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Looking at how the G.I. Joe franchise has fared so far, nobody would be shocked in the slightest if the Lady Jaye TV show announced to be in the works at Amazon earlier this year never made it out out development hell. Even if it does, based on the brand’s track record it’ll probably be cancelled after one season.
Hasbro’s toyetic series has now gone zero-for-three, with Stephen Sommers’ The Rise of Cobra, Jon M. Chu’s Retaliation and Robert Schwentke’s Snake Eyes all failing to generate a direct sequel. The latter in particular failed dismally even by the standards of the pandemic era, topping out with a box office haul of just $37 million.
Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura already admitted that he’s had a sequel pitch rejected by Paramount, and in a new interview with ComicBookMovie, Snake Eyes creator Larry Hama revealed the planned expansion of the G.I. Joe universe in the aftermath of Henry Golding’s standalone origin story.
“The idea was to set up all these things that could be utilized in subsequent sequels or continuations. That’s why Scarlett and Baroness are brought in, they don’t play a super active part in the ongoing scenario within the movie, they are really there to tease the bigger universe and for what comes next. In a movie like this, you want to establish all these things ahead of time, so next time, you’re ready to roll.”
One of the most glaring recurring problems in modern blockbuster cinema is the relentless desire to spend far too much time in the first installment of a proposed franchise nodding towards what’s coming next at the expense of the story being told, a trap Snake Eyes regularly fell into. There’s no point introducing fan favorite characters for a few minutes and ending on a sequel-baiting note when more adventures are entirely dependent on audiences actually being interested in the movie that’s being presented.