When it was announced that the release of Paramount’s upcoming sequel “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” was being pushed back nearly a year, the official reason was so that the studio could post-convert it to the more lucrative 3D format. Rumors abounded, however, that the real reason for the delay was to re-shoot several scenes in order to expand Channing Tatum’s onscreen presence, since he became a bankable star after “Joe” wrapped.
A new international trailer doesn’t provide much evidence to support that widely-held belief however, as Mr. Tatum is still only a minimal presence in the proceedings.
After a brief scene featuring Tatum, the focus shifts once again to mostly-new Joe team members Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, D.J. Cotrona, Ray Park, Adrianne Palicki and Elodie Yung. The “original” G.I. Joe Bruce Willis even makes the same entrance as in the previous trailer — spraying machine gun fire from the back of a pick-up and joking about his high cholesterol. There seems to be a bit more exposition, but the action mostly looks familiar from previous clips.
Watch it here:
Could Paramount be hiding the beefed-up Tatum footage (or perhaps just fine-tuning it in post-production)? Or was the delay really just about 3D conversion? Only time will tell. It’s certainly curious that this new trailer makes no mention of 3D though.
The plot — the U.S. president (Jonathan Pryce) is being impersonated by Cobra for nefarious reasons — is really besides the point, and hopefully director John M. Chu has crafted a fun, escapist summer movie that will actually beat summer by a few months.
“G.I. Joe: Retaliation” opens March 29, 2013.