G.I. JOE: RETALIATION - What's the Real Reason Behind the 9 Month Delay?

Yesterday news broke that G.I. Joe: Retaliation was going to get a very long nine month delay. It was supposed to be released next month on June 29th, but now we won't get to see it until March 29th, 2013. It was initially revealed that the reason behind this was so that they could convert the film for 3D. I think the whole 3D thing is just something to cover up a bigger issue. After all, Paramount Pictures could have and should have made this decision months ago, not at the last minute. Part of the reason is reshoots.

Today we've learned from Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson that they will be doing some more shooting. Here's what he had to say via his twitter...

It will be. Designing new scenes to enhance 3D. RT: @JimmyinGA: Was looking forward to GI Joe next month. Hope the 3D is worth the wait.

So this confirms that they'll be shooting new scenes for 3D, but most of the film will still obliviously be done in post. There's also some rumors flying around out on the web that Paramount is also using the time try and get Joseph Gordon-Levitt back on board as Cobra Commander, which I think is ridiculous. The reasoning being this is that Gordon-Levitt will be a much bigger star by they time the movie comes out than he was when he made the first movie. If this is true I imagine it will only be for some voice-over work. 

There's also rumors out there saying that the movie sucks ass, which is hard for me to hear because the trailers we've seen look freakin' awesome! Someone who went to a test screening of the film told AICN that the movie is "nonsensical" and "worse than RISE OF COBRA".... yikes! That's not good. So perhaps there's even more of a reason for the reshoots than just 3D.

AICN speculates that maybe the studio "didn't realize they had a bad movie on their hands until they got it in front of audiences, which was rather late in the game. Therefore, this was their chance to pull the plug to rework and retool the movie." That makes sense, there's also rumors that they want Channing Tatum to have a bigger role in the film. Of course Paramount will never reveal what's really going on, but a nine month delay at the last minute is sure to raise suspicions. 

There's a big chance that the G.I. Joe movie we see next year will be very different than the cut they planned on releasing next month. I guess we'll never know unless you've already seen the first cut of the film. 

THR also recently posted an interview conducted in March in which director Jon Chu talks about the decision not to shoot in 3D...

THR: How was it decided not to shoot the film in 3D? 

Jon M. Chu: There was a point where we were talking about it when I first came. It seemed like a natural thing, but I told them, “I know 3D. This is what we need. If we’re going to do 3D, we’re going to do it right.” It had a certain price tag to it, and I was like, if you guys are down I'm down, but I do need more time to do it right. And they were about to do it but they cut it just a little bit short, and [I said,] “if you guys are going to cut it short there is no point. Let’s make a movie -- let’s go for it and we’ll go all out. And we shot on film, super-35, and I thought this may be one of the last times I get to shoot on film, and it was actually kind of freeing. I mean, I love 3D and I think there is a lot you can do with it, but there is something to be said about just not waiting for anything. You’re just going. We shot so much film. I mean I think we shot 1.2 million feet of film. 

This movie really didn't need to be in 3D, but it's going to happen. And it's the perfect cover for what is really going on behind the scenes. What do you think about all these rumors and speculation?