Across the country diehard G.I. Joe fanboys have already been hitting advanced screenings and late shows for the new G.I. Joe: Retaliation film, but for the rest of the known world, the official release date for G.I. Joe: Retaliation is TODAY.
Reaction to the film across the G.I. Joe fandom has been widely positive, though admittedly mainstream critics have been pretty harsh. I have posted my own thoughts in the form of a spoiler-free review on the G.I. Joe: Retaliation review page, and I’ve got a spoiler-filled one coming later on. I figured I’d wait until official release to get that one out to folks, because I have a lot to say based on specific plot points and character aspects.
This also marks the completion of my “Road to Retaliation” event, where I posted daily reviews every single day for pretty much 30 straight days leading up to this film. It was a pretty exhausting project, but I’m glad I was able to stick with it, and judging by my web traffic, everyone else is pretty happy about it, too!
At the end of the day, I’m thrilled that G.I. Joe fans seem to be enjoying and appreciating the merits of G.I. Joe: Retaliation, but in my mind, the box office is the most important thing. Let’s all cross our fingers and hope that the International movie going public flocks to this film and ensures that G.I. Joe is a viable brand going forward. I think we can all agree that whether or not G.I. Joe: Retaliation was a great film, it could serve as an excellent launching point to an even better Hollywood franchise going forward. I desperately hope it has the chance.
Meanwhile, here’s a little flashback to an earlier day… Machinima’s first look at G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Pretty cool to look back on it now.
It’s been a long road, but here we are, almost at the end… We’ve plowed through 38 reasons already, and today, on the eve of the reported G.I. Joe: Retaliation release, Twitziller comes up with the 39th.
#2:
A fantastic concept and the perfect extension of G.I. Joe’s semi-futuristic background, the Battle Kata vest and weapons system has been something that fans and toy makers have latched onto ever since it was first revealed. The armored vest with carefully placed sheaths and holsters has become Roadblock’s trademark look, and Hasbro has amazingly been able to translate the components into the 4″ scale toy. It’s crazy because it seems so close to reality, yet still maintains that close line to science fiction that is G.I. Joe’s specialty.
I’m going to be doing two different reviews for G.I. Joe: Retaliation. The spoiler free version is being posted right now, with the spoiler version coming probably tomorrow. I wanted to get my thoughts out there as quickly and as knee-jerk as I could, but I understand not everyone is seeing the film right away.
Then check back later for the spoiler version, where I’ll get into who lives, who dies, specific plot points and take a much deeper dive into the event that was G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
This has been a fun ride, G.I. Joe fans. A really fun ride. I greatly hope it’s simply one of many more to come.
Way back in 2009, Josh over at YoJoe.com did a contest to guess the Box Office for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra… and guess what? He’s doing it again for G.I. Joe: Retaliation!
The closest guess without going over will be the winner.
Make your guess count (twice, if you want, one guess at each website is allowed) . You can guess at the forum over on YoJoe.com, or comment in this thread to make your guess.
The winner will be announced on Wednesday April 3rd.
Sponsored by GeneralsJoes.com & Yo Joe.com & Paramount Pictures
Prizes Include:
1 G.I. Joe backpack
1 G.I. Joe hat
1 G.I. Joe sweatshirt
1 G.I. Joe: Retaliation movie poster
1 GI Joe IDW GI Joe Retaliation Prequel Trade Paper Back
1 Tactical Ninja Team set
1 Cobra Invasion Team set
Guidelines & Rules:
The Opening Box Office Gross (OBOG), US DOMESTIC ONLY, is determined by the amount of money ($$) that the GI Joe: Retaliation movie earns from tickets sold between Friday, March 29th and Sunday, March 31st ONLY. (This $$ value DOES include midnight screenings starting on 12:00 AM of the 29th).
For the purposes of this contest, the final OBOG will be determined by the box office numbers published on the website Box Office Mojo G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) – Box Office Mojo.
On Wed, April 3rd, the contest will announce its winner based on those $$ numbers that are current for the weekend of March 29th-31st. If Box Office Mojo changes their numbers after Wed the 3rd, the contest will not adjust its winner. As of noon Pacific Time on April 3rd, what Box Office Mojo has as their weekend $$ numbers for GI Joe are the final numbers for this contest.
All OBOG guesses must be submitted correctly at YoJoe.com or GeneralsJoes.com. Any guesses placed after Thursday, March 28th 11:59 PM will be considered invalid.
In order to post your OBOG guess at either of these websites, you must first become a forum member. Membership sign up for Yo Joe is here & GeneralsJoes. Both are free.
The winning OBOG $$ value guess cannot exceed the final OBOG amount.
If there are screenings on Thursday, March 28th or prior to that their box office gross does not count towards this contest’s $$ value, only Fri to Sun is valid.
Guesses are to the dollar value only, if your guess contains cents, it will be rounded up to the next dollar value, no cents are involved.
In the case of an exact tie, the winner is determined by who voted first on the forums (by date first then time, which forum doesn’t matter). Guesses placed in incorrect topics on incorrect forums on incorrect websites will not be counted. Be sure to guess at YoJoe.com or GeneralsJoes.com.
Any edited guesses after the contest is closed will be considered invalid. A guesser IS ALLOWED to make a separate guess in each website’s forum.
In order to verify that your guess has been counted correctly, a PDF will be posted and made available on Tuesday April 2nd for verification. The winner will be notified by their site administrator and arrangements for delivery of the prize pack will be made after Wed, April 3rd. If by the end of Friday, April 5th, the winner has not responded the next closest guess will become the winner by default.
Yo Joe!
In some places in the world (including one of my local theaters… YAY!) G.I. Joe: Retaliation is actually debuting tonight. But still rolling with the official release date, Twitziller posts the latest update today, focusing on filming techniques.
#3:
Considering so many of the trailers and TV spots include shots in the dead of night with explosions and gunfire, it’s pretty evident that lighting is going to play a large role in the way G.I. Joe: Retaliation effectively portrays battle. In fact, even as we see Firefly rolling up on his motorcycle and unleashing his robotic explosive drones the importance of lighting cannot be understated.
It’s always a challenge to show a dark environment, yet allow enough vision so the viewer knows what they’re seeing. From all appearances, G.I. Joe: Retaliation has accomplished this.
