G.I. Joe 3 is a Go!

Personally, I was glad that the second G.I. Joe movie - G.I. Joe: Retaliation - was successful at the box office and at the critical receptions. Most of all, because of the new direction and the new treatment of the G.I. Joe franchise which is a tremendously huge improvement over the disgustingly awful first movie. And with the success of this movie, of course, we can expect the studios to milk the cow and strike the iron while its hot; a third movie will surely be made. And indeed the wheels have begun rolling at Paramount studios as it has recently been announced that a Third G.I. Joe movie is officially greenlit.[CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO READ MORE ABOUT WHAT TO EXPECT ON THE THIRD MOVIE]


G.I. Joe: Retaliation opened to the second-biggest Easter weekend box office. Many would credit that to Dwayne Johnson's star power and his ability to re-energize dying/weak movie franchises (Fast Five, Journey 2), others would credit the awesome action sequences, while others would credit the movie for capturing the essence of the cartoons and comicbook from which the movie is based upon. It would probably be wise to hold on to Dwayne Johnson for the third movie, and take the same creative approach that Jon M. Chu did for 'Retaliation'. Many, however, were disappointed over the fate of Channing Tatum's character (Duke) in the latest movie. Many thought this was (direction-wise) a weak moment in the movie, while others were just plain Channing fans who plainly just wanted more Channing. Look on the bright side, Channning fans, maybe the third movie will find a way to revive him. But don't look to hope to much.

At the recent junket for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, here is what Lorenzo di Bonaventura has to say about what to expect in the third movie...
“We haven’t spent any time considering what the next movie is.  There are elements we’re really excited about.  I’d like to do more ninja story.  That’s really fun, and I think the mythology will support some really cool things.  You know, I was a really huge fan of the TV show Combat! as a kid, and there’s an intimacy the show had because their budget demanded it—it’s always a bunch of guys and they’re going down a ditch.  I’d like us to do some of that kind of stuff where you’re really on an intimate level.  ‘Surprising’ isn’t the right word, but ‘gratifying’ how Dwayne and Channing’s ‘home scenes’, if you would, they’re not buddy scenes but they translated that way somehow.  So they’re basic character scenes, and they’re domesticated scenes.  How well that played in the scale of what we’re trying to do.  I’d like to see more of that.”

The G.I. Joe universe is filled with an almost countless list of heroes and villains. Fan favorites like Shipwreck, Spirit, Alpine and Bazooka, Wild Bill, Doctor Mindbender, and the Dreadnoks are yet to appear. As for the ninja factor, I guess they should not have played the switch-sides card with Storm Shadow just yet, since we still would have loved him to be a villain to face off against a character like Quick-Kick.

An interview with Dwayne Johnson reaffirms the fact that the recent movie was indeed a redesigning of the foundation of the mythology, and that more characters would be introduced in the third movie...
“What we would love to do with the sequel to G.I. Joe, which will definitely happen—we set ourselves up nicely with this past G.I. Joe because we really paid attention with respected homage to the mythology.  And now that we’ve redesigned that foundation of the mythology, there are many places to go.  There are phenomenal G.I. Joe characters who we can bring to life, we’re all talking about it now, and certainly [thinking about] using the 3D platform in even better ways for the next one, so, I’m very excited about that.”