Sitting down for an interview with Collider, director D.J. Caruso explained his vision for G. I. Joe 3 since leaving the project to film xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. His vision included… Transformers.
“Before I started this movie I had a couple meetings with Dwayne and the studio about what could happen with G.I. Joe. The franchise has been fairly successful, but there’s something about it that’s just not fully, fully clicking.
Well yeah but they’re not ready to do [G.I. Joe meets Transformers] yet. That’s exactly what they should do but they’re not ready to do that because in fact the script that I was developing, the two worlds sort of collided at the end and when they read it they were like, ‘We’re not ready to do this yet.’… They will eventually collide those two worlds and it’s probably when Mr. Bay decides he’s done with Transformers.”
Despite the quietness, it’s clear that Hasbro and Paramount still care so much for the G. I. Joe franchise:
“It came close but I think what the studio was trying to do was reassess it and so now they’re back to the drawing board, and we’ll be talking again about it. It’s a valuable franchise—[it’s] not that they didn’t get it right, they just wanna really get it right and see if they can push it to the next level.”
Now that the sequel to xXx is nearly done, the director is set to enter discussion regarding his involvement with G. I. Joe 3.
TLP
I'd rather see the GI Joe Renegades versions of the GI Joe crossover with the TF Aligned Universe.
Daimao
I said most of the costumes. And None of the ones you mentioned were even "spot on", they all had liberties taken to make them look at least a little more realistic. Cobra Commander, Vipers, Destro or any of the Village People lookin Joes would look incredibly stupid outside of anything but a cartoon.
cappeca
That's a non-issue, considering Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Firefly and the Baroness for example. You're trying to discredit a point that was already made on the first two movies. It's like saying Optimus Prime could never be a COE in the movies because there wouldn't be enough mass for him to transform.
MGX
I think the idea is more stories or better stories with the original cast and designs. Imagine G1, but with Beast Wars, Prime or IDW level storytelling?
Beloved characters, familiar looks and world, great stories.
With all of the pointless redesigns (Transformers, G.I. Joe, TMNT, Masters, Jem, Power Rangers) that try to reinvent the wheel and fail, why not give spot on television or toy looks a try? Especially with a Hollywood budget. You're watching G.I. Joe, expect G.I. Joe.
sevenlima
That's funny, PR is also a archaic franchise but there's people still loves.
Ash from Carolina
Feels like that is kind of an insult to some amazingly skilled cosplayers out there. Yea sure my stuff isn't the world's most amazing costuming but I have seen plenty of GI Joe and Cobra costumers where I had to say wow that is some great work, attention to detail, and damn that's a nice costume.
Plus costumes get tweaked all the time for the big screen because there is so much of a difference in the art of comic books, cartoons, and live action. Deadpool wasn't 100% comic book for the live action movie but fans could still go damn that's a great live action translation of the costume. Iron Man, Captain America, heck all of the Marvel/Disney movies have differences in the live action big budget live action movie designs and the comic books. So I don't think we could say oh never ever would the classic A Real American Hero look work for a live action GI Joe movie. Really the only things you'd have to change are the bits that were just too 80's and never ever touch anything from the neon era of GI Joe toys. Sure some Joes have an off the wall look like Blowtorch, Barbecue, Sci-Fi, or Quick Kick ever getting to go to a restaurant, but Roadblock in a tank top wouldn't be all that insane and other than the camo pattern being outdated noting really insane about the original look of Stalker.
Scourgatron
I want a straight Joe reboot set in the 80's. Don't merge those two turds of movies together
Ironhide1234
How?
TFFan01
Dunno about the cartoon (haven't watched it) but in the comics (Marvel), human organizations such as RAAT were able to damage TFs in certain occasions.
I don't have a problem with TFs getting damaged and killed by human military but they shouldn't do the most of the job.
Daimao
Yes. Yes it is. If you want something exactly like the original then why not just watch the original? Without some reimagining brands would grow stale and boring.
edit: also, most of the costumes from G.I.Joe would probably look ridiculous if duplicated spot on from the cartoon. Just look at some of the cosplay out there.
dirtmodeler
I wish they would make a live action movie that followed the old cartoon styling… just once? no re-envisioning.. no rebooting… no super special uniforms or designs.. Cobra Ninja in a white cloth outfit, the Blue Cobra Rattler A10 Warthog, Bumblebee as a volkswagen bug… and Devastator as 6 green construction vehicles..
is that too much to ask!?
SMOG
My feeling about GIJOE and Transformers crossing over has always been this:
You can put GIJOE into Transformers, but you can't put Transformers into GIJOE.
Transformers can always interact with a human special military force full of colourful characters. It works in their fiction, and in fact, most versions of the Transformers fiction incorporates some variation on this idea).
But you can't drop Transformers into GIJOE's narrative universe without shaking everything up, and losing touch with some of GIJOE's core appeal. Basically, adding Cybertronians to GIJOE breaks their universe.
Which makes this weirdly similar to the old Marvel Comics #2 with Spider-Man… it's okay for a guest appearance, but beyond that, you just can't graft Transformers to the Marvel Universe without one of those universes screwing up the other. So yeah. GIJOE can make appearances in Transformers, but otherwise the streams shouldn't cross.
zmog
SouthtownKid
NEST is great and everything, yeah, close to GI Joe in theory. But not the GI Joe for a Joe/TF team-up that has both on equal footing with their own importance. Completely background players in a purely TF story. So again, fine for Transformers. But it would serve the GI Joe franchise horribly.
So yeah, I'd love for them to try at some point. But they HAVE to get the GI Joe movie franchise working properly first. Doing a team up now is not going to kick start Joe and get it functioning right; it's going to make the Joe franchise look weaker and more useless than it already does right now.
I know a lot of TF fans complain about the Bay movies and have all sorts of reasons why they think they don't work. But as a longtime GI Joe fan, I would love for that franchise to get even one movie that works as well for Joe as even the worst Bay movie does for Transformers. Before that happens as a bare minimum, forget trying anything else with it.
Novaburnhilde
How disappointing.
I'd love to see a live action (Hell I'd even take an animated film) that featured both G.I. Joe and Transformers. Always love those crossovers.
Daimao
I think it could be really awesome if planned for and well written. The TF movies have so much focus on human characters anyways, might as well make them Joes so we get good characters out of them.
cappeca
Pretty much all that.
BumblebeeFan71
The Transformers in the movies aren't really fragile. They tend to take a beating thanks to certain types of weapons, but they are pretty minor and they can survive it unless the humans are in large numbers. Another thing is when humans do kill Transformers, they tend to have another Transformer with them to deal out most of the damage. I mean while Ratchet did get one of his legs blasted off because of Cemetery Wind, it was Lockdown who dealt the biggest damage and the killing blow.
MGX
I agree. If the movie is pro-Transformers, the Joes should be ineffective against the Transformers (like the military was in G1 cartoon and comics). If the pendulum swings in G.I. Joe's favor, then the TFs will be as fragile as the Bayformers.
Megastar
They would have to reboot both franchises to make this crossover work.