Even though the first two installments were greeted with little more than an apathetic shrug, Paramount seem determined to turn G.I. Joe into one of their marquee franchises, despite the critical and commercial response to both The Rise of Cobra and Retaliation making it clear that audiences just aren’t all that interested.
Paramount don’t exactly have a huge amount of money-spinning brands at their disposal with nine of their twelve highest-grossing movies ever hailing from either Mission: Impossible, Shrek or Transformers, and the latter two are both currently on hiatus from our screens. Having already funnelled $305 million in production costs into G.I. Joe so far and only seen a box office return of $678 million on their investment, the studio are taking a much lower-key approach to their latest adaptation of Hasbro’s toy line.
The awkwardly-titled Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins was initially set to be released in October before being pulled as a result of the continuing Coronavirus chaos and moved to an unspecified date in 2021, although not a lot of people probably even noticed given how little buzz there is surrounding the prequel.
Star Henry Golding might have charisma for days, but the 33 year-old is still a relative rookie in Hollywood and has yet to truly prove his credentials as either a leading man or action hero. However, he seems confident enough in Snake Eyes being a success that he touted it as being the exact opposite of the cookie cutter superhero movies that flood the marketplace in a recent social media post.
https://twitter.com/henrygolding/status/1291893688671408128
You have to admire Golding’s confidence and belief in Snake Eyes, but the movie is far from a sure thing. Director Robert Schwentke’s filmography doesn’t inspire much confidence that it’ll reinvent the wheel or even offer any sort of originality, and it isn’t like there are a whole lot of people crying out for more G.I. Joe movies, either. Still, we’re cautiously optimistic about it and with any luck, it’ll prove to be a successful outing for the struggling franchise.