Paramount Pictures and Hasbro have passed on Max Landis’ pitch for a G.I. Joe reboot, according to Variety. This report follows the news that surfaced on Feb. 27, suggesting that Paramount was developing two different pitches for a new G.I. Joe movie. One would be written by The Righteous Gemstones creator Danny McBride, while the other would be from Landis, whose previous credits include Chronicle and Bright. Paramount is reportedly still working with McBride to develop his pitch.
Variety says Paramount passed on Landis’ G.I. Joe pitch due to creative differences. Reached for comment by the trade, Landis said his pitch came together “very serendipitously based on the coolness of the weird and subversive idea.” What was that weird and subversive idea? Landis said his picture would have imagined a world where the Joe foes in the global criminal organization known as Cobra had “successfully taken over the world and reduced GI Joe to a conspiracy theory. But this is just how big IP development always is. Honestly, I was surprised it was reported at all.” Despite the way things turned out, Landis added that he was “Tremendously grateful to have been given the opportunity.”
There are several reasons Paramount might have passed on Landis’ pitch. One is that despite Landis calling his pitch “weird and subversive,” the idea of Cobra taking over the world was already done in 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which included a shot of the Cobra flag being flown over the White House. The other is that Paramount executives likely took notice of the controversy that erupted after news broke that Landis had been offered the opportunity to pitch a new G.I. Joe movie.
Landis, son of filmmaker John Landis, has been accused by multiple women of harassment and assault. Furthermore, aside from Chronicle, which was released nearly 15 years ago, his filmography is light on critical or commercial hits. Why would Paramount hire someone who’s been dogged by bad publicity and has such a spotty track record at the box office?
Whatever happened behind the scenes, Landis is just the latest in a string of “canceled” men that Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has been linked to at Paramount. In 2019, he hired former Pixar CEO John Lasseter to lead Skydance Animation; more recently, director Brett Ratner has been linked to a pending fourth Rush Hour movie. Both have been accused of harassment and/or assault, making them less likely to turn down an offer from Ellison — unlike Rogue One co-writer Gary Whitta, who turned down an offer to pitch a new G.I. Joe movie because of Ellison’s ties to the Trump administration.
The news that Landis is no longer involved with G.I. Joe will come as a relief to many fans, but his involvement in the first place is the latest in a long line of decisions that show Paramount doesn’t seem to know what to do with G.I. Joe. The franchise has been defined by disappointing starts and stops, with only two connected films produced from 2009 to 2013. The most recent film, 2021’s Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, bombed at the box office and had its sequel plans scrapped. Despite 2023’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts teasing a long-awaited live-action crossover between G.I. Joe and Transformers, no news has surfaced since.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
