G.I. Joe: Retaliation Commercial Airs During Daytona 500

Rain may have postponed today's Daytona 500 to Monday, for the first time in history, but the weather didn't dampen Paramount's newest G.I. Joe: Retaliation television spot. The 30-second commercial is the second to air on television during a major sporting event following the studio's Super Bowl spot, earlier this month. While much of the footage in the new spot has been seen previously, there are a few new shots peppered into the cut.

Hasbro G.I. Joe Retaliation Figures - A Closer Look

When Hasbro pulled the curtain on their G.I. Joe: Retaliation lineup, today, it surprised many collectors who expected they'd have to wait until Toy Fair, next week, for a full reveal. While the news was exciting, the small photo sizes on Hasbro's Web site left much to be desired. The big guns came out this afternoon (literally and figuratively), however, with large, hi-resolution photos, courtesy of Hasbro's PR firm.

Hasbro Reveals G.I. Joe: Retaliation Lineup

The cat's out of the bag! Hasbro has updated the G.I. Joe section of their Web site revealing a majority of their 2012 G.I. Joe: Retaliation lineup, including figures, battle packs, vehicles and role-play items. Also shown are Hasbro's San Diego Comic-Con 2012 exclusive figures--Kim Arashikage (Jinx) clad in both an updated classically-inspired, red shinobi shozoko and an un-masked variant wearing a white--and vehicle--a Transformers cross-over Shockwave / Hiss Tank v5. Hasbro teases that 14 items are yet to be revealed, one of which can be deduced to be a Joe Colron figure based on the on-page description that reads "...including an all-new, super-heroic take on ROADBLOCK, as well as JOE COLTON, the original founder of the G.I. JOE team."

USA Today Offers First Look at Hasbro's G.I. Joe Retaliation Figures

With Toy Fair quickly approaching, USA Today gives us a first look at some of the G.I. Joe: Retaliation figures Hasbro will have on display in New York, in a little over a week. The sneak peek includes a slideshow with figures of Roadblock, Cobra Commander, Cobra Trooper, Duke, G.I. Joe Trooper, Red Ninja, Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow and Zartan. The aesthetic is similar to the direction we've seen Hasbro take with the final two waves of the 30th Anniversary line. The figures have realistic qualities to them with lots of natural drapes and folds in the fabric sculpt, as well as nods to pop culture reference like the G.I. Joe Trooper, who could easily serve as Spartan alongside Halo's Master Chief. Toy Fair runs February 12-15, with our coverage beginning on February 11.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation Super Bowl Spot Premiers Before the Big Game

It might be one of the most expensive G.I. Joe advertisements ever, despite running only 30 seconds, but the G.I. Joe: Retaliation television spot that will appear during the Super Bowl, this Sunday, will be seen by millions of eyes worldwide. If you can't wait until Sunday to see it, you can catch it now on the iTunes Movie Trailers site or mirrored on YouTube. It's worth noting that at the six second mark, you can see what appears to be our first glimpse of Firefly wearing his balaclava.

G.I. JoeCon 2012 Venue and Date Change Announced

The G.I. Joe Collector's Club has announced a venue and date change for G.I. JoeCon 2012, moving the annual meetup a week back (June 28 - July 1) to the Hilton New Orleans Riverside.

"Please note that due to circumstances beyond our control with the anticipated venue for the convention, the dates of GIJoeCon will now be June 28-July 1 at a new venue, the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. We apologize for any problems or issues this change of date has caused. We hope to see you all in New Orleans June 28-July 1 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. Convention (attending and non-attending) registrations will start sometime in February. Again we apologize for any problems or issues this change of date has caused."

The new date now overlaps with the release of G.I. Joe: Retaliation on June 29. To make hotel reservations, visit the convention's official Web site at GIJoeCon.com.

G.I. Joe Retaliation Advertising Blitz Begins

The on-line advertising blitz for G.I. Joe: Retaliation has started and ESPN.com's NFL section is, ironically, among the first sightings. Ads have been spotted in a couple different sizes, each touting the movie's trailer, its June 29 release date and in some instances links to the movie's social media streams. All of the ads lead to the full trailer on the G.I. Joe movie Web site including an user-interactive ad that plays an abridged teaser of the trailer.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation Trailer Premieres

The trailer for the second, live-action G.I. Joe movie, G.I. Joe: Retaliation debuted today. The nearly three-minute teaser showcased heavy action scenes, familiar characters and vehicles, and hinted at a storyline more in line with the classic cannon than its predecessor, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Initial fan reaction to the trailer, which was announced by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on Twiiter (Roadblock in the sequel) has been overwhelmingly positive. G.I. Joe: Retaliation is slated for a June 29, 2012 release.

Willis Confirmed For G.I. Joe: Retaliation

After weeks of rumors that he was in negotiations to play Gen. Joseph B. Colton--the original G.I. Joe--Bruce Willis has been officially confirmed to the cast of G.I. Joe 2. The confirmation came via a tweet from G.I. Joe: Retaliation co-star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson who tweeted "Welcome brother Bruce Willis to the cast of GI Joe! What an honor."

While the Rock was busy welcoming Willis, G.I. Joe director Jon M. Chu took to Twitter to drop a TwitPic hint with what is now assumed to be the G.I. Joe team's logo for the upcoming sequel. The logo, attached to the front of a green baseball cap, is the same logo used in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and was previously tweeted by Chu.

G.I. Joe 2 Adds Stevenson as Cobra Villain Firefly

Jon M. Chu's G.I. Joe sequel has its first new villain. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ray Stevenson has been cast for the role of Cobra saboteur Firefly, in G.I. Joe 2. Stevenson joins Byung-hun Lee, who will reprise his role as Storm Shadow, as the second confirmed member of the Cobra team. Actors Sienna Miller and Joseph Gordon-Levitt who played Cobra villains Baroness and the Doctor, respectively, in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, will not be back for the sequel. It's unknown if Christopher Eccleston will return as Destro. G.I. Joe 2 begins filming at the end of the summer and is scheduled for an August 2012 release.

G.I. Joe 2 Casts Lady Jaye

It didn't take long for Flint to get his Lady Jaye. Days after the announcement that D.J. Cotrona signed on to play the role of Flint in the second installment of G.I. Joe on the big screen, Deadline.com is reporting that Adrianne Palicki will play Flint's love interest and covert operations specialist Lady Jaye. Palicki was tapped for the starring role in the Wonder Woman television series, which shot a pilot, but wasn't picked up by a network. Deadline.com is also reporting that the original G.I. Joe, Joe Colton, is rumored to have a role in the film and rumblings are that Bruce Willis is a favorite for the part.

G.I. Joe 2 Producer Talks Plot

G.I. Joe 2 producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura revealed some details about the upcoming sequel's plot to MTV News, at the New York City premier of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, on Tuesday. According to di Bonaventura, the film will center heavily around ninjas and the story of Snake-Eyes. "The ninja fans are going to love it," he said. Di Bonaventura also confirmed that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's character Roadblock will have a prominent presence in the film, qualifying the part as a "full-on lead role." Despite rumors of friction between di Bonaventura and Paramount Pictures caused by the studio's handling of the next installment of the franchise, di Bonaventura appears to be pleased with the direction of the sequel.

Two More Actors Join G.I. Joe Sequel

Rapper-turned-actor RZA, of Wu Tang Clan fame, and D.J. Cotrona are reported to be the newest additions to director Jon Chu's G.I. Joe sequel, according to HollywodReporter.com. RZA will play ninja trainer Blind Master, who made a brief appearance in Marvel Comics' A Real American Hero series and who's protege is Jinx, while Cotrona will dawn the special forces beret of warrant office Flint. Earlier today, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson confirmed, via Twitter, that he has officially signed on to play the role of heavy machine gunner and cook Roadblock. We smell what's cookin'!

Jinx Cast for G.I. Joe Sequel

Several media outlets are reporting that 30-year-old French actress Élodie Yung has been tapped to join the cast of G.I. Joe 2. According to the sources, Yung will play Arashikage Clan ninja Jinx, in the Jon M. Chu directed sequel. We speculated on the role, last month, after a cryptic casting call for a female named A.C. began appearing on a number of talent agency Web sites. Yung fits the casting call's requirements, but if that isn't enough evidence, Chu, himself, took the the social networks re-tweeting several messages mentioning Yung's hiring via his twitter account.

Even More G.I. Joe Movie Casting News

Multiple sources are reporting that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is in discussions to appear in the G.I. Joe movie sequel, Cobra Strikes. According to Deadline.com, Johnson would be cast as heavy machine gunner Roadblock. While Paramount and Johnson negotiate the details of his services, ComicBookMovie.com is reporting that IMDB is confirming (you'll have to pony up for a subscription if you want to verify the information) Stephen Martines for the role of Cross. It's widely assumed that Cross--as noted in the casting call--is Cross-Counrty, the country music loving driver of the H.A.V.O.C.

More G.I. Joe Sequel Casting News

Filtering through the Justin Bieber tweets in Never Say Never director Jon Chu's Twitter-stream makes it particularly difficult to spot G.I. Joe news, but we found an interesting exchange directed at Chu from former WWE wrestler Shad Gaspard. Gaspard, who's Twitter username is @Shadbeast, sent two messages to Chu, @jonmchu, on May 14 introducing himself, linking to his IMDB demo reel, and noting he auditioned for a role in Chu's upcoming movie. The next day, when asked, by one of his followers, what movie the audition was for Gaspard replied "it's a military film, one I'm really excited about." Chu has yet to publicly respond to Gaspard, but we suspect the audition was for a role in G.I. Joe: Cobra Strikes, which Chu is directing. There was no mention of the role for which the 30-year-old, six-foot, six-inch Gaspard was auditioning. Chu is in New Orleans preparing to start filming.

G.I. Joe Movie Sequel Casting for Jinx?

According to disney-channel-auditions.com, a casting call has been issued to place a 20-30 year old, athletic Asian female for a lead role as a ninja-in-training in G.I. Joe 2. The character's name is listed only as A.C. We did a little filecard sleuthing to see if we could verify the initials as being Jinx, but the name is classified on all filecards. There are some comic references linking Jinx to the name Kimi Arashikage, cousin to Storm Shadow, making here a member of the Arashikage Clan. Could A.C. be a veiled abbreviation for the Arashikage Clan in order to keep the character's identity a secret?

Image Credit: Joelist

And the Title to the G.I. Joe Sequel is... G.I. Joe: Cobra Strikes

After announcing that the sequel to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was set to begin production in Louisiana, state officials quickly retracted their statement--at Paramount Studios' request--saying only that the studio was seriously considering the pelican state. The reason for the retraction isn't clear, what is clear is that the sequel has been given a tentative title; G.I. Joe: Cobra Strikes.

Cobra Strikes is set to begin a five-month shooting stint starting in New Orleans on August 1. The sequel returns Channing Tatum and Ray Park, who will reprise their roles as Duke and Snake Eyes, respectively.

SOURCE: NOLA.com

Director Jon Chu Talks G.I. Joe 2

Although there hasn't been an official announcement from Paramount Pictures, it's widely known that Jon Chu has been tapped to direct the sequel to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, slated for an August 2012 release. The initial reaction to the Never Say Never director's selection was critical, as questions surrounding Chu's lack of experience in the action genre arose. Reports even surfaced of producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura clashing with Paramount president Adam Goodman because of Chu's hiring.

The Deadbolt, who spoke with Chu about his latest dance DVD release, The LXD, briefly quizzed him about his involvement with G.I. Joe 2. Chu, who admitted he "grew up playing with G.I. Joes and watching Joe and reading the comics," addressed his naysayers. "I can’t ever change what people think. Throughout my whole life it's been, 'Oh, how can this guy who's not a dancer do a dance movie? How can this guy who has never done a movie do a movie? How can this guy who has never done a documentary do a documentary?' Every step of the way, it's always been that." Chu further explained that his vision for G.I. Joe is grittier and revolves around storytelling, character evolving and reintroducing the Joe experience in a different way.

G.I. Joe 2 Movie Casting News

According to Moviehole, G.I. Joe sequel director John Chu is casting a 25-35 year-old male, of any ethnicity, to fill the role of a character described as Cross. Speculation is that Cross is actually Cross-Country, the country music loving member of the G.I. Joe team and driver of the H.A.V.O.C. Cross-Country was featured in a 1986 episode of the A Real American Hero animated series titled "Into Your Tent I Will Silently Creep."