January 23, 2013

‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’: 4 minutes to screen with ‘Hansel & Gretel’

Posted in: Movies

Bruce Willis plays Joe Colton in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Jaimie Trueblood / Paramount Pictures)

Dwayne Johnson plays Roadblock in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Paramount Pictures)

Adrianne Palicki plays Lady Jaye in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Jaimie Trueblood / Paramount Pictures)

D.J. Cotrona plays Flint in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Jaimie Trueblood / Paramount Pictures)

Elodie Yung plays Jinx in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Jaimie Trueblood / Paramount Pictures)

Cobra Commander, center, in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Jaimie Trueblood / Paramount Pictures)

Ray Park plays Snake Eyes in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Jaimie Trueblood / Paramount Pictures)

Byung-Hun Lee plays Storm Shadow in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Jaimie Trueblood / Paramount Pictures)

Ray Stevenson plays Firefly in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Paramount Pictures)

Dwayne Johnson as Roadblock, left, and Channing Tatum as Duke in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Paramount Pictures)

Byung–Hun Lee plays Storm Shadow, left, and Ray Park plays Snake Eyes in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Paramount Pictures)

Dwayne Johnson as Roadblock, left, and Bruce Willis as Colton in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Jaimie Trueblood / Paramount Pictures)

Ray Park as Snake Eyes, left, and Elodie Yung as Jinx in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Jaimie Trueblood / Paramount Pictures)

Adrianne Palicki as Lady Jaye, left, and Bruce Willis as Colton in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Jaimie Trueblood / Paramount Pictures)

Channing Tatum as Captain Duke Hauser, left, and Dwayne Johnson as Roadblock in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Jaimie Trueblood / Paramount Pictures)

Adrianne Palicki as Lady Jaye in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Jaimie Trueblood / Paramount Pictures)

Ray Park as Snake Eyes, left, and Dwayne Johnson as Roadblock in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Jaimie Trueblood / Paramount Pictures)

A scene from "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." (Paramount Pictures)

The G.I. Joes will once again face off against terrorist organization Cobra in “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” March 29, but fans can get their first glimpse of the film this weekend in a four-minute preview set to screen before certain showings of “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.”

The first look debuts Thursday and will play before “Hansel & Gretel” showings in IMAX 3D, RealD 3D and digital 3D theaters.

“Retaliation” — the second installment in the “G.I. Joe” film franchise — was originally slated to be released last summer, but five weeks before it was to arrive in theaters, the studio announced it would be delayed, reportedly to allow time for conversion into 3-D. The decision was a surprise, even to the film’s director, Jon M. Chu, but Paramount Pictures hopes the sequel will be a success, partly because it cost $125 million to produce — about $50 million less than 2009′s “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,” which grossed $300 million worldwide — and partly because it adds big-budget action stars Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis to the cast.

Johnson plays Roadblock, a heavy machine gunner in the Hasbro action figure line and Marvel comics on which the films are based, and Willis plays Joe Colton — the series’ namesake. “Retaliation” aims to bridge the gap between fans of the 1960s toy line, in which G.I. Joe was an individual soldier, and the 1980s comics and animated series, in which the G.I. Joes were a team.

“I was someone who grew up with the action figures, so when I saw the animated series I was like, ‘What the hell is this?’ That wasn’t the Joe in my imagination,” the film’s producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura told Hero Complex last year. “In this movie putting a face on who Joe is — in Bruce Willis — and that idea of having the original Joe is great for the audience that doesn’t know the Joe of the 1980s but knows the Joe of the 1960s and 1970s. There’s a combination of these things coming together in a really great way.”

The film also stars Channing Tatum, Adrianne Palicki, RZA, Ray Park, Ray Stevenson, Walton Goggins, Joseph Mazzello, Byung-hun Lee, Elodie Yung, Arnold Vosloo and Jonathan Pryce. Click through the gallery above for a look at some of their roles.

Meanwhile, Paramount’s “Hansel & Gretel” — in which the children from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale grow up and become revenge-hungry, witch-hunting vigilantes — officially opens Friday, with select late-night showings Thursday.

That film stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the title characters, as well as Famke Janssen and Peter Stormare.

– Noelene Clark
Twitter.com/@NoeleneClark

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