If you’re going to make a movie designed to sell toys, you may as well show how much fun it is to play with them.  Although almost none of the original characters remain, G.I. Joe: Retaliation continues the spirit of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra by happily embracing big vehicles and weapons to deliver set pieces on steroids that never feel overbearing.  It’s not a particularly smart movie or one with compelling characters, but without any irony it takes one of the villain’s lines to heart: “America likes the guy who blows stuff up.”

While many wondered if Jon M. Chu was the right choice to direct G.I. Joe: Retaliation, after spending the day on set while the production was filming in New Orleans, I became extremely confident that he was going to deliver a kick-ass G.I. Joe movie.  I say this because not only did he say all the right things during a group interview, he did the most important thing: he showed us some of the movie!  The sizzle reel we watched demonstrated that he’s got a great handle on the material and I really believe this is the G.I. Joe movie fans have been waiting for.

During the interview Chu talked about how he got involved with the project, the silent fight sequence, the new cast, working with Hasbro, the tone, the soundtrack, what he’d like to see in future installments, and a lot more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

A rather highly anticipated Young Adult feature film adaptation is undergoing a director change.  Last September we reported that David Slade (30 Days of Night, Twilight: Eclipse) had been set to direct Disney’s adaptation of Ally Condie’s futuristic novel Matched, but now it appears that Slade is out and G.I. Joe: Retaliation director Jon M. Chu is in.  The book is the first in a trilogy that centers on a young girl living in a highly-controlling society (ie. people are told what to read, watch, believe, etc.) who makes a rebellious decision to reject an arranged romance and follow her own heart.  Hit the jump for more details.

If you needed extra incentive to go see Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters when it opens this week, perhaps the bonus of seeing a preview of four minutes of footage from G.I. Joe: Retaliation will convince you.  Audiences will be treated to four minutes of 3D footage from the Jon M. Chu-directed sequel starring Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum and ALL the ninjas! G.I. Joe: Retaliation opens March 29th.

Make sure to get caught up on all of our recent G.I. Joe: Retaliation coverage, including interviews with Chu, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Adrianne Palicki and a recent Japanese trailer for the film.  Hit the jump to watch a preview of the G.I. Joe: Retaliation footage that will screen in front of Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters starting January 24th.

Doing its best to remind the world that G.I. Joe: Retaliation opens (for real this time) this year, a new Japanese trailer has surfaced.  It shows off a few new action sequences involving all of our favorite Joes, including Dwayne Johnson, Ray Park, Adrianne Palicki and Bruce Willis.  Lee Byung-hun also gets a good amount of additional screen time in this go-round.

Also starring Channing Tatum, RZA, Elodie Yung, Walton Goggins and Ray Stevenson, G.I. Joe: Retaliation (or as the trailer says, G.I. Joe: Back to Revenge!) opens March 29th.  Hit the jump to check out the new trailer.

A new trailer for director Jon Chu’s sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation has been released.  As you’ll see, not much has changed other than the addition of more of Channing Tatum, which was one of the reasons for the film’s reshoots.  The other reason was for a 3D post-conversion, but we won’t know how that worked out until the trailer plays in theaters.  Ultimately, I can’t help but wonder if audiences will be scratching their heads as they ask, “Wasn’t this supposed to come out in last summer?”  Paramount is tasked with selling the movie all over again, and I do not envy them.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film stars Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Adrianne Palicki, Walton Goggins, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Elodie Yung, RZA, Ray Stevenson, and D.J. Cotrona.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation opens in 3D on March 27, 2013. [Note: the trailer auto-plays so adjust your speakers accordingly]

We recently reported that director Jon Chu (Step Up 2: The Streets) was in talks to helm the Masters of the Universe reboot; now the director is talking about the film at length.  Written by Richard Wenk (The Expendables 2), the story follows the path of Prince Adam of Eternia who becomes the powerful He-Man with the assistance of a magic sword.  The protagonist uses this power to defeat the evil of Skeletor and his minions.  The property, previously adapted by Gary Goddard in 1987, is based off of a Mattel toy line of the 80s.  Chu talked about his reaction to the script, his appreciation of the toys, his enthusiasm for the property and even his status on finalizing G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say. 

It looks like the all-female version of The Expendables (the one produced by Adi Shankar and written by Dutch Southern) now has some competition:  Millenium Films’ The ExpendaBelles, an action picture which recently landed a pair of scribes.  Kirsten Smith and Karen McCullah Lutz of Legally Blonde will pen the script for the mercenary movie.  The writing duo is responsible for past films like 10 Things I Hate About You, She’s the Man and The House Bunny, so we’ll see if they can up the action in their interpretation. As Deadline reports, The ExpendaBelles should be the first film in an expected franchise.  The other as-of-yet untitled all-female version of The Expendables currently has ass-kickers Gina Carano (Haywire) and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) on board.  Are there enough action heroines to go around for two of these films?

In related actioner news, Richard Wenk, who co-wrote the screenplay for The Expendables 2, has been tapped to re-write the Masters of the Universe treatment.  Hit the jump for more on that story. 

Director Jon M. Chu has the power!  Well, he will if he decides to helm a live-action Masters of the Universe film for Sony Pictures and Escape Artists.  Talks are in the early stages with Chu, who is currently putting a Band-Aid on the broken leg working on the 3D post conversion of G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which was pushed back nine months to a March 29th, 2013 release.  The picture, revolving around He-Man and his on-going battle with the evil Skeletor, was scripted by Alex Litvak (Predators) and Mike Finch (Exclusively Yours).  Hit the jump for more on Masters of the Universe.

If you grew up reading the G.I. Joe comics and loved issue 21 (the one that introduces Storm Shadow, features zero dialogue, and is widely regarded by fans as the best issue in the series), you’re going to love what director Jon M. Chu told me earlier today at CinemaCon about G.I.Joe: Retaliation.  It seems that he paid homage to the issue with a nine to ten minute sequence of dialogue-free kick ass ninja action!  In addition to revealing this awesome sequence, he told me the G.I. Joe sequel is around two hours (right now) and to expect between 5 to 15 minutes of deleted scenes on the Blu-ray.  We also talked about the soundtrack, the action scenes, the tone of the movie, and so much more.

As you can see in the latest trailer, the reason the sequel is subtitled Retaliation is because at the beginning of the film, Cobra wipes out most of the Joe’s and the surviving members go rogue to try and take down Cobra.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation stars Dwayne Johnson, Adrianne Palicki, Channing Tatum, Walton Goggins, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Elodie Yung, RZA, Ray Stevenson, and D.J. Cotrona. Hit the jump for more.

It’s easy to get overshadowed with The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises crowding the spotlight, but G.I. Joe: Retaliation has more than enough might to muscle their way in.  In these new character images, we get a look at our favorite Joes in action, including the original Joe (Bruce Willis).  In this sequel directed by Jon M. Chu (Step Up 3D), the Joes are decimated by a Cobra attack that leaves only a few of the good guys standing. The remaining Joes must band together to take down the evil organization. G.I. Joe: Retaliation also stars Dwayne Johnson, Adrianne Palicki, Channing Tatum, Walton Goggins, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Elodie Yung, RZA, Ray Stevenson and D.J. Cotrona. Hit the jump to check out the new images.

A new trailer for G.I. Joe: Retaliation has gone online. I remain impressed by what we’ve seen thus far and I’m hoping director Jon Chu has crafted a really fun action movie. Bringing Dwayne Johnson into the franchise was a very, very good call as his infectious charm and all around bad ass-ness is put to good use in the Joe universe. This new trailer is short, but it’s got a bit of new footage and another fun adage from Johnson. Counting the first theatrical trailer and the Super Bowl spot, this makes the third trailer we’ve seen from the film in the past month or so. With four months to go until its release, I sure hope they don’t spoil the whole movie in subsequent spots.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer. The film also stars Channing Tatum, Adrianne Palicki, D.J. Cotrona, and Bruce Willis. G.I. Joe: Retaliation opens June 29th.

The first trailer for G.I. Joe: Retaliation has gone online. While I was underwhelmed by the Entertainment Tonight sneak peek, this full trailer is actually kind of fantastic (actual trailer editors > ET editors). It’s got some stellar action, a cool story, and a chill-inducing shot featuring the White House. The story finds the Joes in deep, as the entirety of the G.I. Joe team has been killed save for a few remaining survivors. Director Jon Chu has staged some nice action sequences here, and the trailer is elevated by a nifty cut of The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.”

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film stars Dwayne Johnson, Channing Tatum, Adrianne Palicki, D.J. Cotrona, and Bruce Willis. G.I. Joe: Retaliation opens June 29th, 2012.

We’ve got a couple of casting stories for you this afternoon. First up, Ben Affleck has tapped Alan Arkin to star in his Tehran hostage crisis flick Argo. Affleck is poised to direct the film, which is based on a Wired magazine article entitled “How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran.” The true story tells how the CIA and the Canadian government teamed up to rescue six U.S. diplimats who had been taken hostage by Iranians in 1979. The CIA developed a ruse that involved convincing the Iranians that the diplomats were a Hollywood film crew scouting locations for a movie called “Argo.” Variety reports that Arkin will play a Hollywood producer who’s an O.S.S. veteran and is described as “equal parts bookie and rabbi.” George Clooney and Grant Heslov are producing.

Additionally, James Badge Dale (The Pacific) is in negotiations to join Brad Pitt in Marc Forster’s World War Z. The film is based on the book of the same name which details the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse from the perspective of survivors as varied as mercenaries, US government officials, and impoverished Palestinians. Showblitz reports that Dale will play an American soldier trying to convince the authorities of the danger the zombies pose, and he joins Mireille Enos (The Killing) and possibly Anthony Mackie in the flick which starts production this summer. Hit the jump for the casting news of Elodie Yung in G.I. Joe 2. and a synopsis of the book World War Z.

With G.I. Joe 2 getting released next summer – specifically on August 10, 2012 – you had to figure that filming would begin in the near future.  After all, Paramount has already hired director Jon Chu (the last two installments in the Step Up franchise and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never) to replace original Joe director Stephen Sommers and we’ve also heard that only Lee Byung-hun (Storm Shadow), Ray Park (Snake Eyes) and Channing Tatum (Duke) will be reprising their roles from the first film.

With news rather quiet since those announcements, I did some digging and heard a few things about the sequel.  It seems that filming is set to begin in the middle of August and unlike the first film which primarily shot in Los Angeles, the sequel will be filming in New Orleans.  In addition, while Chu had been talking about doing the Joe sequel in 3D, I’ve been told they will not be shooting in 3D and they also will not post convert to 3D.  Meaning G.I. Joe 2 will be released in good old fashioned 2D.  More after the jump.