G.I. Joe: Snake Eyes ($40 Million Worldwide Box office)

Popular G.I. Joe character Snake Eyes is getting his own movie.

Paramount Pictures has thrown a Joe spinoff movie featuring the commando into development, with Evan Spiliotopoulos, the writer of 2017's Beauty and the Beast and The Huntsman: Winter’s War, in talks to pen the script.

Brian Goldner is among those producing the feature based on the Hasbro toyline.

Snake Eyes is the silent ninja commando that first appeared in the 1980s as part of Hasbro and Marvel Comics’ relaunch of the toyline, dubbed G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.

The character, who dresses in all black, never reveals his face and never speaks, stood out among the military anti-terrorist group and quickly established himself as the most popular. He had a special relationship with Scarlett, for a while the team’s only female member, and sometimes carried out solo missions with his pet wolf, Timber. His archenemy is Storm Shadow, a ninja who is also his blood brother.

Paramount has made two Joe movies, 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and 2013’s G.I Joe: Retaliation, with acrobatic actor Ray Park playing Snake Eyes in both.

The studio and Hasbro have been looking to reboot the franchise and in the last few years have assembled writers rooms to generate movie ideas.

Spiliotopoulos got his start in animation, working on Disney’s straight-to-animation movies before nabbing big-feature fantasy gigs. The writer is on an upswing and earlier this week came on board to pen the sequel to Netflix’s fantasy cop movie Bright. 

Tyger wrote:What’s the opposite of cautiously optimistic?

I don’t think they can make it work, especially since he’s silent, but I grew up G.I. Joe and love Snake Eyes

joey con carne wrote:I'd like an origin story about Scarlett or Cover Girl.

And Sky Commanders! What about Bionic Six? Those would be cool.

And I'd love a dark and serious take on Captain Planet, too. Not sure that would be possible, though, because it's just so campy. But if they made it really dark, that would be something different.

joey con carne wrote:I'd like an origin story about Scarlett or Cover Girl.

And Sky Commanders! What about Bionic Six? Those would be cool.

And I'd love a dark and serious take on Captain Planet, too. Not sure that would be possible, though, because it's just so campy. But if they made it really dark, that would be something different.

‘Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins’ Production Begins in Japan with a Special Ceremony

Just when you thought the G.I. Joe franchise was dead, Paramount Pictures is back with a brand new movie based on the Hasbro toy franchise. But instead of continuing the series that started with G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra and G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the studio is heading in a new direction with an origin story for one of the most popular characters in the action figure line-up.

Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins kicked off production in Japan today with a special event overseas that revealed the film’s official logo and had some of the cast and crew partake in a special blessing ceremony at the Hie-Jinja Shrine in Tokyo, a historical Shinto site that has been around over 500 years. This ninja movie is real, and it’s on the way.

Henry Golding is playing the titular ninja from the G.I. Joe toyline, a character previously played by Ray Park in the other two G.I. Joe movies. The Crazy Rich Asians star was on-hand for the special event in Japan along with fellow cast members Andrew Koji, Haruka Abe, Iko Uwais, and Takehiro Hira. Ready or Not star Samara Weaving, who will also be part of the cast as Scarlett, was not on hand for the event, but director Robert Schwentke, executive producers Jeff Waxman and Erik Howsam, and stunt coordinator Kenji Tanigaki were there to receive blessings as well.

   Watch the #SnakeEyes cast and crew at the start of production in Japan. Coming to theatres October 23, 2020. pic.twitter.com/qGWzhcTBXb

   — G.I. Joe (@GIJoeMovie) January 10, 2020

Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins already completed some shooting in Vancouver, Canada last year, so this isn’t the start of the overall production, but just the part that will take place in Toyko, Japan. That’s good since the movie is slated to hit theaters on October 23, 2020, and starting production today on a big blockbuster probably wouldn’t be a good idea with that release date.

What many fans are curious about is how Snake Eyes will be handled as a character. Traditionally, he’s a ninja who keeps his face obscured and never talks. But it would be pretty silly for Paramount Pictures to hire Henry Golding for that role if that’s how Snake Eyes was going to appear the entire time. Since this is an origin story, we’re likely going to see a lot of Snake Eyes before he chooses to keep his face and voice hidden.

Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, written by Evan Spiliotopoulos, will follow the titular character as he sets out for revenge for the death of his father (played by Steven Allerick of The Expanse) by joining a ninja clan, which in turn helps him accept this tragic hand he’s been dealt. Snake Eyes’ white ninja nemesis Storm Shadow is also supposed to have a role in the movie, played by Andrew Koji.

Can this movie rejuvenate the G.I. Joe franchise and possible begin a new franchise of movies that allow Paramount Pictures to lead-up to a new assembly of heroes in one big G.I. Joe movie? That would follow the Marvel Cinematic Universe plan of attack, but I’m not sure G.I. Joe characters have the pull to make that work. We’ll find out later this year.

Tyger wrote:I’m usually the one who wants more Asian actors, but Snake Eyes is actually a white dude, blonde at that.

Rusty wrote:Ooh. Samara Weaving. My interest is piqued.

And also, American Ninja is a fucking classic. Got the whole series in Blu-Ray.

Some fairly significant changes have been made to Paramount’s upcoming movie lineup, with major titles being pushed back several months, while one was actually bumped up to an earlier release date. The studio revealed that Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins has moved up from October 22 to July 23.

WyldeMan wrote:Hugo's niece is everywhere these days. Samara's career is blowing up.

UltimateMarvel wrote:

WyldeMan wrote:Hugo's niece is everywhere these days. Samara's career is blowing up.

I didn't know they were related. Cool!

WyldeMan wrote:I've been calling her "Hugo's niece" in my posts for like three years.

Her career seems to be blowing up but I hope they start giving her all of Anya Taylor-Joy's work cause that blonde aline broad creeps me the fuck out and yet she's in everything. Unacceptable!

UltimateMarvel wrote:I thought Snake Eyes didn't speak?

WyldeMan wrote:You're correct, Snake Eyes doesn't speak because he took a vow of silence but because this is his origin story, I'm assuming that he'll likely take that vow at the end of this movie or in a future sequel. It's likely the same approach they're taking with his helmet and how much they're showing his face the first time around.

WyldeMan wrote:This Snake Eyes movie sure looks like it could be a hell of a lot better than those two garbage Joe movies we got the first time around.

UltimateMarvel wrote:

WyldeMan wrote:This Snake Eyes movie sure looks like it could be a hell of a lot better than those two garbage Joe movies we got the first time around.

I don't remember them being terrible movies. But the second one was a lot better than the first.

Rusty wrote:

UltimateMarvel wrote:

WyldeMan wrote:This Snake Eyes movie sure looks like it could be a hell of a lot better than those two garbage Joe movies we got the first time around.

I don't remember them being terrible movies. But the second one was a lot better than the first.

That was because of the lovely Adrianne Palicki as Lady Jaye

WyldeMan wrote:Of course Abe wouldn't remember that a movie starring Charming Potato and Marlon Wayans in CGI armored roller skate body suits as being bad. He also doesn't remember Joseph Gordon Levitt as the Cobra Commander. I think the movie was so bad that he might have actually blocked those traumatic memories.

The first one sucked so bad that they killed the entire cast in the opening scene of the sequel and then replaced em all with The Rock. 

WyldeMan wrote:You're right though, the second wasn't as bad as the first but just like with Transformers movies, those were not the Joes that I grew up on. As a child of the 80's, there are some franchises from that era that I have very high expectations for when it comes to their live action adaptations and the first time around, the Joe movies failed me.

This new take on Snake Eyes makes feel like this franchise might finally be respected this time around.

UltimateMarvel wrote:I never watched the cartoons so I don't know how the movies compare but I liked the second one, had some great action sequences with Snake Eyes and his apprentice.

WyldeMan wrote:Of course Snake Eyes looked good in his fight scenes because Ray Park is a real life BAMF.

UltimateMarvel wrote:

WyldeMan wrote:Of course Snake Eyes looked good in his fight scenes because Ray Park is a real life BAMF.

Yep. Haven't seen Ray Park in a while, not since Heroes I think.

WyldeMan wrote:I know it was for only one scene but Park did return to his Darth Maul role for Solo: A Star Wars Story. But other than that one small scene, it would seem that Park retired from Hollywood about a decade ago with the exception of the occasional return to Maul.

UltimateMarvel wrote:

WyldeMan wrote:I know it was for only one scene but Park did return to his Darth Maul role for Solo: A Star Wars Story. But other than that one small scene, it would seem that Park retired from Hollywood about a decade ago with the exception of the occasional return to Maul.

Ah! Never watched Solo and had no idea Maul was in that.