Paramount Pictures has confirmed Danny McBride as writer and director of a new G.I. Joe film, announced July 15. The project marks his feature directorial debut. McBride has directed episodes across his HBO series but has not previously helmed a theatrical feature.
McBride, the creator of The Righteous Gemstones, Eastbound & Down, and Vice Principals, is a lifelong Hasbro franchise devotee. "It was definitely the cartoons and the comics," he told The Wrap. "G.I. Joe was my thing when I was a kid. I liked that more than Star Wars, more than anything."
His film will unfold in Springfield, a location drawn from the original G.I. Joe comics. "There's that town in the comics, Springfield, which is a town that's secretly all Cobra," McBride said. "That is where our film takes place." The project has been described as a grounded take on the material, a departure from the franchise's previous approach.
The three Paramount G.I. Joe films to date, Rise of Cobra (2009), Retaliation (2013), and the Snake Eyes spinoff (2021), grossed $302 million, $376 million, and $40 million worldwide respectively. The franchise has been dormant since Snake Eyes underperformed. According to The Hollywood Reporter, G.I. Joe is described as "one of the big priorities" at Paramount under the studio's current Skydance leadership.
No casting or release date has been announced.
