Outside of the multi-billion dollar success of the Transformers franchise, feature-length adaptations of Hasbro properties have struggled to gain much traction at the box office. The two G.I. Joe movies both did unspectacular business, Battleship barely managed to turn a profit, and Jem and the Holograms couldn’t even earn back half of its tiny $5 million budget while in theaters.
In fact, their most lucrative venture outside the adventures of the Autobots and Decepticons are the two Ouija movies, but those R-rated horror films owe most of their success to Blumhouse’s business model more than their relation to the Hasbro-trademarked board game that served as the inspiration.
However, that isn’t stopping them from trying, with G.I. Joe set to undergo the reboot treatment yet again as the company tries to figure out a formula for success, with a Snake Eyes spinoff also set for release later this year. The proposed third installment is still going by the nonsensical working title G.I. Joe: Ever Vigilant, and along with the reports that the studio want Dwayne Johnson to return in an effort to capitalize on his star power, we’ve also heard that if he does come back, he wants to bring a friend with him.
According to our sources – the same ones who told us Disney was developing a live-action Hercules remake last year, and that Now You See Me 3 was in development months before it was confirmed this week – Johnson wants Ryan Reynolds on board the G.I. Joe franchise. Apparently, he enjoyed working with him on Hobbs & Shaw and Netflix’s Red Notice so much that if he decides to return for the upcoming reboot – where he’d apparently play a new version of Roadblock – he’d want the Deadpool star on board, too.
If this happens, Reynolds would likely take the role of Flint, who was portrayed by D.J. Cotrona in Retaliation, which a lot of people have already probably forgotten. Of course, Ryan Reynolds is a very busy man with a pretty packed schedule over the next couple of years, but as the biggest star in the business, Dwayne Johnson usually gets what he wants, especially when it comes to creative input on his blockbuster movies.