GI Joe topped the box office this weekend with over $100 million coming in, domestically and internationally. The movie, based on the popular action figures, had a heavy-action, light-story theme that targeted young males in a big way, and to a big payoff.
This marks Paramount’s third blockbuster hit of the year, with GI Joe joining Star Trek and the Transformers sequel as huge summer hits. What else did they have in common Oh, right, young males as their key audience.
One thing that did worry Paramount was the international perception of GI Joe, the classically American hero, and whether or not that would stop moviegoers from watching. It did not.
From Variety:
“G.I. Joe” was far from being a guaranteed success, given the property’s U.S. military theme, which could particularly be a issue for overseas auds.
Par addressed the issue by sticking closer to the comicbook series, which expanded the original team of U.S. military operatives to include operatives from other countries. Studio further stressed this point by adding “Rise of the Cobra” to the movie s title.
“We wanted audiences to know this was more than just a story about G.I. Joe, ” said Paramount prexy of international distribution Andrew Cripps.
Film was set in a number of foreign locales, and featured an international cast including Korean thesp Byung-hun Lee, Brit Sienna Miller, French-Moroccan Said Taghmaoui and South African Arnold Vosloo.
