"G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" Pre-Release Discussion (Spoilers)

[ShadowGUN]

YO JOE!! G.I. Joe takes on Cobra on big screen in 2009!

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...&cs=1&nid=2562

Paramount Pictures has set Stephen Sommers to direct "G.I. Joe," the live-action feature based on Hasbro's line of action figures.

The studio is hiring a writer immediately, and has set a February production start for a summer 2009 release.
The accelerated production schedule began right after Sommers pitched his version of the film to Par chairman-CEO Brad Grey and production prexy Brad Weston on Wednesday evening. He was hired in the room.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura will produce with Hasbro chief operating officer Brian Goldner. Sommers and his Sommers Co. partner Bob Ducsay will also be involved as producers.
While "G.I. Joe" served several futile tours of duty as a movie property, its momentum has been helped by "Transformers," the movie transfer of another Hasbro brand. That di Bonaventura-produced film has grossed $667 million worldwide for studio partners DreamWorks and Paramount.
Hasbro's Goldner said that the mythology of G.I Joe was fleshed out during the 1980s through 155 issues of Marvel Comics, as well as an animated TV series. There are about 30 core characters, good and evil, that can be exploited in films.
"Marrying Steve's vision with 25 years of this brand mythology feels like a great way to go forward," Goldner said.
While some remember the character from its gung-ho fighting man '60s incarnation, he's evolved. G.I. Joe is now a Brussels-based outfit that stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, an international co-ed force of operatives who use hi-tech equipment to battle Cobra, an evil organization headed by a double-crossing Scottish arms dealer. The property is closer in tone to "X-Men" and James Bond than a war film.
"Our vision (for "The Mummy") was clear the time the first trailer played during the Super Bowl, and by the time this one plays a Super Bowl, you'll see the coolest characters and visuals you can imagine, and beyond-state-of-the-art equipment," Sommers said. "I wouldn't have jumped into this just because of the Hasbro-Transformers tie. Remember, 'Pirates of the Caribbean was a big hit, but 'Haunted Mansion' not so much."
Di Bonaventura said the film has some of the elements that made "Transformers" work as a film.
"My experience with beloved properties is that characters, attitude and tone are even more important than plot," di Bonaventura said. "Paramount showed a great deal of confidence in Stephen's take, and our ability as producers to get this up and running for a February start. His passion for the characters and the world convinced the studio this was something they couldn't resist."
WMA plugged its client Sommers into Hasbro, which left CAA to become a WMA client earlier this summer. Sommers haunted Hasbro's Pawtucket headquarters to steep himself in the lore. WMA is also helping Hasbro with possible movies based on such properties as the board games "Monopoly" and "Battleship."

Snakes Eyes vs Storm Shadow on big screen .
Also Monopoly and Battleship movies?? WTF??

[Blackstar]

When I first heard that Transformers was getting a live-action feature, I figured that it was only a matter of time before some Hollywood director tried to tackle G.I. Joe. I suppose Jem: the Motion Picture will be next.

[ShadowGUN]

I suppose Jem: the Motion Picture will be next.

LOL I can imagine the critics calling the Jem movie "truly outrageous".

[Moto Pete]

When I first heard that Transformers was getting a live-action feature, I figured that it was only a matter of time before some Hollywood director tried to tackle G.I. Joe. I suppose Jem: the Motion Picture will be next.

Dammit now Jem will be made


Why are losers for our genration ruinning the 80's

I can see JEM now


The boxset Garbage Pail Kids, He man, Gi joe, Transformers, Pound Puppies, My Pet Monster, Inspector Gadget and Jem all freaking Live action with a midget production of the Smurfs and Muppet Babies



ps i forgot the LIVE Garfield, Cat in the Hat and horton hears a freakin who

[Lord Dalek]

"While some remember the character from its gung-ho fighting man '60s incarnation, he's evolved. G.I. Joe is now a Brussels-based outfit that stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, an international co-ed force of operatives who use hi-tech equipment to battle Cobra, an evil organization headed by a double-crossing Scottish arms dealer. The property is closer in tone to "X-Men" and James Bond than a war film."

So G.I. Joe is now A Real Belgian Hero battling against Destro NOT Cobra Commander?

Oh man this is going to suck.

[Tanooki]

So G.I. Joe is now A Real Belgian Hero battling against Destro NOT Cobra Commander?

Oh man this is going to suck.

what?!? BOO!!!

one of the things i loved about gi joe was it's salute to american patriotism. if not, i guess we won't get sgt. slaughter

[Lord Dalek]

See now how I would have done it would have been like this...

In the near future, America's department of homeland security is losing its grip. The arrival of a new "domestic terrorism" combine known as Cobra Command finally causes the senate to mothball the organization up. In order to find a more effective solution, legendary Vietnam vet General "G.I" Joe Coulton (Donald Sutherland) and Clayton "Hawk" Abernathy (Bruce Willis) are tasked with creating a new top secret anti-terrorist task force to wipe Cobra off the map.

It consists of...

-Conrad "Duke" Hauser, a brilliant battle strategist and top student at West Point

-Dashiel "Flint" Faireborn, Rhodes scholar and tactician

-Shana "Scarlet" Ohara, martial arts extroardinare

-Marvin "Roadblock" Hinton, weapons specialist and master chef

and finally...

-"Snake Eyes", a troubled Gulf War vet currently living in solitude under a gag order

They are pitted against the diabolical hooded Cobra Commander (John Malkovich), his underlings The Baroness and Major Blood, and James McCullen Destro XXIV a brilliant experimental weapons manufacturer with criminal ties.

So do I win?

[Young Justice]

See now how I would have done it would have been like this...

In the near future, America's department of homeland security is losing its grip. The arrival of a new "domestic terrorism" combine known as Cobra Command finally causes the senate to mothball the organization up. In order to find a more effective solution, legendary Vietnam vet General "G.I" Joe Coulton (Donald Sutherland) and Clayton "Hawk" Abernathy (Bruce Willis) are tasked with creating a new top secret anti-terrorist task force to wipe Cobra off the map.

It consists of...

-Conrad "Duke" Hauser, a brilliant battle strategist and top student at West Point

-Dashiel "Flint" Faireborn, Rhodes scholar and tactician

-Shana "Scarlet" Ohara, martial arts extroardinare

-Marvin "Roadblock" Hinton, weapons specialist and master chef

and finally...

-"Snake Eyes", a troubled Gulf War vet currently living in solitude under a gag order

They are pitted against the diabolical hooded Cobra Commander (John Malkovich), his underlings The Baroness and Major Blood, and James McCullen Destro XXIV a brilliant experimental weapons manufacturer with criminal ties.

So do I win?

I have a similar idea of yours, only adding Gung-Ho and Spirit as team members. Storm-Shadow would be one of the villains.

[GWOtaku]

We'll see how it goes, but this movie is in serious danger of sucking. Transformers paid some attention to old fans, but this sure comes off as pretty indifferent to its origins. Saying its close to James Bond and X-men makes it sound like we're looking at a small cast and a lack of straight-up military combat. I mean, okay, slick and stealthy operatives were in GI Joe, but it also had open warfare and plenty of it.

And come on. GI Joe is going to be some generic international peacekeeping outfit? In Brussels? Is it THAT difficult to just make it American? Apparently it is for the politically correct suits that thought this up. Cobra led by some Scottish dealer also sounds pretty weak. Please, please make this the threatening worldwide organization its supposed to be.

I hope this thing gets refined and improved upon, because as it is this sounds pretty half-hearted. Transformers worked because of the major effort put into it and a faithfulness to what old fans expected. They better not think this will work just because Transformers worked. Transformers worked because it was GOOD, its not proof that anything you put together and name after a popular 1980's show is going to make big money.

[Undrave]

I missed the Brussel reference... where was that?

In any case, having G.I. Joe as a strictly American team would feel too... Team America.

It wouldn't work in today's world. An US lead Internationnal team battling an INTERNATIONAL threat that is not affiliated to any country would work well. I don't see the beef. Maybe they'll have a muslim Joe

And the scottish thing could simply mean Cobra Commander is gonna have a scottish accent (Sean Connery? ) and have that background to explain how he got his gear.

We'll probably see a small Joe team battling with tons of Cobra troopers.

[Young Justice]

And come on. GI Joe is going to be some generic international peacekeeping outfit? In Brussels? Is it THAT difficult to just make it American? Apparently it is for the politically correct suits that thought this up. Cobra led by some Scottish dealer also sounds pretty weak. Please, please make this the threatening worldwide organization its supposed to be.

Brussels is the city of the headquarters of NATO. From Wikipedia:

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO; French: Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord ("OTAN"); also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance, or the Western Alliance) is a military alliance, established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. With headquarters in Brussels, Belgium,[2]...

It could mean that GI Joe will have some European members, but it would be mainly an US elite force. I think it's a nice update on the characters. It would be too much of a sacrilege to have Flint as a British soldier, for instance?

[Dracula_Marth]

Dammit now Jem will be made


Why are losers for our genration ruinning the 80's

I can see JEM now


The boxset Garbage Pail Kids, He man, Gi joe, Transformers, Pound Puppies, My Pet Monster, Inspector Gadget and Jem all freaking Live action with a midget production of the Smurfs and Muppet Babies



ps i forgot the LIVE Garfield, Cat in the Hat and horton hears a freakin who

i'm not sure if you knew this, but they did make a live-action Inspector Gadget Movie. in fact, there was even a sequel. and don't forget the Pac-Man movie (that is actually being made).

[buttah]

I'm not suprised at all. I remember watching that Sigma show and things like that seem to be the new take on the franchise, things change and when it's something like this you just gotta accept it.

[Lord Dalek]

And the scottish thing could simply mean Cobra Commander is gonna have a scottish accent (Sean Connery? ) and have that background to explain how he got his gear.

Destro is Scottish, Destro is an arms manufacturer, ergo its Destro.

[Michael24]

Stephen Sommers? G.I. Joe? My favorite director? My favorite childhood cartoon? I think I've just died and gone to heaven. I just hope this one sticks, because Sommers has been switching projects regularly in the last couple of years. I guess this will push back his When Worlds Collide remake, but oh well. Just as long as I'm finally geting G.I. Joe on the big screen.

As for the changes, as much as I would like to see it be a direct adaptation of the cartoon, I'll be happy just as long as the film at least retains the spirit of the show. It already had something of an international flavor anyway with the variety of characters.

And as long as they don't cast Marky Mark as Duke (like Bonaventura hinted awhile back), I'll be happy. Somebody better get Colin Ferguson from Sci-Fi Channel's Eureka on the phone and have him clear his schedule. He looks almost just like the animated Duke.

[Tobias]

Dammit now Jem will be made


Why are losers for our genration ruinning the 80's

I can see JEM now

Well, with the success of High School Musical, Hairspray, and other musicals, I'm surprised Jem wasn't the first Hasbro film out of the gates.

Ashley Tisdale would make the perfect Pizazz. 'Fabulous' from HSM2 was like a Misfits song.

[Fifi Fanatic]

Is it too early to start counting down to the inevitable "G.I. Joe vs. Transformers" movie?

YO JOE!!!!

[Undrave]

It would be too much of a sacrilege to have Flint as a British soldier, for instance?

Or Snake Eyes be...you know, a japanese ninja.

[Storm Eagle]

i'm not sure if you knew this, but they did make a live-action Inspector Gadget Movie. in fact, there was even a sequel. and don't forget the Pac-Man movie (that is actually being made).

He also forgot (provided he even knew in the first place) that there was also a Garbage Pail Kids movie as well. The cards got resurrected in 2003, but I'm praying like hell that there won't be a second movie coming.

I was reading my latest Nintendo Power issue today, and there was a section where the creator of Pac-Man was interviewed. There was also a timeline of the history of Pac-Man. I thought maybe it would mention an upcoming movie, but it didn't. Now that you're mentioning that there'll be one though, I don't know what to think. *shakes head*

[Young Justice]

Or Snake Eyes be...you know, a japanese ninja.

I don't know if you are making a joke or not, but I think this idea could be seriously considered.