Stephen Sommers Fired From GI Joe!!

[DarthNeil]

I think it's quite the opposite. Hasbro likely sends them a product catalog and they flip through deciding what the store will carry and what it won't. If a certain line doesn't sell, they'll be likely to cancel future orders relating to the product. We saw this with Indy and I also saw this with the Mini My Little Pony line my daughter was collecting (also Hasbro). Neil touched on a point with the Indy figures which can be elaborated on. TOD would've sold fairly well (at least better than all the KOTCS junk) but retailers couldn't push the KOTCS crap, so they didn't order more which in turn, led Hasbro to cancel their major production of the TOD line. Using Hasbro's own history, I don't see how you can't be at least a little concerned.

Thanks, that was exactly my point. The KOTCS (and to a lesser extent the ROTLA) wave saturated the pegs and left a bad taste in the sellers' mouth-- which is why TOD was barely visible... and why at the end you could get the peg warmers for an insane 50 cent price. I saw just this past Thursday that the Star Trek figs are now on sale (both the 3 3/4 ones and the 6 inch ones) for $5 a piece and they're still hanging there on the pegs.

Action figures are really a thing of the past-- less and less kids by them. I'm afraid that when fish tank Cobra Commander and Iron-Man Joe show up it'll be just a month before they're in the clearance bins for less than 75% what the original asking price was. Hasbro is going to take a major hit-- The studio releasing this is going to take a major hit-- Possibly every actor connected to this is going to have that stank on them for awhile (if not for the rest of their careers-- for a Dennis Quaid that doesn't mean that much but for someone like Chris Eccleston or Joseph Gordon-Levitt then this might be something that'll take a few movies to distance themselves from-- time to fire agents definitely).

One can only hope that this means less studio interference and a supposed understanding that to make a movie based upon a property ideally you need someone at the helm (producers AND director) who have a fondness for the original storyline. At least Bay had Spielberg to balance out his ignorance as Steven said he used to play with the Transformers toys with his kids when they were younger...

 

[lerath666]

hell. i think the cast they've got is prety good. With a 1/2way decent script, this could hve been great. the guy under the mask for cobra commander is not that important as THE AUIDENCE SHOULD NEVER SEE HIS FACE!
Which means we need an actor who is happy if his face is never seen.
imagine a reboot of GI Joe with Hugo Weaving as the commander?

Cobra commander is a character that needs to be handled like Darth Vader, or V.
His mask IS his face.

Hell, i'd say keep the cast they've got, and reboot.


Though, DO give Hugo weaving a call about the commander.

 

[DarthNeil]

hell. i think the cast they've got is prety good. With a 1/2way decent script, this could hve been great. the guy under the mask for cobra commander is not that important as THE AUIDENCE SHOULD NEVER SEE HIS FACE!
Which means we need an actor who is happy if his face is never seen.
imagine a reboot of GI Joe with Hugo Weaving as the commander?

Cobra commander is a character that needs to be handled like Darth Vader, or V.
His mask IS his face.

Hell, i'd say keep the cast they've got, and reboot.


Though, DO give Hugo weaving a call about the commander.

Great casting choice-- but I'll go one better. Gary Oldman.

 

[Customikey]

Great casting choice-- but I'll go one better. Gary Oldman.

I've been thinking that for years! He'd have been an amazing choice!

 

[thenammagazine]

Hell, i'd say keep the cast they've got, and reboot.

Nah, they'd still need to give Marlon the boot. You could've powered the entire west coast with the energy produced from the collective groan when he was announced to play Ripcord.

 

[karamazov80]

I haven't really seen anything new out lately as far as the 25th Anniversary goes. Just the same ol, Cartoon Cobra Commanders, Alley Vipers and Duke. I wonder how many people got burned over Hasbro shorting production of the 80's Greatest Hits Battle Pack?

There hasn't been much new, as they stopped after wave 13 which came out last year, I believe (the new Resolute and "classic" 5 packs, as well as the last line of vehicles may have been released after that, though).

Supposedly Hasbro said they were sitting on the "Best of the 80s" sets in their warehouses, and were eventually shipping them out, though I haven't followed up on that.

Where are you seeing Alley Viper, btw?

 

[Cryoguns]

There hasn't been much new, as they stopped after wave 13 which came out last year, I believe (the new Resolute and "classic" 5 packs, as well as the last line of vehicles may have been released after that, though).

Supposedly Hasbro said they were sitting on the "Best of the 80s" sets in their warehouses, and were eventually shipping them out, though I haven't followed up on that.

Where are you seeing Alley Viper, btw?

Alley viper is part of the Cobra Island multi-packs, which haven't been released yet. Pictures of these Debuted around ToyFair this year.

Hell, I haven't found anyone who has them for pre-order yet!

 

[karamazov80]

That's why I asked

You can find factory rejects, I'm guessing, on eBay, but I figured maybe I was missing something.

 

[IrishJedi]

With the exception of Ray Park as Snake Eyes, the entire cast sucks. Channing Tatum's Duke should be called ******.

And Marlon Wayans... wow.

 

[JGouse0498]

With the exception of Ray Park as Snake Eyes, the entire cast sucks. Channing Tatum's Duke should be called ******.

And Marlon Wayans... wow.

I have to agree with this assessment. The cast blows except for Ray Park.

And I also think Christopher Eccleston should be kept as Destro. With the right creative team behind the camera, he could bring something good to the role.

 

[Khev]

With the exception of Ray Park as Snake Eyes, the entire cast sucks.

 

[IrishJedi]

And I also think Christopher Eccleston should be kept as Destro. With the right creative team behind the camera, he could bring something good to the role.

I disagree. He's a fine actor, but he's awful for Destro. Way too small and scrawny. He would have made a much better Cobra Commander or even Major Bludd.

 

[DarthNeil]

I disagree. He's a fine actor, but he's awful for Destro. Way too small and scrawny. He would have made a much better Cobra Commander or even Major Bludd.

The best choice for Destro would have been the original choice for Wolverine, Dougray Scott.

 

[JGouse0498]

I disagree. He's a fine actor, but he's awful for Destro. Way too small and scrawny. He would have made a much better Cobra Commander or even Major Bludd.

Depends on what he does with the part. He could make it work--just not in the way the '80s version was. But certainly MUCH better than the current Sommers' version.

Anytime there's a questionable casting decision anymore, I try to keep an open mind because I just remember being one of the people who said "Are you kidding me? Heath Ledger??!"

 

[IrishJedi]

The time for having an open mind about anything involved with this movie is long gone.

 

[Sixthscalemagazine]

With the exception of Ray Park as Snake Eyes, the entire cast sucks.

no exceptions... they ALL suck!!!

 

[JGouse0498]

The time for having an open mind about anything involved with this movie is long gone.

Except I'm not talking about the movie specifically. I'm talking about what SHOULD'VE been.

 

[karamazov80]

I just found a post I made in 2007 on yojoe about the casting, before we knew who was going to be cast. In hindsight, I think it would have been a step up.

Note to movie studio: potential cast for GI Joe: the Movie, directed by man who made Mummy and Van Helsing, written by writer of Epic Movie, produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura:

Duke: Donny Wahlberg
Snake Eyes: Chris Tucker (with voice! It would be funny because in the cartoons and comics he never talks and is stoic, and Chris Tucker screams a lot as Snake Eyes, runs around when scared, etc. Hilarious!)
Roadblock: Anthony Anderson
Flint: Fred Savage
Grunt: Randy Quaid
Beachhead: Tom Arnold
Scarlett: Lindsay Lohan
Doc: Bernie Mac

Cobra Commander: John Travolta (he should channel both Swordfish and Battlefield: Earth characters)
Destro: Leslie Nielson
Baroness: Sandra Bernhardt (channeling character from Hudson Hawk)
Firefly: Carrot Top (his wacky comedic props could be bombs--he should not wear a mask)
Storm Shadow: Andrew "Dice" Clay
Zartan: fat guy from Mad TV

--the rest of the cast should be made up of other cast members from Mad TV--

 

[lerath666]

Nah, they'd still need to give Marlon the boot. You could've powered the entire west coast with the energy produced from the collective groan when he was announced to play Ripcord.

Question on Gary oldman. Would he be willing to NEVER show his face?
The auidence should NEVEr see the commander unmasked. A little tease here or there, but NEVER unmasked on screen.
We already know from V that Weaving would do this if it's part of the character.

And as for Marlon Wayans. No, I think He's fine for GI joe, just Cast as the wrong character.

Marlon Wayans Should Be Alpine.

 

[JGouse0498]

Question on Gary oldman. Would he be willing to NEVER show his face?

That's a good question. I think the closest he's ever gotten is in Hannibal with the role of Mason Verger. If it wasn't for the brief flashback and the voice, you'd never know it was Oldman under all that makeup.