When Jon M. Chu (Step Up 2: The Streets, Step Up 3D, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never) landed the directors chair for G.I. Joe: Retaliation a couple of years ago, many fans were skeptical he could pull off a decent military based movie. Although the film has its issues, it’s leagues ahead of the first in the franchise and has raked in $365 million worldwide.

The production team still has to hire a writer and get a script cranked out. Early word is that producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura wants the next G.I.Joe installment to focus on the Ninja side. G.I. Joe 4 concept work and early production should keep chugging along even though Chu also has the new Masters of the Universe reboot on his directorial plate.

Will Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Colton (Bruce Willis), and the others be back? It’s still a little early to tell on that one, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they at least made a cameo appearance.

What do you want to see in another G.I. Joe movie? I want more Cobra, bigger secret volcano bases and crazy world killing weapons.

Via: /Film

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Many of us have some fond memories we carry with us regarding He-Man and the Master of the Universe.  Back in the 80s, we were bombarded by cartoons and toys and if you were like me at all you had an extensive collection of He-Man action figures (including the Castle Greyskull playset, bitches!).  But there hasn’t been a decent movie of the childhood franchise since way back in 1987.  Oh wait… Correction – there was never a decent He-Man movie.  But it does look like Jon Chu, director of the latest G.I. Joe flick will be trying to change all that by going on to direct a new incarnation of this property.

While chatting about his involvement with the new Masters of the Universe undertaking, Chu had a few things to say:

We’re still early but we’re deep in experimenting. This is the most fun phase for me because we get to try everything we’ve ever wanted to try in [Masters of the Universe] and then we get to throw out all the things that don’t work, which is most of it. [This allows us to know] what our tone is, where we’re going to head with it and it’s a very important phase because it shows [us] the direction we’re going to go in the future. So we’re very early, we don’t know a lot yet other than that we’re playing around and having a lot of fun.

So it looks like there’s no real news to speak of as of yet.  They’re just playing with concepts, but it does seem as if the movie is being taken seriously as far as putting it into development goes.

The new project will feature a script by Alex Litvak and Mike Finch (Predators), which doesn’t exactly scream quality.  Furthermore, Chu’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation is not getting the best reviews currently, despite the fact that it is raking in some cash.  All-in-all, I’m not too optimistic.

What do our lovely and barely-clothed Nerd Readers have to say about all this?  Do you think that this crew is worthy to tackle our childhood memories?  Or should Chu and company just retire and save everyone a whole mess of grief?

Thanks to ComicBookMovie for the heads-up.

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The long, long, wait is almost over for director Jon Chu‘s G.I.Joe: Retaliation. With just over a month to go there’s a new international trailer and television spot hitting the internet. There is plenty of action in these two pieces, and the more I’ve seen so far has wiped away any initial fears I had about Chu and his Step Up movie background.

Who didn’t have some serious doubts when that directors choice news first broke? That nagging voice in the back of my head only got stronger at the announcement of the year-long delay to convert the movie to 3D, or add more Channing Tatum if the Internet rumors were to be believed. Throw in Chu’s background in hip hop dance movies (Step Up 3D, Step Up 2, Justin Bieber:Never Say Never) and this G.I.Joe fan-boy was pretty damn nervous.

Then the trailers and clips started hitting the Internet and I slowly started to got excited; opening day at the movies kind of excited. This movie has a great cast, (Love me some Ray parks and Ray Stevenson – 13!!!! – Rome fans will know what I’m talking about.) Throw in The Rock, some Bruce Willis and some sexy ninja ladies and you’ve got some real movie magic happening.

What do you think, will this movie crush it at the box office? Those toys have been sitting on store shelves for a long time. Can this movie rekindle that toy selling spark?

G.I.Joe: Retaliation blasts its way onto theater screens March 27th and stars Dwayne Johnson, Channing Tatum, Bruce Willis, Adrianne Palicki, Walton Goggins, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Elodie Yung, RZA, Ray Stevenson, and D.J. Cotrona.

The International TV spot:

A follow-up to the 2009 release of G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA, which grossed over $300M worldwide, Paramount Pictures, MGM and Skydance Productions, in association with HASBRO and di Bonaventura Pictures, commences production on G.I. JOE: RETALIATION. In this sequel, the G.I. Joes are not only fighting their mortal enemy Cobra; they are forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize their very existence. The film stars D.J. Cotrona, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Park, Adrianne Palicki, Jonathan Pryce, RZA, Ray Stevenson, Channing Tatum with Bruce Willis and Dwayne Johnson. Directed by Jon M. Chu, and produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Brian Goldner, from a screenplay by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick based on Hasbro’s G.I. Joe(R) characters, the film is scheduled to be released on March 27, 2012.

Via: Collider

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Oi! Here we go again…

Masters of the Universe is being poked for live-action treatment… AGAIN. Sony has been trying to revive He-Man on the big screen for years, with each attempt being more miserable than the last. I’ll spare you the developmental history and simply say the last script treatment had He-Man being depicted as a lost spaceman instead of a shirtless, sword swinging, strongman. It also featured Skeletor with a metal mask instead of his trademark skull face. Suffice to say, the intentions had MOTU fans like myself cowering in fear like Cringer the tiger.

Well here we are again, with what could be the worst movie talk yet. Deadline reports that Jon Chu, the director of G.I. Joe Retaliation, is in talks to direct.

*Facepalm*

I can’t quite spew specious hate at Mr. Chu quite yet because I haven’t seen G.I. Joe Retaliation.  But, I think, Retaliation being pushed back a year for re-shoots pretty much speaks for itself. Plus, this is the same dude that did that *gag* Justin Beiber documentary Never Say Never. Oh, and he’s responsible for Step Up 2 and Step Up 3D. I mean, really, this is not the dude that should be handling MOTU.

As a fan, I won’t accept a movie that’s anything less than an EPIC, high-budgeted, stylistic, Sci-Fi, fantasy, action flick that’s dark and bleak with a modicum of humor. Something like 300 meets Lord of The Rings.

Spare me the Beiber fever, dance dance revolution director and give me  Peter Jackson, Guillermo Del Toro, or Chris “fucking” Nolan. At lease those guys would preserves the heart of the source material, take it in a new direction, and add a bit of mythos and depth.

Masters of the Universe is the story of He-Man, a prince who turns into a mythic superhero to battle the forces of evil lead by Skeletor. It’s best known as a cartoon from the 1980s and its ongoing toyline.

Source: Deadline

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The folks over at Comingsoon landed some face time with the stars and director of G.I.Joe:Retaliation and produced this interview video of their talks with: Director Jon Chu, Dwayne Johnson (Roadblock), Adrianne Palicki (Lady Jaye) and D.J. Cotrona (Flint).

There’s plenty of nice little bits about the movie and characters as well as their love of the G.I.Joe franchise and hopes of living up to G.I.Joe fan-boys expectations everywhere.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation opens nationwide on June 29.

Via: Comingsoon

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In the tepid environment of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, comes the second release in this new franchise, G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  With the new installment, director Jon Chu has taken over for Stephen Sommers, so we might be seeing something more solid than last time.  Although, with the trailers released so far, it looks like we might be in for more of the same.

The geeks over at slashfilm got the chance to interview Churecently about the new film.  In addition to chatting about how much he loved to play with his G.I. Joe action figures as a kid, he had a few things to say about G.I. Joe: Retaliation and why people should spend their ten bucks rather than wait for video.

When asked about the mediocre response to the first film:

It’s crazy, because as polarizing as that first movie was, people still went and saw it and people still went and saw it over and over and the DVD sold like crazy, so…

I mean it seems like more people like it than people will admit, which is crazy. And we are not trying to compete with that movie, we are trying to make a different movie.

About building the G.I. Joe universe:

…we really tried to bridge all of those mythologies with everything you know about Joe and put it into one.

If you loved GI JOE or if you know nothing about GI JOE and you just like a story that has ninjas and lots of things blowing up, you should give our movie a shot.

About how his movie is better than the last one:

…we wanted you to feel the power of the punch, something I was missing in the last movie, I wanted to know that these guys were really fighting. I wanted to see the scratches and patterns on patterns.

So all of those things, to me, is what we tried to build into the movie, that you actually felt the world and the action; each action piece was different from the next with different textures, different fighting style, different shooting style, and so it never felt like a repeat of an action scene and that you actually revealed stuff about each character. So the way someone retreats or the way someone steps up to plate at that moment all reveals stuff about characters…

About how he got involved in the project:

Well I mean I have a relationship with Paramount from when we did the Bieber movie.

To me the pitch was sort of the everyman’s story, the hero’s story of a boy finding technology and having his destiny sort of fulfilled.

I think my relationship withParamount, when they saw that and we would talk about other movies and we started talking about JOE and I told them how much I loved JOE and what I thought that the JOE franchise could be… What a perfect moment to redefine a brand that is along those same lines, that can help us find our way of what it means to be a hero and what it means to be a leader.

About the new-and-improved Cobra Commander:

We tell that story in the movie, so you’re going to have to see the movie to fully know how that transformation is and it was difficult to find how.

…we don’t start there. We actually see how it all sort of unfolds, but it definitely is fun. That was one of the most fun challenges to figure out. I want Cobra… I freaking follow Cobra Commander on Twitter and I love all of those things and that’s iconic. There are very few villains that are as iconic as Cobra Commander, so I wanted him to be a presence in this movie.

And about what he has next on his plate:

You know, I don’t know.

I love action now. I’m stuck in this action adventure world, which was really fun. I love designing a world. I love creating the red ninjas and Snake Eyes and designing the vehicles and all of that. To work with a team like that was just one of the best experiences of my life, so I hope I can build another world.

So, if what Chu said sold you on G.I. Joe: Retaliation, then go see it on June 21^st.  Don’t forget to let us know what you think, so we Nerdbastards know whether we should save our money or not.

And feel free to visit slashfilm to check out the entire interview.

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If it’s one thing I hate…it’s being teased. Not “Your dick’s so small, you can masturbate through the slits in a fork” kind of teasing, I mean teasing me with footage of a flick I don’t want to be dicked around with. Entertainment Tonight does it to me every-time. On top of their obnoxiously loud TV theme and fart talkin’ hosts, they are notorious for showing 10+ second previews of an exclusive trailer they’re eventually going to show you. And they’ve done it again. This time with  Jon Chu’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation. The video below is a tease of a teaser that will be shown on Monday. The full trailer will be released on Tuesday. In the 18 second clip we see our first look at some actual footage from the movie showing off Bruce Willis as Joe Colton, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Roadblock, and Adrianne Palicki  as Lady Jay. Check it out below:

The last G.I. Joe movie was a wasted opportunity. I hated it so fucking much. It’s like the makers of the movie were ashamed of embracing what G.I. Joe was. Now, in this preview I can’t judge whether or not the sequel will be any better, but I am cautiously optimistic.

On a side note: Our friends and comicbookmovie got an email tip last night from someone who claims to have worked on the G.I. Joe: Retaliation set who claims that the original Sgt. Slaughter himself (Robert Remus) will be appearing in the G.I. Joe sequel. The source claims that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson came up with the idea for a cameo for his wrestling buddy and that the films producers and director John Chu were all for it. Reportedly, the Joe’s will be on the run from Cobra at some point during the film and Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson) states he knows where they can hide out for a while, with the man who trained him to be a Joe. Enter Sgt. Slaughter and the Slaughter House.

Please, oh please let this be true. I’m a huge Sgt. Slaughter and would totally geek the fuck out if I saw him on screen.

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With the only thing for G.I. Joe fans to look forward to, at least in terms of a live-action movie, being Jon Chu’s G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation, a Joe-fan has delivered a short that proves that sometimes fans with no money, a lot of passion, and a degree of free time can do a better job than A-list talent and tens of millions of dollars.

This 20-minute short film is called Operation: Red Retrieval, and it was directed by Mark Cheng. So how grasssroots was it? Well, Red Retrieval was filmed over a period of 18-months with a Canon 7D and produced for $2500. It’s also got over 150 visual effects shots as well as some impressive camera work and action choreography. But take my word for it, hit play below and check it our for yourself.

The director’s statement about the film is below:

This is NOT the GI Joe movie you’ve all been dying to see.

This is NOT the GI Joe movie you’re dying to unsee.

This is the GI Joe movie I saw in my head more than 25 years ago. I watched the cartoons, read the comics, and collected the toys when I was a kid. Eventually I moved on from GI Joe but from that franchise came my love for war movies – Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, Band of Brothers – and my deep respect for the armed services and the men and women who serve.

Through working on this film – a process that took a year and a half – I realized the significance that GI Joe played in my childhood. Batman works alone, X-men was about strength in diversity, Transformers was pure awesome robots. But GI Joe was about a team of heroes working together, taking care of one another, never giving up, and staying until the fight was won. That’s what I saw in my head, kept in my heart, and what I’ve tried to put into this film. As adults we’ve lost some of our innocence and, tragically, some of our idealism. We know heroes don’t dodge bullets by doing cartwheels. Sometimes they get hurt, sometimes they don’t come home. But under layers of dirt, grime, and blood, the hero is still there and he still sacrifices. And it’s under those same layers of dirt and blood, that the spirit of GI Joe will always live.

The other thing I wanted to capture is that feeling from when I was 8 years old lying the floor with my action figures. I’d line up my GI Joe figures next to my Star Wars figures next to my He-Man figures and next to my Autobot Transformers. It didn’t matter that the toys were of a different scale, possessed inexplicable powers, came from different brands, or lived in different universes. The ONLY things that mattered was that Good was about to defeat Evil, and that it was going to be SOOOO AWESOMEEEE.

So in a way, this is not the GI Joe movie I saw in my head 25 years ago. The film started that way, grew up like I did, got dirty like the world around us, but finds itself once again like the inner kid we all have within us.

Source: Geek Tyrant

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Here’s something to give you hope that maybe Jon Chu‘s G.I. Joe sequel Retaliation isn’t going to look like shitty Iron Man with ninjas and leather. It’s the first day of shooting on the film, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has Tweeted this picture of himself dressed, in costume, as new Joe Roadblock.

So what do you think? Anything that involves Johnson in a movie role that doesn’t involve him acting with little kids or pretending to be a tooth fairy is fine by me.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation will be released next summer.

Source: Geek Tyrant

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The G.I. Joe cartoon from the 80′s was pretty damn ridiculous. Characters, gadgets, and set pieces were so far fetched and beyond the realm of believability, that the only reason we took them seriously is because we were 8 years old. With that said, I loved that damn cartoon, and I still do today. I did NOT however, like it’s later live-action incarnation, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. It was even more absurd than it’s source material. It was loud and dumb. A complete throwaway experience.

However, I was sorta intrigued that the script for the upcoming second installment was scribed by Zombieland masterminds Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Also cocked my head to the side like a puppy when I heard that Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, and Duke were the only three G.I. Joe characters returning to the franchise, but then for some reason the studio officially hired Justin Bieber: Never Say Never director Jon Chu to bring the G.I Joe sequel to life. Pararmount Pictures and the Hasbro Toy Company can lick that extra piece of skin on my anus for allowing this to happen.

Wait. It could be a good thing. I am being a hard on Chu for being reasponsible for Never Say Never (and Step Up 2 the Streets and Step Up 3D) but he actually has great appreciation for the franchise and seems to have more of a clue what G.I. Joe is about than the last creative team. Here’s a excerpt from recent interview

[G.I.] Joe, to me, is iconic. It is as American as Coke and the Boy Scouts. To have that kind of history in a brand is so rare these days. And that is so powerful. 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.

His attitude does sound promising, but I still have my doubts.

Anyway, for those of you who actually liked the first flick and for those who are curious on what new life Chu can bring to the franchise, Paramount Pictures has now announced that the sequel will be released on August 10th 2012

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