The internet is angry this day as news is spreading that Paramount Pictures have made the decision to delay the release of ‘GI Joe 2: Retaliation’ into 2013. The film stars both the Rock and Bruce Willis and is the follow up film to the Stephen Sommers directed ‘GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra’ that was released back in 2009.
What is so controversial about this decision is not only the fact that the film was so close to release and in fact had marketing campaigns underway but the reasons behind the delay seemingly being due to the decision to develop a post-conversion 3D cut of the film.
It appears that the film will undergo what is currently expected to be a nine month delay in its release schedule, with the new timing of March 2013 in place. The change in schedule will also see the film avoid being placed near the next few powerhouse US summer releases including ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ as well as other likely popular films such as ‘Total Recall’ and ‘The Bourne Legacy’. With the removal of ‘GI Joe: Retaliation’ from the current blockbuster period, Paramount Pictures presence this season is vastly reduced primarily leaving ‘Madagascar 3’ and ‘Katy Perry’ to fill the void.
The decision to delay the film is without a doubt disappointing however any concern that Paramount may have had about the impact of competing blockbuster releases is understandable. That said, the decision to delay the film for 3D post-conversion comes across like a last minute strategy to bolster the films theatrical revenues.
Not-being filmed in 3D originally it is likely that 3D was not even in mind during the films production which will limit the success of a post-conversion. While there have been some better 3D post-conversions in the last year overall the vast majority of post-converted films do not produce good results.
Paramount appeared to be quite successful with delaying the release of ‘Shutter Island’, whether they’ll repeat that success through the delay of ‘GI Joe: Retaliation’ remains to be seen. Either way we can only hope that theatres will still offer a decent amount of opportunity to see the film as it was originally going to be released, projected as a 2D image.
Let us know what you think of the delay, are you disappointed or don’t care?
