Paramount Pictures has found the leading hero for Danny McBride’s upcoming G.I. Joe movie, with Bradley Cooper tapped to play Duke, the field commander of the iconic fictional military unit.
As reported by Deadline, Cooper was said to be at the top of director McBride’s wishlist of actors for the film, with the American Sniper star signing on to the project after reading the script despite his busy schedule directing and starring in the upcoming Ocean’s prequel.
McBride will helm the upcoming film and write its screenplay alongside Jeff Fradley and John Carcieri, with the currently untitled movie produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, and Zev Foreman for Hasbro Entertainment. The film is set to be a reimagining of the franchise, although specific plot details remain under wraps for now.
Separately, it was also announced that the previously planned crossover movie between Hasbro’s two major franchises – G.I. Joe and Transformers – has now been scrapped. Announced back in 2023, the crossover was initially set up during Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which saw its protagonist Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos) being approached by Agent Burke (Michael Kelly), a recruiter for G.I. Joe. This was meant to lead into a crossover movie starring Chris Hemsworth as Duke, but those plans have now been dropped, seemingly in favour of McBride’s standalone film.
First launched in the 1960s as a realistic soldier toy line, G.I. Joe would go on to become a cartoon and comic series in the 1980s, introducing the world to iconic characters like Duke, Snake Eyes, and Cobra Commander. The franchise previously received two live-action movies from Paramount – 2009’s G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra and its 2013 sequel, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which saw Channing Tatum as Duke. The franchise would go on to receive a 2021 spin-off, Snake Eyes, which featured Henry Golding as the titular character.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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