No matter how hard a studio or streaming service may try, there are simply some franchises that audiences are never going to be interested in, and it’s been made patently clear no less than three times that G.I. Joe is one of them.
Stephen Sommers’ The Rise of Cobra came in at an eye-watering cost of $175 million, but just about made it past $300 million at the global box office and no more. Even though there was barely a penny of profit to be made, a soft reboot was ordered nonetheless, with Jon M. Chu taking over for Retaliation.
Wisely weaponizing the presence of self-proclaimed “Franchise Viagra” Dwayne Johnson, the hybrid of soft reboot and sequel earned more money from theaters and fared marginally better among critics, even if the direct follow-up that was announced soon after never came to fruition. Instead, we got another do-over in the form of Snake Eyes, which tanked horrendously.
And yet, there are still plans afoot for a fourth G.I. Joe blockbuster, which doesn’t make a lick of sense to anyone except the people who somehow remain adamant that there’s a viable property lurking in there somewhere, regardless of the fact the brand is zero-for-three. Then again, streaming subscribers continuing to revisit the back catalogue may be what’s emboldening the Paramount higher-ups.
Per FlixPatrol, G.I. Joe: Retaliation has gone to war with Amazon customers in the United States, and it emerged victorious after cracking the Top 10. Let’s not give anyone any more ideas, because we really don’t need another one of these duds.
