Hey Scott,
Longtime reader, first time etc.
With the aggressively absurd decision to push back GI Joe: Retaliation to March of 2013 (in order to convert it to 3D, which I can't imagine anyone anticipating the movie could possibly give a frozen shit about), what does this mean for Rock's Mania availability? He'll likely have to be making the media rounds to promote the film around that timeframe, and promoting the movie is clearly going to take precedent over promoting Mania, even if he's in a marquee match up. So is Rock off the table? Will he even be able to do Mania at all, with his schedule?
I know Rock vowed to be back for Mania season in 2013, but that was obviously before this fitfully ridiculous corporate decision. So will Rock still do Mania? And if not, what could WWE start building right this moment to make up for it? I would imagine building up Brock as an animal for Cena to finally defeat for the title in the main event would be off the table, since Cena's already won. Maybe put Brock against the Streak? Or Cena against the Streak?
I imagine the commentariat will be infinitely more clever about this than I am.
Keep up the good work,
Nick
I'm pretty sure that "conversion to 3D" is code for something else, like "reshooting all the crappy CGI" or "trying to edit the movie into something halfway coherent."
That being said, it's a pretty easy 2-for-1 deal for WWE and Rock. When he's booked on shows to promote Joe, he can be all "by the way, I'm also doing Wrestlemania". And when he's on RAW leading up to Wrestlemania, they can plug the shit out of GI Joe. SYNERGY. It'll be fine, no replacement match needed.
Brock against the Streak would be pretty interesting, especially if Brock works that new style against Undertaker. I can see Undertaker wanting to try an actual MMA type match.
Brock/Undertaker seems probable to me because they wanted to do that match at Wrestlemania 27. (The confrontation at the UFC event between Taker and Brock, but Dana White said no to letting Brock wrestle that year.) It would be more of an interesting match for Brock in his last bout out of the company.
ReplyDeleteThis whole GI Joe debacle has some serious "desperately trying to polish a turd" vibe which is a shame because the first movie, while not great or anything, certainly wasn't terrible. I highly doubt the Rock was an issue though.
ReplyDeleteThey weren't even planning on green-lighting a sequel and didn't do so until the Disney/Marvel merger; without full distribution of "The Avengers", they needed a tentpole of some kind of 2012 and the fact the movie is focused on Rocky and Bruce Willis shows what the studio thought of the first one. That said, it's a sound plan; those two still draw, probably enough for folks to give it a chance even if they didn't like the first one.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Channing Tatum, he was fucking great in "21 Jump Street". Comedy is a tough thing to do and he did a damn fine job. He could be someone who just is hamstrung by a lot of his material; Soderbergh saw enough in him to use him twice, and that dude knows talent. It's never too late for a performer to blossom into something good (see: Henry, Mark)
ReplyDeleteHe had two huge hits this year so far, so it wouldn't shock me for Paramount to back up and see if they can squeeze out more Tatum.
ReplyDeleteIf you think Brock stiffed the hell out of John Cena, it would be nothing compared to what he would do if he got in the ring with Taker.
ReplyDeleteThat was 2 sentences people. 2 sentences.
ReplyDeleteOn a related note, I looked up the film on IMDb and apparently Sgt. Slaughter is in it. It always baffled me that they never gave the one G.I. Joe character who's an actual real-life person a cameo in the original film.
ReplyDeleteSo considering the film's delay to next March, it's pretty obvious what we're going to get at next year's WM: HHH-Slaughter Boot Camp Match II.
Shades of the original animated movie? When they killed off Duke (or was it Flint?) and then had to add in a line in post-production how he was in and out of a coma after fan reaction to the death of Optimus Prime in the Transformers movie was poor at best?
ReplyDeleteLike the Hulkster says, everything that's old is new again. Um, brother.
Huh, so all those Hollywood reporters screeching that "Rocky is franchise viagra!!!" before even seeing the movie were just making shit up? Say it isn't so!
ReplyDeleteI expect this to be just as awful as the first movie and the Transformers trilogy and the next Turtles movie. Let's face it, these people have no interest in doing faithful adaptations of material, that wouldn't give them the chance to "be creative" with something they...didn't fucking create.
Well, Fast Five and Journey 2 far exceeded industry predictions and outgrossed their predecessors, and they had something in common...
ReplyDeletePlease don't remind me about TLA. I still have PTSD about going to the midnight show cosplaying.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, he may not be great as a dramatic actor, but he can do comedy fine. I feel the same way about Matt Damon, actually, all his "serious" roles are dreadfully dull, but he has a gift for comedy.
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