Although both movies drew highly negative reviews, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and G.I. Joe: Retaliation both pulled in over $300 million apiece for Paramount, making a third installment of the action-adventure franchise all but inevitable. We learned way back in July that Lethal Weapon 4 scribe Jonathan Lemkin had been tasked with scripting G.I. Joe 3, and that Jon M. Chu would not be returning to direct, but outside of that, it’s been radio silence on the threequel. Now, however, there are whispers around the interwebs that Paramount has singled out a replacement for Chu: Casino Royale director Martin Campbell.
According to Schmoes Know, which claims to have learned of the helmer’s possible involvement via the same shadowy but “reliable” source that (rightly) revealed that Michael B. Jordan would be in the Fantastic Four reboot, Campbell is the studio’s top choice and has just entered talks. Essentially, though Campbell hasn’t voiced a particular desire to take on the pic, Paramount and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura are offering it up to him on a silver platter.
Though the ball is entirely in Campbell’s court at this point, the very idea of the talented director, who was also behind GoldenEye, Edge of Darkness and Green Lantern, taking on G.I. Joe 3 is cause for excitement. The previous installments were directed by Stephen Sommers and Chu, but Campbell’s sensibilities are demonstrably more serious and grounded than either of those helmers, and that could be a great thing for the franchise, which has so far offered two unnecessarily silly, poorly plotted entries.
With Lemkin scribing and Campbell directing, we could be in for the most entertaining and watchable G.I. Joe film yet – aka, one that’s actually both entertaining and watchable. We’re expecting G.I. Joe 3 to arrive in 2016, so more substantial news should come on this front sometime soon.
