"G.I. Go" with Sommers after all

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Paramount is mobilizing its live-action, big-screen G.I. Joe flick for a summer 2009 release date, with Director Stephen Sommers and Screenwriter Stuart Beattie leading the charge.

He's doing it. He's not doing it. Well, this time it's official.

Variety reports the confirmation of Stephen Sommers as director of Paramount's live-action G.I. Joe, and now there are exciting rumors of a new writer as well.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura will produce with Hasbro chief operating officer Brian Goldner, Sommers and his partner Bob Ducsay. The studio has set a February production start for a summer 2009 release.

While G.I. Joe served failed cinematic tours of duty in the past, its momentum has been helped by Transformers, another cinematic adaptation of a Hasbro brand. That di Bonaventura-produced film has grossed $667 million worldwide for DreamWorks and Paramount.

The movie will be based on the 1980s toy line, Sunbow cartoon and 155-issue Marvel comic book series. In this version, G.I. Joe stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, an international co-ed force of operatives who use hi-tech equipment to battle Cobra, an evil terrorist organization led by Cobra Commander.

IESB reported a few weeks back that Sommers had been tapped to direct the Joe film, and there were rumblings soon after that the Mummy director had backed out due to a salary dispute, but those rumors proved false.

"Marrying Steve's vision with 25 years of this brand mythology feels like a great way to go forward," Hasbro's Goldner said.

Sommers claims himself to be a fan of screenwriter Stuart Beattie's work and sources are telling us that Paramount Studios has hired him on to pen a new script for the potential franchise. Beattie, whose writing credits including the first Pirates of the Caribbean, 30 Days of Night and Collateral, is expected to deliver a script in six to eight weeks.

P. Ryan Anthony
8/24/2007
Source: Variety

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