There are a lot of outlets talking about Paramount Pictures not showing G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra to critics. They recently had a screening for a select few movie blogs, like Harry Knowles from Ain’t It cool News, who’s opinion I don’t trust these days.  He spends more time talking about how tight he is with certain celebrities, than he does talking about movies and entertainment news. Regardless, the people that got a chance to see the film have given it positive reviews, which baffles the hell out of me, because everything I have seen in the trailers has been pretty lame.

So why isn’t Paramount showing the film to the rest of the press? Obviously because they don’t want any bad reviews to surface before the movie opens. They picked the web-sites that they knew would most likely give it a positive review. Not everyone is going to give this movie a good review. Apparently this movie isn’t being targeted to the hard core film geeks in Los Angeles and New York, they are pushing the film more in the heartland of America, the majority of which are average movie goers, which is totally fine, and a smart move on their part, that’s where they are going to make all their money. Paramount chair man Ron Moore explains their stance:

“`G.I. Joe’ is a big, fun, summer event movie – one that we’ve seen audiences enjoy everywhere from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland to Phoenix, Ariz. After the chasm we experienced with `Transformers 2′ between the response of audiences and critics, we chose to forgo opening-day print and broadcast reviews as a strategy to promote `G.I. Joe.’ We want audiences to define this film.”

And the audiences will decide. At the point of release the people will twitter what they thought out it and movie blogs will post their reviews, and the thoughts of the people will spread like wild fire.  The movie will be shot down or praised opening weekend, which will decide what its final box office draw will be. If they made a good movie then awesome! If they screwed up, then too bad for them.

Paramount spent $175 million on making this movie, which is ridiculous considering how bad the special effects look from the trailer. I think they will most likely make around $300 million domestically  in the end, no matter what the reviews are.

I’m still a bit shocked that the film got good reviews. Devin from Chud said in his review:

“It’s silly. It’s a film that plays on its own terms. I don’t think reviews will kill it but I think it’ll get a more positive response than they expect. It’s a big, silly, pulpy, cartoony action film and it makes no apologies for being that way.”

So there you have it. G.I. Joe Opens up in theaters this week, and I will be catching a midnight show to see for myself what this movie turns out to be. Since the positive reviews have come out though, I’m going in with more of an open mind, which is a good thing. I’m happy there are positive reviews, it gives me hope.

Here’s a question for all of you, do you think Paramount is hiding the movie from the press because they know it sucks? That is my first instinct, but just I think they are trying out a new marketing strategy.