G.I. Joe is coming back to theaters with Bradley Cooper starring as Duke, and Paramount has now given the film an official release date. The reimagining of the Hasbro franchise will hit theaters on October 20, 2028.
The new G.I. Joe movie will be directed by Danny McBride; yes, that Danny McBride. He also wrote the script alongside Jeff Fradley and John Carcieri.
Details are being kept under wraps, but McBride has previously teased that it will not be a comedy. “It grounds G.I. Joe. It’s not a comedy. It’s kind of suspense and action. Yeah, it’s going to be a lot of fun. Whole ensemble,” he said. “You’re following Duke and the other Joes, and there’s that town, Springfield, which is secretly all Cobra. So, that is where our film takes place.“
The G.I. Joe franchise has long been a favourite of McBride’s, so he’s quite passionate about the project. “It was definitely the cartoons and the comics — G.I. Joe was my thing when I was a kid,” he said. “I liked that more than Star Wars, more than anything. I love G.I. Joe. I still have all the characters.“
Longtime G.I. Joe franchise producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura is back to produce this project alongside Mark Vahradian and Zev Foreman for Hasbro Entertainment.
Paramount has already brought G.I. Joe to the big screen three times: 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and 2021’s Snake Eyes. The studio then explored connecting the franchise to Transformers, with the two properties eventually crossing paths at the end of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.
A proper crossover event movie was in development for several years, but is no longer moving forward. Instead, this new movie will serve as a fresh start for the franchise. The previous films never quite clicked with me, but unlike McBride, I was never a big G.I. Joe fan in my youth. That said, a back-to-basics action-adventure might be what this franchise needs.
Now that G.I. Joe has a release date, we should start hearing more about which characters will be joining Duke in the new story. Who would you like to see pop up in the film?