Though 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was a sizeable success at the box office, Paramount decided to retool their approach to the franchise with this year’s sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  The studio’s secret weapon for the follow-up was Dwayne Johnson, who has quickly become a kind of “human steroid injection” for film franchises in need of a punch-up (see also: Fast Five and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island).  Johnson took the lead this time around as Roadblock, and the result was an impressive $40.5 million opening weekend with a worldwide total currently sits at a little over $270 million.  Understandably, Paramount officially greenlit yet another G.I. Joe sequel mere days after Retaliation opened in theaters.

Steve recently spoke with Johnson in anticipation of Michael Bay’s upcoming black comedy Pain & Gain, and the actor talked briefly about the preliminary plans for G.I. Joe 3.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

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During their interview, Steve asked Johnson if he’s already thinking about what he’d like to see in a G.I. Joe sequel, and it sounds like they’ve hit the ground running with regards to the development process on G.I. Joe 3:

“What we would love to do with the sequel to G.I. Joe, which will definitely happen—we set ourselves up nicely with this past G.I. Joe because we really paid attention with respected homage to the mythology.  And now that we’ve redesigned that foundation of the mythology, there are many places to go.  There are phenomenal G.I. Joe characters who we can bring to life, we’re all talking about it now, and certainly [thinking about] using the 3D platform in even better ways for the next one, so, I’m very excited about that.”

Again, it’s very early stages on G.I. Joe 3 (a director hasn’t even been announced), but it definitely sounds like Johnson is integral to the planning process on the next film.  Look for Steve’s full interview with Johnson closer to the release of Pain & Gain, and click here if you missed what Johnson had to say about Fast & Furious 7.

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