Need a ninja buddy to keep your G.I. Joe: Retaliation Snake Eyes figure company?  Lucky for you, Hot Toys has just released a 1/6th scale figure for Storm Shadow, as played by Lee Byung-hun when the sequel opens March 29th.  The figure features a highly detailed likeness of the actor with both a masked and unmasked head, plus 30 points of articulation, nine pairs of hands and a veritable arsenal of ninja weaponry.  This Sideshow pre-order will run you $204.99 with shipment expected in June.

Hit the jump for images, specs and ordering information.

The retired and extremely dangerous gang from Red return in this new teaser trailer for Red 2.  Directed by Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest), the spy sequel pits ex-CIA operative Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) against Victoria (Helen Mirren) when MI6 greenlights his assassination as Interpol’s “Most Wanted.”  Mary-Louise Parker and John Malkovich return in fine form, providing some of the funnier moments in the new trailer.  Joining the sequel will be Catherine Zeta-Jones, Byung Hun Lee and Anthony Hopkins.  Red 2 opens August 2, 2013.  Hit the jump to check out the teaser trailer and poster for Red 2.

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.

It’s hard to know how interesting another country’s cinema is when all you get are a handful of films each year, but South Korea has produced some of the most interesting genre films for the last decade. From the works of Bong Joon-Ho (Mother, The Host) to Park Chan-Wook (Old Boy, Thirst), to the great adventure yarn The Good, The Bad, The Weird. Whether we’re getting the best of the best, or if there’s more to discover is hard to know, but regardless, they are some great film-makers working there today.

The latest film to hit stateside is I Saw the Devil, which takes the serial killer genre and finds a new way to make it fresh for the modern era. The film stars Lee Byung-hun (G.I. Joe’s Storm Shadow) and Choi Min-sik (star of Oldboy), as a cop and a killer whose lives become intertwined in a tale of revenge from director Kim Jee-woon (A Tale of Two Sisters). Our review of the Blu-ray follows after the jump.

Paramount has settled on a release date for their sequel to 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. It looks like the action sequel will bow on August 10^th, 2012. Originally, Stephen Sommers was set to return for the sequel, but bowed out in January. Paramount cast a wide net to find the right person to take over the project, and they finally settled on Jon Chu (the smashing commercial success of his most recent film for Paramount, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, probably had nothing to do with that). Chu directs from a script by Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.

Just yesterday Rachel Nichols, who portrayed Scarlett in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, confirmed via Twitter that only a handful of characters from the first film will return for the sequel. Set to return are Lee Byung-hun (Storm Shadow), Ray Park (Snake Eyes) and Channing Tatum (Duke). So Marlon Wayans, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sienna Miller and Dennis Quaid shall not be back. Hit the jump for more.

Now that Jon Chu (Justin Bieber: Never Say Never) has officially landed the directing gig on G.I. Joe 2, speculation now turns to the cast. Rachel Nichols, who portrayed Scarlett in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, recently sent out a tweet [via /Film] confirming that only a handful of the original film’s cast will return for the sequel. And by a handful I mean Lee Byung-hun (Storm Shadow), Ray Park (Snake Eyes) and Channing Tatum (Duke). Nichols then followed the tweet up with this statement:

“… Thank you. After the GI JOE news I had Heavy Boots, but I’m smiling now!”

This seems to suggest that Paramount is sticking with the small handful of characters who actually worked in the original film – one of whom has plastic lips that don’t move – and vetoing the likes of Sienna Miller, Marlon Wayans, Dennis Quaid, and even Joseph Gordon-Levitt who was clearly set up as the villain Cobra Commander in a potential sequel. This also suggests that Paramount is keeping the budget relatively smaller than the Cobra’s $175 million price tag. Of course none of this has been confirmed by the studio, so file it under rumor for now. G.I. Joe 2 is being written by Zombieland scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.

Update:  Paramount has settled on a August 10^th, 2012 release date for the G.I. Joe sequel.  More info here.

If you really thought producers wouldn’t find a way to bring back Storm Shadow for G.I. Joe 2, you’re adorable.  THR reports that Lee Byung-hun (who stars in the critically acclaimed I Saw the Devil) will reprise his role as the villainous ninja in the upcoming sequel.  As we previously reported, the film is currently looking for a director as original helmer Stephen Sommers will not be returning.  Shooting is expected to begin this June with an eye towards a summer 2012 release date.  Zombieland screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick penned the script.