Thursday, August 23, 2007

"GI Joe" is a Non-American Hero


From worstpreviews, The upcoming "GI Joe" film has had lots of attention on it to see how the marketing department will handle selling this project to countries outside of the US. With the current war going on in Iraq and with most of the world being against America's involvement, how many people would actually go see this film?

AdAge decided to tackle this question by speaking with Hasbro and Paramount execs, who have states that "there are always challenges. 'GI Joe' is not just a brand that represents the military; it also represents great characters."

The paper confirmed earlier reports that the film might be marketed in the US as "GI Joe" and as "Action Man" overseas. "We'll weigh our options," said Hasbro COO Brian Goldner. "Clearly we do a lot of work on consumer insight."

Paramount's Rob Moore added: "Until there's a [locked] script, I don't think you can really comment on what the international reaction will be. In 'Bourne Ultimatum,' you have the story of what is essentially an American spy. But the characterization of the military and the CIA is: They're the bad guys. In any event, there are parts of the world where it's an issue, like Western Europe, and parts where it isn't, like the U.K., Australia and Asia."

I always thought of "GI Joe" as American heroes (it's in the full title and the song) and now that the studio might change the basic premise, it makes me wonder whether it is a good idea to even proceed with this film. I personally would like this movie to show how great and brave American soldiers are.

2 comments:

DKC said...

Um, seriously, no one out of this country is going to want to see it. They should just market it to the bible-belt and get over it.

Octopunk said...

But...the money! Think of the money!

Yeah, I don't see this as being anything but further embarrassment for our whole country. Johnny Sweatpants said it right:

"In order for GI Joe to succeed, they'll need to distance themselves from the whole Iraq war thinga-ma-doodle and concentrate on the larger than life characters like Storm Shadow, Destro and Zartan."

That's what the execs at Hasbro and Paramount will have to do if they actually want to back up this ridiculous statement:

"'GI Joe' is not just a brand that represents the military; it also represents great characters."

Any "great characters" they have are the fun ones who have more going for them than a buzz cut and olive fatigues, which is all Duke's got. Seriously, can anyone think of a personality trait of Duke's that isn't covered by the sentence "leader of the G.I. Joe team?" Does he have boobs and a crossbow? No. A sailor's hat and a parrot on his shoulder? No. You see my point.

Malevolent

 2018  ***1/2 It's 1986 for some reason, and a team of paranormal investigators are making a big name for themselves all over Scotland. ...