Posted on 08/26/2007 10:22:38 AM PDT by DogByte6RER
What Does G.I. Joe Stand For?
More details surface on the live-action film.
by Stax
August 24, 2007 - Who needs A Real American Hero? Not Paramount or Hasbro it seems. The studio's live-action feature film version of G.I. Joe will no longer revolve around a top-secret U.S. special forces team but rather an international operation.
In a follow-up to their confirmation that Stephen Sommers will direct G.I. Joe, Variety offers this new description of the team: "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."
Wow. A Real Globally Integrated Hero! Can we assume that this "double-crossing Scottish arms dealer" is Destro since he was one in the comics? And does that mean there will be no Cobra Commander in it?
So why the changes? Hasbro and Paramount execs recently spoke about the challenges of marketing a film about the U.S. military at a time when the current U.S. administration and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are at a low-point in global polls. When a studio makes a film as expensive as G.I. Joe will likely be, they want to know that as many people as possible around the world will want to see it. In other words, G.I. Joe -- "A Real American Hero" -- is a tough sell.
Although the new G.I. Joe team will be international in scope, don't expect Joe's British counterpart Action Man to be included after all. IESB.net reports, "Looks like he will be gone, this new script is set to be 100% GI Joe, it will revolve around the characters we all grew up with fighting Cobra, Destro, the Baroness and Storm Shadow. When do they expect to have this new script ready? Six to eight weeks. Pre-production is expected to start by October-November and production to start early '08."
"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 informed Variety. "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."
Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura added, "My experience with beloved properties is that characters, attitude and tone are even more important than plot. ... 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."
Either way the more I hear about this film the more likely I will skip it. (and I liked those GI Joes when I was growing up too)
Oh, well. I sold my 60’s vintage GI Joes on eBay a few years ago and made enough money to buy a used pickup truck.
The GI Joe cartoon movie where Cobra Commander turns out to be a giant snake???
(I liked that movie too)
I thought it was General Infantry.
That transformer cartoon movie gave me a headache when I was a kid, but I always liked GI Joe.
I was looking forward to this movie but after reading everything about it I am going to take a pass on it. Really at this point when even bother calling it a GI Joe movie?
Its like if they made Transformers: The movie but didnt want giant robots that turn into cars in it.
Awesome! :-)
I’d be more likely to plop down ten bucks for a ticket to see your movie than I will the castrated PC Hollywood version!! :-)
Let me be the first to suggest that this movie will be a bomb.
Hollywood is filled with morons. They won’t admit it but it is less important to make money than it is to be loved by their fellow Hollywood-morons. Case in point: The recent movie “Superman” no longer fights for “truth, justice and the American way”. The alteration of that single line, shown in the movie advertisements kept me and my family from seeing it.
Since many people around the world are not stupid, calling a movie G.I.Joe when it has nothing to do with G.I.Joe is begging for bankruptcy. People who like America won’t go since it trashes a revered childhood memory. People who don’t like America won’t go since it is named after the American military.
GI Joe is American.
What do they intend to morph him into to give hime global appeal, “Pissed Pants Pierre?”
Great video. Tell us more about how you made it. Camera used, etc.
Thanks!
***G.I. Joe was introduced by Hasbro at the American International Toy Fair in New York, February 1964. G.I. Joe was “America’s Movable Fighting Man.” This was new territory in imaginative play for boys - G.I. Joe was not a “doll” he was an “action figure.” ****
And before Hasboro started getting boys to play with dolls boys used their imaginations and had real fun outdoors. Cops & Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, Knights in armour (with trashcan lids for shields.)
Then came GI Joe and the emasculation of the American male.
Pretty cool. Kind of campy.
Naw, it’s Government Issue, or maybe General Issue. It was kind of a joke to call the troops GI. They actually were issued by their mothers. But while in the army, everything they had was issued to them by the government.
That is excellent!
PING me when the epic is completed.
Buncha weenies!
It’s supremely silly, of course. But little boys won’t give a damn and Joe will still doubtless kill lots of future backyard enemies.
The other factor to consider is that most movies make 65% - 70% of their box office OUTSIDE the U.S. now so they are afraid to make purely American themed movies. You may have noticed how production companies are starting to interject some Asian themes in alot of the blockbuster movies these days.
One noted exception (or maybe not) is Transformers, which portrayed the American military as saving the day (although the robot toys origininated in Japan)
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