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WE’RE BACK! This is Adam Frazier and you are listening to Skull-Face Island, the official movie podcast of Geeks of Doom! As always I’m joined by the Toad to my Wet Sprocket, David Allen… and the Island’s foremost expert on vintage racquetball goggles, producer Tim Grant.

Today on the Show: We’ll discuss Jon M. Chu’s latest film, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, as well as Danny Boyle‘s psychosexual thriller, Trance. We’ll also boot-up the Geek-O-Matic TeleFax for all the latest news on James Gunn‘s Guardians of the Galaxy and Christopher Nolan’s upcoming sci-fi thriller, Interstellar.

Finally, if you’ve been a regular listener of the show, you’ve probably noticed we’ve been absent over the past couple of weeks. Well, there’s a good reason for that – and you’ll hear all about it in today’s third segment where we talk to The Prince of Darkness himself, Satan. It looks like Hell is coming to Skull-Face Island… I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

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Obviously a nine-month delay didn’t hurt the box office gross for G.I. Joe Retaliation. The Jon Chu film was the number one film at the box office earning upwards to $41 million, and since those kinds of numbers bring a smile to any studio head, it’s no surprise that there is going to be a G.I. Joe 3 in the works.

Variety confirmed the story, which seemed highly unlikely given the critical reaction the film received when it was originally scheduled for a summer 2012 release and the nine-month delay that was ordered for the film to undergo 3D conversions. But since the film was successful, not so much from a critical standpoint, we are getting a third G.I. Joe film.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Directed by Jon M. Chu
Screenplay by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Channing Tatum, Ray Park, Bruce Willis
Paramount Pictures
Rated PG-13 | 110 Minutes
Release Date: March 28, 2013

Directed by Jon M. Chu (Step Up 3D), G.I. Joe: Retaliation is the sequel to Stephen Sommers’ instantly forgettable 2009 film, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

At the conclusion of that film, Zartan (Arnold Vosloo), having had his physical appearance altered by nanomites, infiltrates the White House and assumes the identity of the President of the United States of America (Jonathan Pryce).

Chu’s sequel begins with Zartan in control of the United States government. The master of make-up and disguise frames the G.I. Joes as traitors and launches an all-out attack on the Joes, wiping out their ranks (including Channing Tatum‘s Sgt. Duke) in one fell swoop.

Meanwhile, Storm Shadow (Lee Byung-hun) and Firefly (Ray Stevenson) infiltrate a top-secret subterranean prison to free Cobra Commander. Previously portrayed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the supreme leader of COBRA is played by Australian actor Luke Bracey this time around and voiced by Robert Baker.

Cobra Commander’s plan is simple: eliminate the world’s stockpile of nuclear weapons so COBRA can rule the world unopposed by using Zeus, a sub-orbital weapon of mass destruction that’s twice as powerful as a nuclear bomb.

Just last week, Paramount abruptly decided to push G.I. Retaliation from its original June 29th release to March 29th 2013, to convert the film into 3D. Many, including ourselves, did not buy the act for one bit. Some news confirms that the film is not testing as well as the studio had hoped and also opening up against the likes of The Amazing Spider-Man, which opens five days after G.I. Retaliation, had forced Paramount to make its decision to push back the release date. But there is more to it than that, much more.

Part of the reason why the film isn’t testing as well as the studio would have hoped is because the first film’s major protagonist, Duke (played by Channing Tatum), is barely in this sequel. Test audiences loved the on-screen chemistry between Duke and Roadblock (played by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson). Tatum’s recent success has made him a huge draw and a very likable person amongst audiences, so it was a surprise that he’s not going to be a big part of this follow-up. This, along with the reactions from those same test audiences saying the entire movie was either bad or just mediocre, doesn’t spell box office gold for Paramount.

Those among us who were looking forward to seeing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Bruce Willis team up to kick some Cobra ass next month in the increasingly badass-looking sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation are in for a mighty disappointment. Nikki Finke at Deadline reported today that Paramount Pictures has decided to pull Retaliation from its June 29 release date and delay it until March 29 of next year so that the film can undergo a 3D conversion.

“We’re going to do a conscientious 3D job because we’ve seen how it can better box office internationally,” an unnamed executive at Paramount told Finke. “Jim Cameron did all of Titanic‘s 3D in post — and look how well that movie turned out.”

G.I. Joe: Retaliation #3
Official Movie Prequel
Written by John Barber
Art by Salvador Navarro and Atilio Rojo
Colors by Esther Sanz
Letters by Shawn Lee
Cover by Salvador Navarro
IDW Publishing
Release Date: March 28th, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Joe fans, you’re in for a treat! G.I. Joe Retaliation #3 is chock full of a story you’d never expect to read. And, it begs a LOT of questions about G.I. Joe Retaliation. I can honestly say, that reading this comic is getting me more excited for the movie.

Writer John Barber throws a wrench into the plan here. Normally movie prequels are stories like the 5 minutes leading up to the first scene or just some generic stories about the characters that appear in the film. But this book is a lot different. It’s actually really interesting to read and, as I stated earlier, is getting me more excited for G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation #2
Official Movie Prequel
Written by John Barber
Art by Salvador Navarro and Atilio Rojo
Colors by Esther Sanz
Letters by Chris Mowry
Covers by Salvador Navarro
IDW Publishing
Release Date: February 29, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

With just four months to go until this summer’s biggest blockbuster (sorry, Avengers), it’s time to start getting EXCITED!!! And G.I. Joe: Retaliation #2 will get you excited. Although, I’m afraid that for the spoiler-free, this might come with a bit of a caution sign.

Writer John Barber does a fantastic job of giving you, largely, Roadblock’s origin. And an extra kudos for throwing in some great classic Roadblock traits and HEY! in this issue, you can LITERALLY smell what The Rock is cookin’!

G.I. Joe: Retaliation #1
Official Movie Prequel
Written by John Barber
Art by Salvador Navarro
Colors by Esther Sans
Letters by Chris Mowry
Covers by Salavador Navarro
IDW Publishing
Release Date: February 15, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Even though many movie tie-ins are generally not thought of too highly or are dismissed by most retailers, there are exceptions to that rule and G.I. Joe: Retaliation #1: Official Movie Prequel is one of them. Why? Let me explain.

John Barber gives us exactly what we want in this comic: an awesome summer movie in comic form. It’s everything you want to see in a G.I. Joe movie — ninjas, gun fights, action, conflict, drama, and more.

A few years ago I, like many, wouldn’t have thought a second G.I. Joe movie to be a likelihood. While G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was a spazztastic joy-bomb of a movie that bled pure, unadulterated fun from its pores, it wasn’t quite the moneymaker that Hasbro’s other big screen franchise brand, Transformers, had become. But after three years it looks like we’re getting a sequel to The Rise of Cobra, and not only does G.I. Joe: Retaliation look a lot better than its predecessor but it appears that director Jon M. Chu (Step Up 3D) and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland), along with a mighty cast, have made a real-as-rhubarb G.I. Joe movie.

The movie isn’t due in theaters until this summer but in the past two months the studio has released a teaser trailer and Super Bowl spot that both garnered positive reaction, something that the early trailers for The Rise of Cobra couldn’t quite accomplish and thus hurt its chances at the box office.

Today Paramount Pictures and MGM have released an international trailer for the movie. You can watch it here below.

With the Super Bowl set to kick off in just a matter of days, film studios are not wasting any time getting either their entire spots, or the buzz started surrounding their spots, for some of 2012’s most hyped projects.

Full spots have been released for Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming film The Dictator, as well as G.I. Joe: Retaliation. On top of that, teasers have been posted for The Avengers and John Carter, hinting at the spots which will premiere during the game on Sunday.

You can see the Super Bowl spots and teasers below.