2013 is a completely new fiscal year with its own marketing budget.

The Rock tweeted he's behind the project. He also tweeted they are deisgning new scenes for 3D, so it isn't just about conversion. As long as he fully supports the movie, I don't think butts in seats will be an issue.

As for the toys...

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People have been making statements like "It was moved because of the competition of Avengers, DKR, and Spider-Man."

1. Avengers will continue making money into June and July, but at that point it'll have been out for two months.
2. DKR is 3 weeks after Retaliation was going to hit, which was plenty of time for it to be tops of the box office for a few weeks (especially since it was coming out during the prime time of July 4th weekend.
3. Spider-Man was it's biggest competition, as it releases a few days after Retaliation would have. But I honestly don't think it would have been a world beater. When the trailer for it was finished (before the Avengers showing) my buddy Ivan said "they're making another one?" There is NOT a lot of buzz for the movie, IMO, and while it might end up doing well and being a good movie, I don't think it would have killed Retaliation's take over the 3 weeks following (especially if Retaliation had good word of mouth buzz). After Spider-Man 3 I think people were ready to let Spider-Man lay low for much longer than they are. And Lizard isn't a great villain either, IMO.

I don't know, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole thing, but I can honestly say that yesterday was one of the crappiest days I've had as a GI Joe fan in my 10 years of adult collecting.

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I know that they don't owe us anything, but I really hope that have some kind of plan concerning their toy release over the next months to keep the brand alive until march.

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As I've thought about it more, I'm thinking it's also an accounting move of some sort. Here are my theories:

1.) They decided there was some way to maximize the loss they will take from Battleship, tax-wise, so that even if they have to spend more on the Joe movie and/or marketing (next year as pluv notes) that they believe they are one step ahead financially. It seems risky to me, and it's definitely unorthodox. But they are a business, and if that's what the bean-pushers say, the execs are likely to listen.

2.) As I said before, they could just be protecting Joe from being tainted by the fall out from Battleship, or

3.) I don't know much about the Battleship movie, but if I read right, it was not done in any way in 3D. Could it be that somebody calling the shots has simply decided that 3D is why Battleship bombed, and they don't want to expose Joe to the market without the 3D gimmick? sure it's a choice arguably just as bad as including large honking action feature guns with toys because some market study says they sell better. But I think this could clearly be a reason. Not so much in comparing it to Avengers 3D, etc..., but comparing it internally to their own flop and deciding that 2D was the reason, not a "LASER BLAST" concept.

It's just speculation of course.

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Maybe the suits who got a screening felt it was bad and would stand being in competition with anything...

Since the first movie wasn't a huge success, I'm wondering why Hasbro didn't keep on investing in Renegades which was pretty well received.
I understand that a big Hollywood production is tempting for the money jugglers that are in charge of the brand, but in the end, you want to be able to sell your products and from my little fan boy point of view, a popular weekly cartoon will move more toys that a summer film and it keeps your brand visible throughout the year.

It's been known that movie products are popular until the next fad comes out. May it's Avengers, June will be Spider-Man and so on.

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I have always fully supported anything that my boss tells me that I fully support, especially when I have a payoff riding on it.



- R

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I find myself really not caring about this. It may be earlier for me to see it then rather than now, and most movies I skip on seeing in the theaters anyway, what with the toddler an all. I do think it's a dick move cuz it screws over the already weak toyline, and I think Hasbro TOYS may have a hard time moving forward.

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Battleship bombed domestically. It had made $209 million internationally prior to its US release. To say that Battleship is one of the main reasons G.I. Joe got moved I think is wrong. Part of the reason maybe but not a strong one.

Having thought on this overnight I think Paramount has done a smart thing financially. They've seen how well 3-D movies are doing internationally and feeling that G.I. Joe is going to be a strong film decided to maximize their return by adding the 3-D element. Waiting until the last minute isn't such a smart thing but since when have movie studios done the smart thing? I think they saw what Battleship did overseas and decided that they could take G.I. Joe even higher with the 3-D upcharge especially given the news that they are shooting new sequences to take advantage of 3-D. Delaying to just do the conversion is a bad move. Delaying to shoot some new material for the conversion not so bad.

Personally I think they've handled the situation poorly but that's why I'm not in the movie business.

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I'd think they'd almost have to. Even if it's just some quick repacks or DG style Joes. I mean, the line was practically dead at retail anyway. The movie was supposed to revitalize things.

They wouldn't go that long without a toy release.

Would they?

It's hard to tell with Hasbro. It's been a weird year. Between TF issues, the TPM / SW launch, and this - it's just odd.

~Marduk

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I wonder if Hasbro will make a press release about the toy line.
I'm very curious about how far they've got into production of the toys.
Wave 1 has shipped obviously, but what about the rest of the line?
Wave 2 is supposed to come out by the end of the month so I assume it's already on the boat.
What about the rest?

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Yeah most reshoots are based around designing new scenes.

Unless you're George Lucas

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I'd frankly be surprised if this impacted the toy rollout. That first wave has shipped. No way stores are going to sit on it until the movie.

Sales, on the other hand, are bound to take a hit. With no movie to explain why The Rock is a G.I. Joe, and packaging that is almost entirely movie inspired, these things are not going to move with kid. And most collectors are lukewarm on them at best.

Come Monday, I bet these toys are on displayu in all the Targets and Walmarts that actuallyrespected the street date (most of my local stores have had them up for a week already). Walmart will already have started marking them down and will stop around $6.87. Target will drop to about $8.50 and hold for a long time. Walmart will sell a fair number of figures, but shrink the display area as they do and they won't reorder. Target will keep the display area through the holidays and clearamce their remaining stock shortly thereafter.

We will not see anything planned after wave 2 at major retailers. Ross stores will likely get anything else that was produced and put it out around the holidays.

Joe at retail will go away entirely after these toys are clearancedn and we won't see anything at the major chains until the 40th. Even then, I bet Walmart won't carry them.

Only thing I can imagine preventing that last part from coming true would be if the movie just blew people away and they greenlight a sequel after openoing weekend. That could geyt Walmart's attention and lead to some store exclusives until the next movies, toys hit.

#sarcasm mode activated: reshooting it so duke has to wear his accelerator suit Forever and in everyscene... no worrys faithful joefans we'll continue the line just for you with a bold new direction, Direct To Consumer through the most dependable rout JoeClub!

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SO, with this new release date, if we see the toys in any store should we get them? I know its really just a guess at this point but what does everyone think.

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Without a movie, I doubt that the stores will reorder anything past their initial commitment unless the products turn out to be very popular.
It sucks because they are actually fun figures.

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