy a ticket at the cinema, the fact we didn’t get a third mainline G.I. Joe film to round out a potential trilogy stands out as a bit strange. While “Retaliation” didn’t fare as good as its predecessor, “The Rise of Cobra,” domestically, it still made $375.7 million internationally compared to the $302.5 million worldwide gross of the 2009 movie; both ranked in the top 22 for worldwide totals in their respective release years. But it probably goes to show Paramount was unhappy with these films nonetheless (Channing Tatum was asked to be killed off in “Retaliation,” he just didn’t like these movies, and that’s more proof).
Each film in the “G.I. Joe” franchise— including the still-in-development “Snake Eyes”— has featured a different writer or writing team, and this new still-untitled spinoff looks to be no different. The reported collaboration of Appelbaum and Nemec, however, wouldn’t be the first time the duo has collaborated on a screenplay; they were also behind both recent live-action “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” films, as well as some drafts of 2011’s “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” the most well-received “M: I” film by critics up to that point.
Even if you were lukewarm on the first two films in the franchise, it’s nonetheless enticing to imagine what creative energies power the upcoming ones in a time when other action franchises —including “John Wick,” “Mission: Impossible” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe films — have been high points for the industry as of late.