When Paramount announced May 23 that it was moving G.I. Joe: Retaliation from its June 29 release date to March 2013, nostrils started to quiver throughout the industry.
The explanation the studio was selling — that it needed time to turn
the sequel into a 3D spectacle — didn’t seem to pass the smell test.
Why bump a $125 million-budgeted tentpole starring Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis
five weeks before its scheduled release after launching a
multimillion-dollar marketing campaign that included a pricey Super Bowl
spot?
“They eat all of that money,” notes one prominent producer. “And when
you yank a movie at the last minute, it does not send an encouraging
signal.”
Paramount sources say studio chair Brad Grey and vice chair Rob Moore felt the expense was preferable to a duel with Sony’s franchise reboot The Amazing Spider-Man, out July 3.
