Even though Paramount only officially announced the DVD/Blu-Ray release yesterday, already more information has become available from folks at HissTank.com.
Flint Fairborne doesn’t state where the information comes from, but he has posted an image of a Blu-Ray “One Sheet” detailing the release of G.I. Joe: Retaliation on Blu-Ray. Release date appears to be set for July 30th:
Also of note from the one sheet is that there will be over an hour of extra content on the Blu-Ray, including an Eight Part behind the scenes look at the production and “Deleted Scenes”! This is sort of a mixed blessing, in my mind. While deleted scenes are nice so we can see some of the stuff that was cut from the film, I’d much rather see a full directors’ cut, so that missing footage could also be included within the context of the film itself. Perhaps one is planned for later down the road, based on reaction to the initial release. It should be noted that this looks to be a specific pre-order solicitation from an unknown source, which also includes customized dog tags if you pre-order by June 18th.
Something tells me DVD/Blu-Ray sales for Retaliation are going to be very strong.
Also, details were revealed about a G.I. Joe: Retaliation Steelbook release available on Amazon’s German website. These Steelbook’s are not typically released as is in the United States, but according to HissTank poster Ford, Paramount Steelbook releases are region free. The cover is based on the awesome Regal Cinema’s exclusive promotional poster first revealed here on GeneralsJoes.
Check out those images below, and the pre-order link is here.
Paramount has posted the G.I. Joe: Retaliation trailer on their YouTube page, with links to the Amazon.com pre-orders for the upcoming releases. There is, as of yet, no indication of a “Directors Cut” but I think we’re all crossing our fingers on that point.
Check out the trailer again, and relive the glory of G.I. Joe: Retaliation, then hit up the Amazon links below to pre-order!
G.I. JOE: Retaliation Official Trailer
Coming Soon to Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD and Digital. Pre-Order Now!
“The greatest American Heroes are back”* and they’ve been set up to take the fall for a terrible crime they didn’t commit. Now, the G.I. Joes must once again face their mortal enemy, Cobra, as well as dangerous new threats operating within the government. When all else fails, one option remains: Retaliation. Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson) leads a new team (including Channing Tatum and Bruce Willis) on this explosive adventure that critics are calling “unlike any action movie you’ve ever seen. A thrilling ride that leaves you wanting more!”† *Julian Roman, MOVIEWEB.COM †Raquel Baldwin, Talking Pictures (ABC/CW)
Over on Comic Book Movie nailbiter111 has been digging up some great concept art, and this latest round from G.I. Joe: Retaliation is no exception. We’ve got everything from some alternate uniforms to an amazingly bad ass looking amphibious motorcycle.
A lot of the stuff here is just a little bit too science-fiction for the more “real world” vibe that Retaliation was trying to accomplish, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t largely bad ass. Some really cool looking stuff here. I’ve mirrored some of the art below, but hit up ComicBookMovie.com to see the rest. I gotta admit, I get a little swoony when I see those darker blue Cobra uniforms. That would have been pretty awesome. The art is from various sources, including Josh Nizzi, Anthony Francisco, Keith Christensen, Cenay Oekmen, and Patrick Faulwetter. Thanks to nailbiter111 for uncovering this stuff.
I’ll be honest, I read this story pretty early this morning, but just kind of discarded it, as it seemed a bit heavy-handed and not as serious as it was being made out to be, but I’ve seen a lot of folks talking about it, and I’ve been approached by a number of people, so I figure I should probably talk about it a bit.
News has hit today that screen writers David Elliot and Paul Lovett are suing Paramount over elements of their story being “stolen” and utilized in the sequel film G.I. Joe: Retaliation. They had a hand in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and laid claim that a treatment they wrote for the sequel had pieces taken from it for G.I. Joe: Retaliation without credit or money given for their services.
First word from this that I saw was from Deadline.com early this morning, and I still think the whole thing is a little ridiculous. Reading the entire complaint, these guys are claiming that their ideas for Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow being told that Zartan killed the Hard Master was stolen for the G.I. Joe sequel (perhaps they can re-route some of their $23 million dollar claim towards Larry Hama for creating that story nearly 30 years ago…). It’s somewhat of a touchy subject and in our legal society today, practically anyone can launch a lawsuit at anyone else, so there has to be some scrutiny. In my mind, this one doesn’t pass the smell test, and I don’t anticipate it will amount to much.
Check out Deadline for the full story and you can read the full complaint right here.
Take this with a grain of salt, as Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have not even been officially announced as the writers for the third G.I. Joe film, but according to IGN (who spoke to them directly) they are already filtering through ideas for G.I. Joe 3, and high on the list is bringing back The Baroness.
Personally, I can see why they’d want to revisit The Baroness, and hopefully re-orient her backstory a little bit… but it’s time for a little confession here.
I’m sick and damned tired of The Baroness.
Everywhere you look it’s The Baroness. Everyone cos-plays as her, and she seems to be every comic writers favorite. She’s littered throughout both the G.I. Joe main title and the G.I. Joe Special Missions title from IDW, and honestly, I thought the lack of Baroness in G.I. Joe 2 was refreshing. Even though I loved G.I. Joe: Renegades, there’s no doubt that she’s now nearing Snake Eyes levels of overkill to me. For whatever reason she’s become this huge focal character for the entire G.I. Joe mythology on the Cobra side, and I’m ready to shift focus to someone else.
Like… I don’t know… Destro maybe?
Regardless, it’s cool to hear that there are some plans in place for the third G.I. Joe movie, and according to IGN Dwayne Johnson has indicated he’s fully on board as well. Looking forward to the lead up once again!
Even now, in it’s fourth week of release, G.I. Joe: Retaliation continues to dominate International markets, mostly thanks to its debut in China this past week. According to The Wrap, the film generated nearly $40M in International revenue, boosted by China’s whopping $33M contribution for the debut. That amount actually puts it as the number 1 film worldwide, with Oblivion coming in a close second.
Over on the domestic side, G.I. Joe: Retaliation has now topped $111M, with a combined International and American total of $322M. This has catapulted the sequel past the original G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and considering the budget was significantly less, this is obviously good news, especially considering Japan hasn’t even opened yet.
Check Box Office Mojo for the latest numbers. Great news continues to emerge for the G.I. Joe film franchise, let’s hope it’s not too little too late for toys at retail. Thanks to SkotAlderman on Twitter for the heads up.
Holy crap when did this go up? Either I wasn’t paying attention the past few days, or I forgot entirely, but apparently Special Edition #30 of What’s on Joe Mind has been posted! We recorded this episode straight from the JoeCon sales floor, bringing in a few of our favorite people for on-the-spot interviews, and even got cameos by some show regulars! What the heck was Chuck’s mom even DOING there?!
Check out the latest Special Edition on our Podbean page, or through the embedded players below.
So were our trio drunk or not for Special Edition #29…or did they lead you to think that? Well if you think that is controversial, wait until you hear this report, “LIVE” from the sales floor. Join Mike, Justin and Gary as they record directly out of the COIL Club’s booth, which is dead center of the sales floor. The guys will report on what has happened thus far to this point in the show and interview friends and listeners as they stroll by. You will also recognize two of the personalities we talk to as regular show “contributors”. Who could they be? You have to listen and find out. No beers were consumed during this recording, but if you hate the consumption of donuts, you may want to skip this one. Enjoy!!
I know the rumbling through the online community has been somewhat negative in light of Hasbro’s lack of new product to be shown at the 2013 G.I. Joe Convention in Indianapolis this past weekend. In fact, not only were people bothered by a lack of new product, when Hasbro showed some more concept items, some fans got visibly upset, thinking that this was just a “tease” for items that would likely not be offered.
Let me once again put on my “Hasbro Apologist” hat and tell everyone… don’t be so quick to be discouraged. I think there are some simple explanations for why Hasbro presence was down this year, and I think there are some reasons to be looking forward to the year ahead for G.I. Joe fans. Click the Read the Rest of the Story link below for more.
A short while ago, thanks to skinny, GeneralsJoes broke the news of G.I. Joe: Retaliation trading cards being quietly released through Enterplay. Even though the prices seemed a bit stiff, I ordered a few, and discovered that the pricing wasn’t nearly as bad as I had feared.
The list price for the Party Pack on the EnterPlay website, actually does mean “6 3-Packs”, which is a count of 18 cards. I ordered a few and they arrived while I was in Indianapolis. I cracked them open last night, and was pretty pleasantly surprised. I’m not a huge trading card collector, but as someone who had his fair share as a kid, opening these packs brought back some very fun old school memories. Each pack comes with three cards and a sheet of temporary tattoos, and even the tattoos themselves have some neat design aesthetics.
According to EnterPlay there are a total of 48 cards. These include 39 cards of various scenes and characters throughout the film, and then 9 “character cards” which each have a segment of a movie poster on the back. I didn’t get a complete collection with my purchase (which ended up being 3 “Party Packs” giving me 54 cards in total) but I was able to score a majority of the cards to complete the collection. At $5.94 for 18 cards, it wasn’t all that cost-prohibitive either.
For you trading card collectors, or folks just looking to jog some old card collecting memories, I highly recommend picking up some of them from EnterPlay. You even get some cool shots of obscure characters (like Clutch and Agent Mouse) and some more details behind some scenes that were cut from the final film (like the bar scene). Check out my gallery of cards below, or if you want to buy some of the cards, hit up Enter-Play.com.
Then, once you get a bunch, let me know if you want to trade! I need some, but I’m not sure I’m ready to make another $30 purchase. :)
A few more articles came through the Internet while I was in Indianapolis, and thanks to Twitziller for pointing them out.
On Flickering Myth, they take a massive and extremely in depth look at many of the effects used throughout the G.I. Joe: Retaliation film. This is a huge article but has some really cool information about the film and what was required to get some of these visual effects implemented.
On the Art of VFX site, they speak with Bill George who was the VFX Supervisor from Industrial Light and Magic. They look mostly at the mountain battle sequence and London’s destruction, but there is some other insight throughout the article as well.
