“G.I. Joe 2” Pushed To March 2013, And Here’s Why


In the past few days, Paramount slowly leaked word that their release of G.I. Joe: Retaliation would be pushed to March of 2013. Flicks change release dates all the time, but usually months out, before any major promotion has taken place. GI2 has billboards and ads running on TV. There are toys on store shelves. Paramount even spent millions on a SuperBowl ad. This move will cost them a huge chunk of change, and many have speculated why the decision was made.

The official word from Paramount is that the film is being retrofitted for 3D and needs more time. But that’s hogwash. Any plans for 3D need to be made months in advance. No studio worth their salt would fumble the ball this harshly. Some suggest that the poor performance of Battleship, another Hasbro property, affected the decision. Others suggested that the rumors of disastrous test screenings were in fact true and Paramount was embarrassed by the film.

Deadline, the source that first broke the story that Paramount was moving GI2 in the first place, has gotten word that the film will indeed be converted into 3D and heavily reshot. Here are the reasons straight from a contact at Paramount:




So now it seems like Duke is going to be featured much more prominently in the Joe sequel and probably brought back to life, but I have a hard time believing Paramount can recover from a move like this. They’re basically reshooting and rewriting the entire movie on the fly, and then they’ll have to re-market the film so it gets a respectable opening next March. This mid-budget sequel just got three times as expensive for them, and they’ve torpedoed director John Chu’s career in the process. Chu is reportedly not handling any of the reshoots.

I was pretty excited for GI2 just a few weeks ago. Now I feel like the film will never be the crazy and silly action flick we all wanted it to be.

We’ll keep you updated as the story develops.