Take this at face value, because there have been no official confirmations yet, but all indications (according to Andrew Stewart fromVariety) are that Paramount as greenlit a third G.I. Joe film after an exceptionally strong Easter weekend offering from G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
Topping most recent expectations of $100M worldwide, G.I. Joe: Retaliation actually clocked in at an impressive #132M, coming close to $52M domestically and over $80M Internationally. An early look at domestic numbers would indicate that the film wasn’t as big as The Rise of Cobra, but adding in both domestic and international, G.I. Joe: Retaliation trumped its predecessor by over $40M worldwide! According to Box Office Mojo, Rise of Cobra brought in about $91M in all markets, while Retaliation topped $130M.
Considering the first film was a highly marketed summer blockbuster, that’s nothing to frown at!
Time will tell whether G.I. Joe: Retaliation has the legs to continue pressing on over the next few weeks, but early indications are good, and it sounds like Paramount is happy as well. Like other folks out there, I found some faults with G.I. Joe: Retaliation, but if nothing else, I think it provided a great stepping stone towards a true G.I. Joe vs. Cobra conflict in a third film. I’m excited that indications are this good.
Signals have been a little bit crossed throughout the past few days with nobody entirely clear what to expect from G.I. Joe: Retaliation’s box office numbers this opening weekend.
Variety’s most recent claim is that the film will break the $100M mark worldwide over the weekend. Domestically it has already pulled in around $26M between Thursday and Friday, with most industry speculators assuming it will come close to or break $50M domestically. While that is slightly behind Rise of Cobra’s $54M take its opening weekend, adding in the worldwide numbers, Retaliation actually comes out about $10M ahead. Not bad, considering Rise of Cobra was a summer film and Retaliation is a March one.
With a budget of only $130M, you’d think breaking $100M its first weekend would bode well for the franchise, but with all of the marketing dollars, it is far too early to make any determinations.
Possibly the best news from all of this, though, is that Cinemascores from audiences seeing the movie are scoring in at an A-. That’s not bad at all.
Over the past 40 days we’ve all been thoroughly enjoying Twitziller’s “40 Reasons why G.I. Joe: Retaliation will be great”… well, G.I. Joe: Retaliation has finally opened in theaters across the world, and now Twitziller is offering GeneralsJoes readers a full sized “40 Reasons” Poster!
This massive compilation is being hosted on GeneralsJoes for free download. You can “right-click” and “save as” right here, or the smaller image below. It’s an awesome image to see all collected together.
A short while ago, a few of us on the What’s on Joe Mind podcast were fortunate enough to get Dave Tree on our show. Dave had the distinction of being able to get to a screening of G.I. Joe: Retaliation nearly two weeks before official release, and was right on the show with a terrific report about the film.
Unfortunately, the information was embargoed, so the Podcast couldn’t launch until March 27th. The special edition went live on that day thanks to the heroic efforts of Gary, but with my work and web schedule I hadn’t had a chance to post an update about it until now. This was a fantastic special edition with Dave breaking down the film piece-by-piece.
BEWARE – HEAVY SPOILERS ARE IN THIS PODCAST
Dave literally goes through the entire film and talks about events in the movie. So for folks who don’t want spoilers, you’re gonna want to avoid this one. Still some terrific insight. Check it out on Podbean, or the embedded players below.
We’re not kidding. If you listen to this and you don’t like spoilers BEFORE you see the movie, then its YOUR fault. We recorded this a few weeks ago just hours after our man in the UK, Dave Tree, got to see an advance preview of GI Joe Retaliation. While the details were fresh in his mind, he joined Justin and Gary to give his full, no holds barred report of the film. You patiently waited THREE years since Rise of Cobra AND on top of that, ANOTHER NINE MONTH delay so they can convert it to 3D. Now it is OUR time and OUR turn. Is everything better in 3D? Find out next, in this monumental and landmark special edition of WOJM! Oh, and thanks to Jon Chu for the intro!
What’s On Joe Mind and GeneralsJoes London Premiere Coverage
The fine folks from Imax have dropped me a line to let me know that they are running a very cool contest, with an even cooler prize!
Here are the details:
“We’re inviting people to use Vine (https://vine.co/), the 6-second video app, to create their own PSA video for a chance to win a G.I. Joe: Retaliation poster signed by the cast. The winner will be chosen by IMAX, and the contest ends this Sunday at midnight EDT. For inspiration, check out some of the submissions in our Gallery!
One Grand Prize winner will receive a G.I. Joe: Retaliation poster signed by the cast and a 4-pack of IMAX tickets. Two runners-up will receive a G.I. Joe hat, bag, toy and pair of IMAX tickets. Attached is an image with instructions, and you can enter via our Facebook Tab or Twitter page. “
The attached image below also outlines the requirements and the prize. Pretty awesome!
I know a lot of folks were wondering what was up with the shifting release dates, sneak previews, and other jumping around with G.I. Joe: Retaliation as we neared the Easter weekend. As for myself, I wasn’t complaining at all, as it gave me the chance to see the film a few days early!
Turns out the move might have benefited the film. Several early box office reports have started coming in, and signs are looking good for a strong opening for G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Various articles below talk about it:
Deadline reports that chances of the film hitting a $50M+ opening weekend are good while the Hollywood Reporter says that International markets should top $100M for the opening weekend. That would put G.I. Joe: Retaliation at around $150M for opening weekend numbers, which is half of what Rise of Cobra did for its entire theatrical run (both domestic and international).
Keep in mind that opening weekend generally makes up a large percentage of overall Box Office sales.
Interesting information to be sure, and numbers to keep an eye on. Thanks to Twitziller and ComicBookMovie for the info.
Has it really been 40 days? Is that even possible? I’m sure for Twitziller it feels like even more, but he’s right here on one last day to give us one last update to his 40 reasons why G.I. Joe: Retaliation will be great.
#1:
Is there any other choice? Any other choice aside from arguably one of the most impressive action stars of the past few decades? From Die Hard to Pulp Fiction, Bruce Willis has done it all. He’s been around the block, and seen plenty of action, which is why his placement as the original “G.I. Joe” Joe Colton is so absolutely perfect. Battle hardened, but with a desire to pass on his knowledge and skills, the original Joe pitches in to help the remaining members of G.I. Joe band together and overthrow the Cobra threat.
He’s not someone I would have ever expected to star in a G.I. Joe film, but now that he has, I can’t think of anyone else who would fit this role.
And that wraps up this amazing run of 40 straight days of Reasons why G.I. Joe: Retaliation will be great. By now many of you have already seen the film and likely have some first hand knowledge about how close Twitziller was to some of his assumptions. I want to thank Twitziller for putting in the elbow grease to do this on a daily basis as the Road to Retaliation nears its end. A very exciting time to be a G.I. Joe fan, and I’m extremely pleased that he allowed me to share in this project by hosting it here on GeneralsJoes.
Now if you haven’t seen G.I. Joe: Retaliation yet, stop reading this RIGHT NOW and go to your nearest theater! YO JOE!
Across the country diehard G.I. Joe fanboys have already been hitting advanced screenings and late shows for the new G.I. Joe: Retaliation film, but for the rest of the known world, the official release date for G.I. Joe: Retaliation is TODAY.
Reaction to the film across the G.I. Joe fandom has been widely positive, though admittedly mainstream critics have been pretty harsh. I have posted my own thoughts in the form of a spoiler-free review on the G.I. Joe: Retaliation review page, and I’ve got a spoiler-filled one coming later on. I figured I’d wait until official release to get that one out to folks, because I have a lot to say based on specific plot points and character aspects.
This also marks the completion of my “Road to Retaliation” event, where I posted daily reviews every single day for pretty much 30 straight days leading up to this film. It was a pretty exhausting project, but I’m glad I was able to stick with it, and judging by my web traffic, everyone else is pretty happy about it, too!
At the end of the day, I’m thrilled that G.I. Joe fans seem to be enjoying and appreciating the merits of G.I. Joe: Retaliation, but in my mind, the box office is the most important thing. Let’s all cross our fingers and hope that the International movie going public flocks to this film and ensures that G.I. Joe is a viable brand going forward. I think we can all agree that whether or not G.I. Joe: Retaliation was a great film, it could serve as an excellent launching point to an even better Hollywood franchise going forward. I desperately hope it has the chance.
Meanwhile, here’s a little flashback to an earlier day… Machinima’s first look at G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Pretty cool to look back on it now.
It’s been a long road, but here we are, almost at the end… We’ve plowed through 38 reasons already, and today, on the eve of the reported G.I. Joe: Retaliation release, Twitziller comes up with the 39th.
#2:
A fantastic concept and the perfect extension of G.I. Joe’s semi-futuristic background, the Battle Kata vest and weapons system has been something that fans and toy makers have latched onto ever since it was first revealed. The armored vest with carefully placed sheaths and holsters has become Roadblock’s trademark look, and Hasbro has amazingly been able to translate the components into the 4″ scale toy. It’s crazy because it seems so close to reality, yet still maintains that close line to science fiction that is G.I. Joe’s specialty.
I’m going to be doing two different reviews for G.I. Joe: Retaliation. The spoiler free version is being posted right now, with the spoiler version coming probably tomorrow. I wanted to get my thoughts out there as quickly and as knee-jerk as I could, but I understand not everyone is seeing the film right away.
Then check back later for the spoiler version, where I’ll get into who lives, who dies, specific plot points and take a much deeper dive into the event that was G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
This has been a fun ride, G.I. Joe fans. A really fun ride. I greatly hope it’s simply one of many more to come.
