G.I. Joe Director Gets Fired Because Movie Sucks

John Campea 86 Comments

I’d like to tell you this news surprises me… but I’d be lying. Ever since they announced that there would be a G.I. Joe movie I’ve expressed my major reservations that such a project could actually be done well. I amplified my concerns when it was announced that they hired “Van Helsing” director Stephen Sommers to helm the project.

But this is REALLY bad.

The word on the street this morning is that in a test screening, G.I. Joe received the WORST SCORE EVER. The very worst test screening scores in Paramount’s history. This has lead to Paramount firing the director and even baring him from the studio, and have brought in other help… with just 2 months to go before the release… to try to “save” the movie.

Ummm… it’s a little late for that.

Paramount should hire ME to come in an fix the movie. Here’s what I’d do. Scrap all the footage Summers has shot, and string together 90 minutes of the “knowing is half the battle” videos G.I. Joe used to do and just show that on the screen. You know the videos… like this one warning brain damaged kids not to hide in refrigerators.

(Source: Latino Reviews)

*UPDATE*

Latino Reviews is reporting that one of the producers, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, is denying this story. I really don’t think I believe him and think this is just damage control… but here it is:

Latinoreview wanted to get to the bottom of this so we spoke directly with Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura about this whole firing mess and here’s what he had to say:

Lorenzo: It’s very unfair to Steve, it’s completely untrue he was never asked to leave or been fired or any of that. That’s ridiculous. The movie tested very well.

I hear it tested as good as the first Transformers.

Lorenzo: Well listen, we tested very well and I don’t compare the movies because they are different movies, but you know I think its really destructive for a director…It hurts a guy’s career when people go around talking about that he was fired or he didn’t do a good job and truth is he did a really good job. People are going to enjoy the movie and the test audiences enjoyed the movie.

He did a very good job the movie tested well and it couldn’t be more false that the studio in anyway did anything negatively to Steve.

So what really happened in the editing room?

Lorenzo: Nothing that doesn’t happen on every other movie, which is that you constantly work and work and work and you make it better and better. We had a delay on visual effects so we waited a long time to finish the movie but that’s the only thing. I don’t really know why that would be interpreting it negatively but I guess it was.

In regards to the testing the film has had so far:

Lorenzo: Everybody was happy, the studio was happy, the filmmakers were happy, the audience was happy with the movie. We had three test screenings, three different times and tested it and each time it just got better and better. We started off in a good place and we ended up in even in a better place, which is what you hope on a film from testing it.

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86 thoughts on “G.I. Joe Director Gets Fired Because Movie Sucks”

  3. the g.i. joe website sucks i tried every birth date from 1900 to 2009 and it said i am not eligible to be on the cobra team or on the gi joe team.make a guy on join the team is a waste of time i should announce it on tv i should announce it everywhere.so gi joe could no finally not to fake a thing like that i am like 9 years old i am freakin upset yes i am having help with this message and knowing is half the battle g i joe is gay

  5. I just saw the movie….It’s terrible. I was actually expecting it to be great,ie Iron Man, Dark Knight, Even friggin Speed Racer. But no, instead I got mediocre action scenes, HORRIBLE ACTING, ridiculous story, One dimensional villains characters, and a painful overabundance of cliche`s. THIS IS A BAD MOVIE. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY, just watch the trailer on a loop for two hours. Some of the fight scenes are Ok, nothing you haven’t seen b4 tho.

  6. When a film company forks out millions of dollars, don’t they look at a at script and some story boards first? So they had to know a little about how the movie would turn out.
    After watching the trailers I’ve decided this isn’t the GI Joe from my childhood lunchbox and will have to watch it as a stand alone movie with similar names only.

  8. ROFLMAO!
    Remember people “knowing is half the battle”!

    If this is true, they shoulda see it coming, if its not, tis one of the best rumours i’ve read so far :p

  10. LOL, “brain damaged kids” and Recondo. Thanks for posting that video John, laughed my ass off. I find it funny how all the kids in all the kids in all the “knowing is half the battle” videos know the G.I. Joe’s names. I wonder if they get extra pay to teach kids how not to be dumbass’s every day.

    About the subject of the post, I doubt any of it is true. The trailers aren’t that bad. Not great, and not how I would of done a G.I. Joe movie, but not that bad either. But hey, what do I know. ;p


  11. I think this “story” is a pile of dung

    I’m not a big Stephen Sommers fan. I don’t have high hopes for this film. But I can’t deny that despite the crapfests of Van Helsing and the first two Mummy films (I have a mild soft spot for Deep Rising and The Jungle Book, so there) the films he has directed made coin for the studios he has worked for thus far. His track record cannot be ignored.

    I wasn’t at the screening, but to say this is the worst in Paramount history…I guess that means they didn’t test last year’s Love Guru…but it’s two months to release date. So I don’t think they “fired” Sommers at all.

    Look, I want to be clear. I’m not expecting a great, wonderful film at all, based on Sommer’s past work over the last number of years. If Sommers was this “horrible” the powers that be would have swiped the director’s chair out from under him. I think they chose him because they wanted a popcorn picture with cheese on top. That’s what they are getting.

    So I’m thinking:

    a) it’s not cheese popcorn enough, and the studio wants more minutes out for more screenings and/or more cheese flavor popcorn.

    b) someone’s making up headlines and/or not getting the full story

    c) my disappointment is when those connected to the film are saying the story isn’t so, and John has to call it spin. Spin…? Let me play Devil’s Advocate here.

    Let’s say some unknown goof out there (God help the man) wants to say John Campea found a distributor for Anniversary, but the distributor didn’t like the cut, locked John Campea out of the editing room and added stuff or edited stuff without John Campea’s input. The studio has cut him off of all promotion, and will release the film on DVD like one of those First Look / Screenmedia barebones DVD atrocities.

    In addition, those who hear the sad report think that Campea couldn’t direct a duck to water, and the film stinks.

    All because one small questionable report crops up. Does that make it so? Is it etched in stone?

    Of course not. John will say, Look. Here is the truth. The report we heard isn’t true. This happened…that happened…John can back it up. I don’t doubt him for one minute. He did the best job he could have done. I am sure of it.

    Or would that be “spin” because John Campea is connected to that film? Please don’t misunderstand me here. I know you would have given your left ear for half of GI Joes budget. I’m sure you gave it your all. I’m not attacking your film or comparing it to GI Joe in any form What I’m getting at is that if “anyone” can make up stuff – don’t the people behind the film/connected to the film have a right to set the record straight?

    Of course they do. They are defending their work. In this case, they are defending the director as well. Makes sense- they wanted a cheese popcorn director for the film, they got him.

    So are we calling it “spin”?

  13. G.I. Joe will be no better than transformers revenge of the fallen. How so many can attack stephen sommers but defend michael bay amazes me.

    2. um not like micheal bays resume is awesome…im pretty sure before tranformers people in the circle have been clowning on him for years for the no story crap he has made…..please dont make it look like his movies are total awesomeness at the box office….hell i would put up a bet that without tranformers there movies are neck n neck for crappy movies that make money….fuck the island!

    5. MICHAEL BAY TRCK RECORD FOR ACTION FILMS IS BETTER THAN SOMMERS LOOK AT THE RESULTS I THINK THE TRANSFORMERS 2 MIGHT ACTUALLY BE PRETTY GOOD JUST BECAUSE THE HYPE THEY HAVE TO COMPETE WITH THE FIRST FILM AS LONG AS THE STORY LINE IS BETTER THAN HE FIRST ONE

    6. hey transformers was good the new one the old one is so crappy.but the suckish thing is about t2 optumis dies and then is resecitated.c`mon you die you die ya can`t come back that`s only in a matter of minutes or a couple of seconds depending if the death is by man made earth material (elements) or natural causes.

  16. AICN is now also reporting that this rumor is totally bogus:

    “I’ve been told by two different, trustworthy, completely unbiased sources that Sommers IS currently working on G.I. JOE. As for the bad buzz, that’s just someone else’s negative opinion”

    1. There was no spin there. All John did with that was report factual news. The difference between that and this, is that was a known fact that even the director admitted to.

      This is just a fabricated rumor that so far has absolutly no ground.

    2. Hey T-Vo,

      Yes… and as I found out a LOT of that stuff about Lexi was true.

      And I did end up enjoying it. However… keep in mind that most people seemed to hate the shit out of it.

      Remember, I’m not saying G.I. Joe sucks. I haven’t seen it… but I am predicting it will suck. And if I’m wrong, I man up and admit it like I did with Punisher and TMNT. But that’s very rare. ;)

    3. “Remember, I’m not saying G.I. Joe sucks. I haven’t seen it… but I am predicting it will suck. “

      Hmmm..what’s the title of your post again?

      “GI Joe director gets fired because movie sucks”

      While I am skeptical of the film itself, and I’m not the biggest Stephen Sommers fan out there, but for whatever reason, he does put out the hits. Look, Van Helsing stunk. Mummy 2 was a rushed up hunk of junk. But they made money. Like Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich, Sommers makes average to dumb yet slightly enertaining popcorn pictures. I expect GI Joe to walk the same line.

      Don’t get me wrong either. I expect this to stink like yesterday’s unwashed socks. But my comment here is my puzzlement at your statement when the headline says something different than what you state in your post and response comments.

      Which is it?

  20. If they remove that stupid green stuff , and replace it with real explosions this could be some bad ass action. Sommers did such a good job to Mummy , what happent ? Nononononono let me say , Something Van Helsing happent.

    2. “You’re more inclined to believe the person who has the most to lose?”

      Over a complete anonymous source on a complete random message board, yes.

    4. Well I mean, it would be like if I came on here under the name ‘SpeakerUp’ or some random thing like that and said I heard that, let’s just say Halloween 2, had a screening and it was the worst one in that company’s history, and then the Internet just running with it.

    5. If you seemed to know all the inner workings and gave information in great detail I’d have to listen.

      And read Bonaventure’s statement again. As anoher friend of mine pointed out: What doesn’t Bonaventura say? He says nothing about Sommers being barred from the editing room. He says nothing about the hiring of Stuart Baird to re-cut the movie. And he says nothing about the original claim that he himself “was told his services were no longer needed on the film.”

    6. Like Slushie Man said, the only reason I’m more inclined to believe the producer is that I don’t have the slightest clue who the other person I’m weighing his word against is, the post makes it sound like it’s just wild rumors

    7. doesnt matter john…this is word of mouth talk…you can not say you know for sure its true….i mean it could just be damage control for the fact that every one knows this movie is gonna suck balls

  22. WHOA!!! I thought that this was going to be direct-to-DVD….it’s actually going to be shown in theaters?

    It actually looks okay to me, I might see it on a saturday/sunday morning after paying to see something else that is better, and that just happens to be playing right across in another theater.

  24. Sure. Blame the director.

    That’s about the same as blaming the General Contractor when the blueprints are shite.

    When will ‘they’ learn that if you don’t have a good script, you’re screwed? (And if you DO have a good script, it’s almost impossible to screw up. Yeah, that’s what I said; who wants to step into the ring with me first? LOL)

    We get movies that suck because scripts that suck are greenlit by producers that suck for abominable reasons…and then the wrong people get blamed.

    It all begins -and mostly- end with the script.

    1. I totally agree with you. Yes the director has choices to make, yes he can agree on the script. But in the end, the director, the cast, they can only do what’s on the page. The screenwriters are the ones responsible for the most important part of the film, and that’s the script.

      On the other hand, there is no validity to this story, so i don’t believe it one bit.

    2. I AGREE WHO THE HELL WROTE THE SCRIPT THEY SHOULD BE HUNG FROM THE HOLLYWOOD SIGNED AND BURN I MEAN ITS LIKE THE XMEN ALL OVER. TRANSFORMERS WAS GONNA BE DOPEBECAUSE OF MICHAL BAY AND SPEILBERG WAS HANDLING IT BUT VAN HALSING SUCKED ASS SO THE DIRECTOR HAS ALOT TO DO WITH IT IF HIS VISION IS LIMITED THEN THE FILM WOULD BE LIMITED!!!!!!!!

  25. BTW test screening are unfinished versions of films. Even if it did rate poorly you cant judge it just like you cant judge wolverine based off of a workprint.

  26. What is the source of this rumor? If it’s just some shit posted on a message board, it doesn’t hold water.

    Now, I have no doubt that this movie will suck, but I doubt it was the worst-tested film in the entire history of the studio.

  27. In viewing the trailer, I can only assume that the audience that grew up on GI Joe is not represented by the finished product, which skews very very young. Unfortunately, very, very young people these days have no interest in GI Joe because it’s OLD SCHOOL. Basically, a demographic clusterf*ck. But hey, maybe it’ll pay off for Hasbro by making 8 year olds GI Joe fans. Or not.

    1. That is meaningless. A lot of young folks didn’t have the slightest clue who Iron Man was last year. Likewise, the younger generation didn’t grow up on Transformers/Optimus Prime.

      Seems they have made out okay.
      Don’t you think?

    2. who the fuck doesnt know iron man….and who the fuck doesnt know gi joe….are u guys borth smoking rocks cause every one i know has a clue what they are….the differance in these movies is that gi joe was made completly corny looking…wtf is up with the super soldier suit….thats just fuckiong retarded….gi joe fans dont remember that shit…they want to see the actuall joes look like the 80’s gi joe characters…not fucking tecmo bowl 2024…..wtf man is that a halo suit….jesus fucking christ…..least iron man looked like iron man…and transformers looked like tranformers…NOT HALO TOOLS!

    3. I don’t smoke, Big Sam. Maybe that’s my problem.

      You missed my point. Until the films, how well known were those characters with the younger generation? I’m not suggesting they weren’t “well known”. There was some awareness to them. But the films helped increase the popularity.

  28. I’d go and see this film now just because the director has been fired (if its true), they know the movie is a sinking ship and they’re just using this bit of bad publicity to try and reel people in. It will work, it won’t make it millions more but at least more people are hearing about it. and before anyone says “everyone has heard of GI Joe already” I’m from England and it never showed over here. we had action man, just as crummy.

  31. Lowest score ever? Wow, and I thoguht the trailer looked bad. Well, another reason to probably hate this film, I can tell you right now, it would not suprise me if this one ends up in IMDB’s bottom 100

  33. If this turns out to be true, that’s crazy, but you’re right, John, it’s not really a surprise. Your idea for the movie would probably be better, my favorite one is where they wArned kids not to jump downed power lines on their bicycles haha.

    On another note, John and Rodney, incase you guys haven’t heard, apple.com put up a trailer for Scorsese’s Shutter Island. Personally, I think it looks pretty awesome, everyone check it out.

  34. 1. i think this movie will surprise and be good.
    2. i hope its good despite van helsing.
    3. deep rising peeple!!!!!
    4. the first mummy movie wasnt too bad. really.
    5. / wrists.

  37. Latino Reviews has an update where the producer discounts this rumor… though, I would find it humorous if true. Though I was a fan of the cartoon when I was little, this will most likely be a rental for me regardless.

  38. LMAO, those cartoons are funny. I knew this film was going to be a train wreck from the get go. That’s what they get for basing it on the “Sigma 6” thing. Paramount should either send it straight to DVD (ala Idiocracy) or shelve it and start from scratch, retain only Dennis Quaid and Ray Park as far as Joe casting and get either Gary Oldman or John Malkovich or someone really seasoned and badass to play Cobra Commander. Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cobra Commander? Really? He’s 28! Give me a F’n break.

    Oh, and on a somewhat related note, as a military service member I think it is very funny that the majority of the GI Joe characters from the 80s are either an enlisted E4 or E5. Awesome :)

    1. Here’s a start for me…

      GI Joe –
      Gen Hawk: Dennis Quaid (that’s fine)
      Snake Eyes: Ray Park (perfect)
      Duke: Michael Biehn
      Beach Head: Karl Urban
      Flint: Johnny Depp
      Gung Ho: Ray Stevenson
      Dusty: Steve Zahn
      Stalker: Samuel L. Jackson
      Scarlett: Milla Jovovich
      Lady Jaye: Angelina Jolie
      Rip Cord: Sam Rockwell
      Wild Bill: Bill Paxton
      Breaker: Leland Orser
      Road Block: Dwayne Johnson (the Rock)
      Doc: Lance Riddick

      Cobra –
      Cobra Commander: Gary Oldman
      Destro: Ron Pearlman

    4. I LIKE THE IDEA OF JOHNNY DEPP AS FLINT
      BUT I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE SEEN MIKE CLARKE DUNCAN AS ROADBLOCK, BRUCE WILLIS SHOULD OF BEEN HAWK IT WOULD OF GAVE A BETTER TOUGH GUY EDGE TO THE FILM BECAUSE IF YOU REMEMBER WELL HAWK WAS A TOUGH GUY BUT THEY HAD TO MAKE HIM LIKE THAT BECAUSE FLINT WAS THE ULTIMATE JOE

  40. why do they even annouce things like this? they might as well just let it come out and have people not know it sucks until they paid for a ticket.

  41. The director has balls for what he tries to do but it never works… except for maybe “The Mummy.” The last trailer for G.I. JOE was brutal so this doesn’t shock me at all. The movie should have gone adult even though Hasbro would never let that happen.

    1. WOW THAT EXPLAINS ALOT I MEAN I POSTED THE TRUTH ABOUT HOW RIPCORD THE CHARACTER IS ACTUALLY A WHITE GUY ON THE ACTUAL MYSPACE BLOG AND WHO EVR ERASED IT IM MEAN TO SAY IM A DIE HARD GI JOE FAN I MEAN THE FIRST TIME I HEARD THEY WHERE PLANNING THE REAL ACTION VERSION I KNEW 2 THINGS EITHER IT WOULD BE TOTALLY DOPE ASS HELL!!!!!!! OR IT WOULD SUCK THEN I HEARD THEY CAST MARLON AS RIPCORD AND I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO SUCK I MEAN WHO EVERR WROTE THE MOVIE OBVIOUSLY DIDNT WATCH THE SHOW TO HAVE HEAVY DUTY GEN HAWK AND BREAKER WHO ACTUALLY WAS A BAD GUY IF PEOPLE DO THEY RESEARCH INSTEAD OF FLINT LADY J ROADBLOCK STALKER ALPINE JUST TO SAY A FEW ALONG SIDE DUKE SCARLOTT AND SNAKE EYES I MEAN GI JOE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST CARTOONS I COULD REMEMBER THAT HAD BOTH WHITES BLACKS HISPANIC ASIANS NATIVE AMERICANS JUST TO SAY A FEW REPRESENTED BY ALL CULTURES RACES AND ETC I FEEL THEY SHOULD OF PLAYED ON THAT I REMEMBER BEING A LITTLE KID WATCHING THE JOES BEFORE SCHOOL I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU CANT PLEASE EVERYONE BUT TO NOT HAVE THE BACKBONE CHARACTERS IS A REAL LET DOWN BECAUSE FLINT WAS ACTUALLY IN MORE EPISODES THAN DUKE. THEY USE TO BE INTERCHANGABLE. BUT FLINT WASW THE ACTUAL FIELD LEADER OF THE TEAM. SO THE HEAT THAT THE MOVIE IS GOING TO TAKE IS GOING TO BE NEGATIVE I FEEL THE SIGMA SERIES SUCKED TO HAVE THE JOES AS SPY LIKE CHARACTERS IS STUPID GI JOE WAS CREATED TO INSPIRE AMERICANS WHEN TIMES WHERE HARD AND IT SHOULD BE THE SAME HERE!!!!!!

    1. After hearing this movie was going to be made, I had HUGE hopes for it. I mean, with the technology and the talent that Hollywood has at its disposal, this could’ve been as much fun as Transformers and Iron Man were. However, after seeing the teasers and the trailers, I lost any and all hope for this movie. Saying it looks like shit would be an upgrade to its rating. I think this thing will be a movie FAR worse than Terminator Salvation (in my opinion, shit) was.

      To talk about the “director’s firing”, well, if this is how it happened, I’d be embarrassed for Paramount. I think they’d have a right to fire the guy and try to salvage what they could out of this, but with so little time and with so much money (and talent) wasted, I wouldn’t expect much.

      As for Lorenzo trying to salvage after the fact, he wouldn’t have said anything if there wasn’t any truth to the rumour. Read between the lines and the movie tested low. Maybe not the lowest, but I’m sure Paramount was expecting better than they got.

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