Snake Eyes creator, Larry Hama, shared details about the future plans for the G.I. Joe franchise. Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins was released in July 2021 and was set to mark a new beginning for the G.I. Joe franchise. The film starred Henry Golding as the title character and explored how he became the legendary ninja as well as his rivalry with Storm Shadow (Andrew Koji). The film also teased the larger world of the conflict between the G.I. Joe team and the villainous organization, Cobra.
The film was a box-office disappointment, opening to number 2 at the box-office in its opening weekend behind M. Night Shyamalan’s Old and fell quickly out of the top 5. As of this writing, the film has grossed $38 million worldwide against a budget of $88 million and a $160 to $175 million breakeven point. The film was hurt by poor word of mouth, the rising concern over the Delta variant, and a release date that was pushed up months in advance with a marketing campaign that had to quickly catch people’s attention. Toys for Snake Eyes had not even been released and are set to hit shelves in October.
Legendary G.I. Joe comic book writer and Snake Eyes creator, Larry Hama, spoke about the long-term plans they had for the future of the franchise in an interview with Comicbookmovie. Hama was brought on as a consultant for Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, and his knowledge of the franchise led to him helping set up and lay the groundwork for future films. Hama confirms the inclusion of Scarlett (Samara Weaving) and The Baroness (Úrsula Corberó) was to tease the larger universe so the next film could hit the ground running as the G.I. Joes and Cobra had already been established. Read what Hama said below:
“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.”
Given the poor box-office performance of Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, it is unlikely any future films will spin-off from this, and any new G.I. Joe film will have to start from scratch with a new Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Storm Shadow, and Baroness. In the 2000s, a film could generate a sequel due to the strong DVD and Blu-ray sales, but as streaming has become a major factor, it has become much harder for a film to prove itself in the post-theatrical market. Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins would have to perform exceptionally well on VOD and Blu-ray for the future plans to move forward.
This is not the end of the G.I. Joe franchise, though. A television series based on the character Lady Jaye is currently in development at Amazon, and a follow-up film to G.I. Joe Retaliation titled G.I. Joe: Ever Vigilant still remains in active development at Paramount Pictures. Given the continued success of the Transformers franchise, there is always a chance Paramount could unite the two Hasbro brands in a film crossover with the Autobots and G.I. Joe teaming up against the Decepticons and Cobra, and that could be used as a vehicle to continue the storyline from Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins.
