The G.I. Joe film franchise has struggled to find success at the global box office, enjoying a lukewarm reaction from critics as well as audiences when compared to the Transformers franchise, among others.
The G.I. Joe franchise was rebooted in 2021 with the release of Snake Eyes in hopes of reigniting interest. If you didn’t get to watch the movie or didn’t even know it existed then you aren’t alone. Snake Eyes had received mixed to negative reviews from critics and was a box office disaster earning only $40 million against a budget of $88 million.
Despite the box-office failures of previous G.I. Joe films, including the recent Snake Eyes, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura confirmed that the series is expected to return, either in theaters or on streaming platforms.
Despite the struggles, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura isn’t giving up on the series just yet. In an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, the producer revealed that the “Real American Hero” will be returning to theaters.
Snake Eyes was meant to reboot the series and kick off a new era of G.I. Joe films with the next movie titled Ever Vigilant. However, the movie was a box-office bomb and the status of Ever Vigilant is still unknown, many have wondered if the series is ever coming back. Hasbro and Paramount even had plans for a series centered around Lady Jane, linking to a larger world for the film series.
The plans never came to fruition as Snake Eyes struggled. It seems that Paramount is scaling back its ambitions and will be focusing on bringing back the G.I. Joe series on streaming.
“We actually developed a pilot with Amazon,” Di Bonaventura said. This was before Paramount+, just as Paramount+ was coming in. It didn’t pan out. We are in a lot of conversations about what to do with it as a film, and so I would have to say, most likely you’re going to see that come to fruition.”
He adds, “How soon is always impossible to say. For a long time, there were no active conversations. There’s a lot going on right now.”
The G.I. Joe films have been largely panned by fans of the animated series. 2009’s G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra has been the subject of much criticism from fans, critics, and even its own star. Channing Tatum starred in the movie because of contractual obligations and detested his role. Tatum went as far as begging to be killed off early in the sequel.
The sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation was also panned by critics and audiences. The addition of Dwayne Johnson helped the movie fair a bit better than the original. As for Snake Eyes, it was doomed by the poor reputation of its predecessors.
It will be a while before the next G.I. Joe movie comes out. For now, di Bonaventura is focusing on the premiere of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts which opens in theaters on June 9, 2023.
