The G.I. JOE Movie Franchise is Getting a Fresh Start with a Revamped Look That Will Appeal to Young Audiences
It's no secret that I didn't like what Paramount Pictures did with the G.I. Joe franchise at all. I grew up on all things G.I. Joe, that franchise was my favorite thing as a kid and I still love it. Unfortunately, the studio handled the property completely wrong. I've always felt that the franchise needed a complete overhaul, and now the studio is moving forward with it. I just don't know if what they are planning will be any better than what they've already done.
During an interview with LA Times, it's explained that Paramount has big plans for rebooting the G.I. Joe franchise with "a revamped look intended to appeal to younger audiences." Simon Waters, who oversees consumer products at Hasbro Studios, said that they want to take "a more millennial approach." He explains:
"The world has changed, and I think you’re going to see G.I. Joe changing with it. There’s going to be a much more contemporary approach to the whole franchise, and that will allow us to develop different characters."
Steve Davis, Chief Content Officer at the studio, went on to say that the next run at G.I. Joe will give us a different kind of 'Joe':
"We hope to create a head snap. It’s a different kind of ‘Joe’ — one that still resonates with ‘Joe’ fans but brings in an uninitiated audience and expands the audience internationally and domestically."
If this next attempt at G.I. Joe ends up being successful, it will allow for the rest of the Hasbro cinematic universe to thrive. They will eventually incorporate characters from other popular Hasbro properties including ROM, Micronauts, Visionaries and M.A.S.K.
Look, I have no idea what to expect from this reboot. There's so much potential with the franchise, though, so many great characters to work with, so many stories to tell! I previously offered my own pitch of what the studio could do, saying:
If they were going to relaunch the franchise, I don’t think they should necessarily start out by focusing on the big hitters like Duke, Roadblock, and Snake Eyes. They will exist in the universe, but I think they just need to be more in the background running things while the focus is put on some of the other great characters who have been created as they are running missions against Cobra.
For example, you could have a several different teams that could consist of combinations of characters like Gung Ho, Shockwave, Lifeline, Wild Bill, Ace, Wet Suit, Law & Order, Quick Kick, Rock ’n Roll, Torpedo, Low-Light, Mutt & Junkyard, Tunnel Rat, Alpine, Jinx, Spirit, Dusty, Beach Head, Shipwreck, Lady Jaye, Scarlett, and Snow Job. There are a ton more I could list, but you get the idea.
Mix and match the characters across multiple films! You could do a whole movie with just Shipwreck and Beach Head as they team up to stop Cobra from deploying some kind of terrorist attack. You could have Scarlett and Lady Jaye kick some ass together in their own story. Since it would be a cinematic universe, other characters can come in and out of it whenever they are needed, just like Marvel Studios does with its films. They could make for some incredible, intense, fun, amusing, and action-packed movies! Eventually they could lead into storylines that could involve the bigger characters Duke and Snake Eyes after you win the audiences over with the smaller characters like Marvel did with Iron Man. I just think they need to hold off on those characters because they overused them in the previous films.
As a lifelong fan of the franchise I want these movies to be great, I want them to succeed! Hopefully this time around they will get it right. I have no issues with these films appealing to a younger audience, I was young when I first got hooked! I just hope that the stories they tell are solid and the characters they play with are developed properly.