Rumor has it, Paramount Pictures realizes that it has made a complete miscalculation by killing off Channing Tatum's character in the sequel, forcing the filmmakers to do a reshoot.
- May 30, 2012
AceShowbiz - It has been widely presumed that "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" was pushed back until 2013 to give enough time for its conversion into 3D, but now rumor has it that the 3D retouch was not the actual reason behind Paramount Pictures' abrupt decision. Deadline has learned that the movie was postponed due to a miscalculated plot related to Channing Tatum's Duke.
Tatum was relatively unknown when he first starred in "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra", but since his recent back-to-back successes in both "The Vow" and "21 Jump Street", Paramount moguls reportedly realized "what a complete miscalculation it was to kill off Channing Tatum in the sequel." An insider went on revealing that "the 3D is an excuse as to not reveal the Tatum of it all."
The source elaborated further, "In our first screening of the film the reaction from audiences was good but with 2 big concerns: 1) They didn't like the fact that Channing and The Rock really didn't have any time to develop a friendship before Channing died, and 2) Why wasn't it going to be in 3D?"
"We went back and shot another week with Channing to develop more of his story with The Rock, which made the film play much better," the source went on revealing. "But we didn't have the time to be in 3D."
According to the same source, Paramount has also learned from the box office performance of "Battleship" and "John Carter" and decided to polish "G.I. Joe 2" to avoid the same flop. "That was just a wake-up call that said to us we need to offer the best version of the film irrespective of summer market share to ensure the best possible performance," explained the source. "And not being in 3D will cost us a ton of business internationally."
Previously, it was announced that Paramount has decided to delay the release date for "G.I. Joe 2" from June 29 this year to March 29, 2013. Words were, Hollywood was shocked over the postponement news since Paramount had been massively promoting the sequel movie including making a Super Bowl ad earlier this year.
"G.I. Joe 2" will bring back Tatum, Ray Park and Lee Byung-hun as Duke, Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow respectively. They will be joined by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Roadblock, Adrianne Palicki as Lady Jaye, Elodie Yung as Jinx, and Bruce Willis as General Joseph Colton.
