G.I. Joe: Retaliation opened to the second-biggest Easter weekend box office, so it looks like the Joes and Cobra are going to live to duke it out another day.  According to Variety, Paramount has greenlit G.I. Joe 3.  While a third G.I. Joe wasn’t in too much doubt, announcing the sequel the Sunday after Retaliation‘s release is a big vote of confidence from the studio rather than a “Let’s wait to see how well it does on DVD.”

There are no other details about the third installment other than the obvious assumption that it will be in 3D.  Hopefully, they won’t clear the board again when it comes to the cast, and hold on to Dwayne Johnson as their charming and charismatic protagonist.  Hit the jump for what producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura is considering for G.I. Joe 3.

Before I dive into the main topic of this week’s opening paragraph, just a quick disclaimer that the Top 5 will be taking a week off next Saturday to accommodate the first, and perhaps only, trip to Hawaii I will ever take. Here’s to hoping it’s less awkward but equally as life-changing and Kristen Bell/Mila Kunis-filled as Forgetting Sarah Marshall depicted. That said, while it fell just short of the cut this week, I still want to draw attention to the first trailer for director Adam Wingard‘s You’re Next that debuted on Thursday. As a horror fan, I’m always excited when a new entry in the genre gets lauded from both sides of the aisle (horror fans and those who aren’t as giddy about movies that make them think twice about turning out the lights). As far as I’m concerned, August 23rd can’t get here soon enough.

All Hawaii and horror fanboy talk aside, this week’s list offers up the first trailer(s) for The Wolverine, interviews with Dwayne Johnson and more for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the first trailer and posters for White House Down, a new red-band trailer for Pain & Gain, and The Host interviews with Saoirse Ronan and more. As you’re probably expecting, a brief recap and link to all of the above can be found after the jump.

Jon M. Chu’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation is now playing in theaters.  The sequel’s story finds the Joes disbanded and outnumbered as they must square off against not only the Cobras, but also threats within their own government.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation stars Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum,  D.J. Cotrona, Elodie Yung, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Stevenson, Walton Goggins, RZA and Adrianne Palicki.  For more on the film, here’s clips, images, on set interviews, and all our previous coverage.

Last weekend, I sat down with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura for an extended interview.  Over the past few days we’ve posted what he said about Jack Ryan and Red 2, an adaptation of the Vince Flynn novel American Assassin and the true story Deepwater Horizon.  But that was just the tip of the iceberg, because we also talked about making G.I. Joe, the nine-minute dialogue-free action sequence featuring Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes, the 3D post conversion, changes from the first film, the rumored reshoots, what it was like to film at NASA, how involved Hasbro is with the project, and what he’d like to see in G.I. Joe 3 if they make it.  In addition, we also talked about how the collapsing home video market has changed the way movies are made, the lack of risk-taking with regards to the material that studios are choosing to make, the difficulty of selling sci-fi and the key to landing audience interest, whether he’s read any great scripts recently, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Though producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura is best known for his huge tentpole films like the Transformers franchise and the G.I. Joe series, his resume is also filled out with more character-centric pics like Side Effects and Red.  Steve recently spoke with di Bonaventura in anticipation of G.I. Joe: Retaliation and got updates from the producer on a number of upcoming projects, and today we’re sharing what the producer had to say about a couple of “smaller” films that he’s producing: an adaptation of the Vince Flynn novel American Assassin and the true story Deepwater Horizon.

American Assassin tells the story of a college scholar and athelete who becomes a relentless anti-terrorism agent for the CIA, while Deepwater Horizon is a feature film based on the events of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster that killed 11 people and injured 16 others.  Di Bonaventura gave an update on the progress of American Assassin and talked about his passion for Deepwater Horizon, which he likens to A Perfect Storm.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say about these two projects as well as the hostage rescue film The Mission.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura is certainly one of the more prolific producers working today.  The man is juggling a few different franchises at the moment, including Transformers and G.I. Joe, and he has two other highly anticipated films opening later this year.  Steve recently sat down with the producer to talk about G.I. Joe: Retaliation, but di Bonaventura also spoke a bit about the action-comedy sequel Red 2 and Kenneth Branagh’s thriller Jack Ryan.  Di Bonaventura talked about the new cast additions for Red 2 and his reaction to seeing the film, and he had nothing but praise for Chris Pine’s work as the titular character in Jack Ryan, also talking about the connection between this new film and the previous iterations of the Jack Ryan character.  Hit the jump to read on.

Paramount has released a new four-minute extended clip and featurette for Jon M. Chu’s upcoming sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  The clip showcases the an action sequence with a shit ton of ninjas that takes place on the side of a mountain, while the featurette focuses on the numerous vehicles and weapons that are used in the film.  The sequel’s story finds the Joes disbanded and outnumbered as they must square off against not only the Cobras, but also threats within their own government.

Hit the jump to watch the clip and featurette, and if you missed any of Steve’s set visit coverage be sure to check out 25 things to know & video blog recap, along with his interviews with Dwayne Johnson, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Park, Elodie Yung, D.J. Cotrona, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, and Chu.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation opens in 3D on March 28th.

I’ve patiently waited for the opportunity to include Veronica Mars in the Top 5. As one of my favorite pop culture artifacts, I’m thrilled that this past week has finally afforded me the chance. That said, I’ll reserve any and all debate regarding the impact and merit of its now famed Kickstarter campaign for after the jump. For now, I’ll just say that, as much as I loved the show, I didn’t feel shortchanged by its somewhat abrupt finale. Moreover, I never felt like I needed a movie to bring some sort of closure to that world and its characters. Don’t get me wrong, by series end I wanted more VM in my life. But maybe that’s a good thing. Looking back I’d much prefer a series leave me wanting more than continually ask me back every week when it can barely muster even a shadow of its former self (cough…The Office…cough).

In addition to more Mars talk, this week’s collection also includes our G.I. Joe: Retaliation set visit, the first red-band trailer for Kick-Ass 2, Jurassic Park 4 naming its director, and all of our SXSW 2013 coverage to date. Keep reading for a brief recap and link to each.

As I’ve said many times, while it’s always great to talk to actors, if you really want to find out why certain decisions were made on a film, you always want to talk to the director and the producers.  In the case of G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the set of which I visited in 2011, the one who provided the most of the information about the sequel was Lorenzo di Bonaventura (who also produced the first G.I. Joe and a few other movies like the Transformers franchise, Red, Red 2, Salt, , The Last Stand, Side Effects , Jack Ryan, and many more).

During an extended group interview on set, di Bonaventura talked about the differences between Retaliation and the first film, the sequel’s tone, Cobra Commander’s mask, Destro, the action, new castmembers like Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis, director Jon M. Chu, the merchandising, the humor, and so much more.  If you’re a Joe fan, it’s a great read.  Hit the jump to check it out.

The ambitious new ABC drama series Zero Hour tells the story of Modern Skeptic Magazine publisher Hank Galliston (Anthony Edwards, in his return to TV), who has spent his career following clues, debunking myths and cracking conspiracies.  But, when his beautiful wife, Laila (Jacinda Barrett), is abducted from her antique clock shop, Hank gets pulled into one of the most compelling mysteries in human history, stretching around the world and back centuries, and finds himself racing against the clock to not only find his wife, but to save humanity.

While at the ABC portion of the TCA Press Tour, executive producers Paul Scheuring (who also created the series), Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Zack Estrin and Dan McDermott talked about the genesis of the show, wanting to deliver something big, setting up a construct that will reset every season, providing a lot of information but making sure it’s easy to follow, and making their shooting location of Montreal look like various countries, all over the world.  Check out what they had to say after the jump. 

Even though we’re nearly three months removed from Halloween, I want to use this week’s opening paragraph to throw some support behind director Michael Stephenson‘s touching documentary, The American Scream. I recently caught the film via Netflix where it’s available to “Watch Instantly” and I was impressed to say the least. Stephenson’s previous entry, the indelible Best Worst Movie, quickly became one of my all-time favorite docs for the unexpected emotional punch it packed in following the lives of those impacted by Troll 2. Scream delivered on a similar level with its themes of family, community, and the pursuit of one’s passion (in this case, home haunting). If you haven’t seen it already, I recommend either checking it out on Netflix or picking up a copy for yourself from the film’s website.

All recommendations aside, much to the surprise of no one, this week’s Top 5 is headlined by the announcement that J.J. Abrams will direct/produce Star Wars: Episode VII with accompaniment by our Bullet to the Head set visit, Warm Bodies video interviews with Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer and more, a G.I. Joe: Retaliation set visit preview and interviews with director Jon M. Chu and more, and all of our coverage out of Sundance 2013 to date. A brief recap and link to each is hidden in plain view after the jump.

A four-minute preview of the highly anticipated G.I. Joe: Retaliation will be shown in IMAX, RealD and digital 3D theaters with Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, beginning on January 24^th.  To debut the footage from the sequel and give a glimpse of what audiences can expect from the 3D conversion, Paramount invited a handful of online press, including Collider, over to the studio lot.

Following the footage, we participated in a roundtable interview with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura who talked about what it’s like to be involved with franchises like G.I. Joe and Transformers that fans are so passionate about, his initial reaction to the news of the delayed release date, why they decided to focus more heavily on the ninjas this time, finding the balance between humor and drama, how he judges whether or not they’ve pushed an established franchise too far, what he feels the 3D adds to the film, why it’s important for the director of a film to love the genre they’re working in, and what his tenure at Warner Bros. taught him about handling a franchise, as a producer.  Hit the jump for what he had to say, as well as my thoughts on the footage.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura is one of the more prolific producers in Hollywood.  In addition to producing the Transformers franchise, Red, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Salt, and many others, di Bonaventura has a number of exciting films coming up like The Last Stand, Side Effects, Red 2, Jack Ryan, and American Assassin.

Last week I was in London and while there landed an exclusive interview with di Bonaventura.   We talked about the Red sequel, why they hired director Dean Parisot, Transformers 4, The Last Stand, the Salt sequel, his thoughts on Warner Bros. doing a 3D re-release of The Matrix, the G.I. Joe sequel and the 3D conversion, American Assassin, his upcoming ABC show Zero Hour starring Anthony Edwards, and a lot more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

This past summer wasn’t exactly lacking in blockbuster material, but many will remember that it was originally supposed to have one more actioner on tap: the sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  With its release date a little over a month away, Paramount abruptly pushed the film’s release date back a whopping nine months.  The official reason given for the move was that they wanted to post-convert the pic to 3D, but many surmised that the reshoots were being done to un-kill the suddenly popular Channing Tatum.

Steve recently spoke with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura about a number of upcoming projects (read what he had to say about Red 2 right here), and during their conversation, di Bonaventura talked about the nature of the 3D conversion of G.I. Joe, the last-minute release date change, and more.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

Last night I uncovered a gem from 2011 for the first time and my only regret is that I didn’t take the time to seek it out sooner. Writer/director Thomas McCarthy‘s dramedy Win Win is not only consistently funny but also chock full of both heartwarming and heartbreaking moments. The performances are terrific all-around, the script is strong albeit somewhat easy to telegraph, and the wrestling scenes are even surprisingly intense at times (I mean, it was nominated for a prestigious ESPY for “Best Sports Film” after all). Matt gave the film his full endorsement when he reviewed it at Sundance 2011 and I’m doing the same here today.

Movie recommendations aside, in what was yet another busy week around these parts, the five standouts include our Skyfall interviews with Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, director Sam Mendes and more, a Beautiful Creatures set visit recap, the first trailer for Brad Pitt‘s World War Z, even more set visit goodness from Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s The Last Stand, and ongoing development news for the next Star Wars trilogy. Keep reading for brief recaps and links to all of the above.

Heavy-hitters David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight) and Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers) are teaming up for the doomsday-thriller, The Breach.  Adapted from the Patrick Lee novel by Justin Rhodes, The Breach follows Travis Chase, a former cop and ex-convict who stumbles across a crashed 747 and a mysterious artifact that will determine the fate of the future.  The screenplay is expected to divert from novel somewhat, but details are being kept under wraps.  Goyer has not signed on to direct the picture, but the possibility is there for him.  Hit the jump for more.