If you've been patiently waiting for the next entry in the G.I. Joe film series that kicked off in 2009 with The Rise of Cobra and continued in 2013 with Retaliation, then I have bad news for you. Rather than move forward with the long-dormant G.I. Joe 3, Hasbro has announced that it will be rebooting the cinematic franchise, which is big news. According to Hasbro Studios' consumer products executive Simon Waters, its studio division is aiming for a more "millennial approach" to the soldier-centric toy line that will appeal to younger viewers. He also noted:
We hope to create a head snap. It's a different kind of 'Joe' -- one that still resonates with 'Joe' fans but brings in an uninitiated audience and expands the audience internationally and domestically.
While the first two G.I. Joe movies performed decently at the box office, critically they were not well-received overall, even with talent like Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson attached. Instead of trying to salvage this series, Hasbro has decided to start over and deliver a G.I. Joe movie that will be a better fit for the current era and hopefully enjoy a similar level of popularity as the Transformers movies. Given the success this property has experienced in comics and animated shows, taking the movie plans down a different path sounds like a wise decision, provided they can get the right creative minds involved. Hasbro Studios head Stephen David added to The L.A. Times:
For right now, the primary goal is to give the G.I. Joe heroes and villains another shot at enjoying big screen fame. However, Hasbro is still eager to establish its own cinematic universe in the same vein as Marvel, DC, the MonsterVerse and Universal's Monsters, to name a few. Even with the reboot plans, G.I. Joe will still spearhead this initiative, and if everything goes according to plan, fans could see other Hasbro properties like ROM, Micronauts, Visionaries and M.A.S.K. Currently there are no plans to incorporate the Transformers into this shared world, as that series is building its own universe through the main movies, a Bumblebee spinoff and still-to-be-announced projects. Back when G.I. Joe 3 was still in development, there were discussions about having that movie center around a team-up with the robots in disguise, but that idea was scrapped.
What do you think of this G.I. Joe reboot news? Are you glad the series is getting a fresh start or would you have preferred another sequel? Let us know in the comments below.
