There has been considerable gossip racing around the net of late concerning the next G.I. Joe movie, with only some of the big questions answered recently. The main dilemma was who would be helming the next installment after the studio had made clear that they were pretty much set on finding a new director. The other burning question was which of the original cast would be returning for the sequel, as well as budgetary concerns and the penning of the script.
While G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was quite an enjoyable action flick, critics were less than impressed and die-hard fans were up in arms over changes to the characters and the like. The original director Stephen Sommers, achieved some cool results with the cartoon characters but at a hefty price tag of $175 million, and for this and other reasons the studio was looking for a change of direction in the sequel.
It was recently announced that Jon Chu had landed the top job, beating out filmmakers Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown) and F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job). Chu made the Justin Bieber music feature ‘Never Say Never’ which did well at the box-office and cost a meager $13 million to make. While his resume doesn’t include action flicks, he’s had some experience shooting in 3d and would’ve likely jumped at the chance to make a mainstream studio flick. Here’s what he said about directing the next movie:
[G.I.] Joe, to me, is iconic… So you can’t treat Joe like its just another action movie. You can’t treat Joe as just another petty commercial movie. Joe has history. Joe has always been a part of what America is, and now the world. What it means to be a leader and a hero. For me, it is about the fun stuff like Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes, and all the gadgets. All of that stuff. But it has heart.
As for the cast, Channing Tatum looks set to return however there looks to be a casting shake-up that will likely change the set up for the sequel.
The update comes from actress Rachel Nichols, who portrayed Scarlett in ‘G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra’, and recently tweeted that she wouldn’t be amongst the returning cast:
Nichols followed the tweet with a statement:
Thank you. After the GI JOE news I had Heavy Boots, but I’m smiling now!
That means only Channing Tatum, Lee Byun-hun, and Ray Park will be returning for the new movie with Sienna Miller, Marlon Wayans and Dennis Quaid all unlikely to return – including Brendan Fraser. Joseph Gordon-Levitt who’s villainous Cobra Commander was hellbent on revenge, would most likely be busy on the Batman follow-up.
The new script is being written by ‘Zombieland’ scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick so expect a different take on the story which is being fashioned as a semi-reboot.
The studio is aiming to keep the budget down on this flick and with a new director plus casting changes and a new story to boot, they should achieve this goal.
Paramount has since announced that the next G.I. Joe movie will open August 10th, 2012.
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