G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra is an upcoming live action film adaptation of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toy franchise. The film is directed by Stephen Sommers and written by Stuart Beattie. G.I. Joe features an ensemble cast based on the various characters of the franchise. Production of the film began in February 2008, primarily taking place in Downey, California and Prague's Barrandov Studios, and the film is scheduled to be released on August 7, 2009.

Set ten years in the future, the film is an origin story, showing the rise of the Cobra Organization. Stephen Sommers said, "For people who know nothing about it, it'll make sense. And to people who love this stuff, it'll show where they all came from." The film focuses on Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord's (Marlon Wayans) induction into the G.I. Joe Team, providing the audience's point-of-view. Locations include the Arctic, Paris, Moscow, Washington, D.C., Australia and the Sahara. The G.I. Joe Team is based in the Pit, while it was indicated Cobra Island will appear.

Development

In 2003, Hasbro's Brian Goldner and film producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura began developing a film based on the G.I. Joe toy line. Goldner and Bonaventura worked together before, creating toy lines for films Bonaventura produced as CEO of Warner Bros. Goldner and Bonaventura spent three months working out a story, and chose Michael B. Gordon as screenwriter, because they liked his script for 300. Bonaventura wanted to depict the origin story of certain characters, and introduced the new character of Rex, to allow an exploration of Duke. Rex's name came from Hasbro. Beforehand, Don Murphy was interested in filming the property, but when the Iraq War broke out, he considered the subject matter inappropriate, and chose to develop Transformers (another Hasbro toy line) instead. Bonaventura felt, "What [the Joes] stand for, and what Duke stands for specifically in the movie, is something that I'd like to think a worldwide audience might connect with."

By February 2005, Paul Lovett and David Elliot, who wrote Bonaventura's Four Brothers (2005), were rewriting Gordon's draft. In their script, the Rex character is corrupted and mutated into the Cobra Commander, whom Destro needs to lead an army of supersoldiers. Skip Woods was rewriting the script by March 2007, and he added the Alex Mann character from the British Action Man toy line. Bonaventura explained, "Unfortunately, our president has put us in a position internationally where it would be very difficult to release a movie called G.I. Joe. To add one character to the mix is sort of a fun thing to do." The script was leaked online by El Mayimbe of Latino Review, who revealed Woods had dropped the Cobra Organization in favor of the Naja / Ryan, a crooked CIA agent. In this draft, Scarlett is married to Action Man but still has feelings for Duke, and is killed by the Baroness. Snake-Eyes speaks, but his vocal cords are slashed during the story, rendering him mute. Mayimbe suggested Stuart Beattie rewrite the script. Fan response to the film following the script review was negative. Bonaventura promised with subsequent rewrites, "I'm hoping we're going to get it right this time." He admitted he had problems with Cobra, concurring with an interviewer "they were probably the stupidest evil organization out there [as depicted in the cartoon]". Hasbro promised they would write Cobra back into the script.

In August 2007, Paramount Pictures hired Stephen Sommers to direct the film after his presentation to CEO Brad Grey and production prexy Brad Weston was well-received. Sommers had been inspired to explore the G.I. Joe universe after visiting Hasbro's headquarters in Rhode Island. The project had found the momentum based on the success of Transformers (2007), which Bonaventura produced with Murphy. Stuart Beattie was hired to write a new script for Sommers's film, and G.I. Joe creator Larry Hama was hired as creative consultant. Hama helped them change story elements that fans would have disliked and made it closer to the comics, ultimately deciding fans would enjoy the script. He persuaded them to drop a comic scene at the film's end, where Snake-Eyes speaks. To speed up production before the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike, John Lee Hancock, Brian Koppelman and David Levien also assisted in writing various scenes. Goldner said their inspiration was generally Hama's comics and not the cartoon.

Filming began on February 11, 2008, in Los Angeles, California. The Downey soundstage was chosen as Paramount needed a large stage to get production underway as soon as possible. The first two levels of the the Pit were built there, and it will look even bigger once effects are completed. Downey also housed Destro's M.A.R.S. (Military Armament Research Syndicate) base in the Arctic, his legitimate weapons factory in an ex-Soviet state, as well as various submarines interiors, including a S.H.A.R.C. (Submersible High-speed Attack and Reconnaissance Craft) manned by two G.I. Joes. For the interior of Destro's private submarine, designers sought inspiration from a Handley Page Jetstream.

Filming in the country's Barrandov Studios began in May. The crew took over sections of the Old Town in Prague. While filming in the city on April 26, several people were injured when a bus and several cars collided with a four-wheel-drive vehicle that appeared to have braking problems. The emergency services confirmed those taken to hospital had minor injuries.

The film's actors were scanned for Hasbro's toy line. Electronic Arts is developing a video game adaptation. IDW Publishing will release a four-issue prequel written by Chuck Dixon. Each issue focuses on Duke, Destro, the Baroness and Snake-Eyes respectively.

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