If you’re a big G.I. Joe fan there’s good news and bad news. And also some very weird news. The good: Paramount is reportedly developing not one but two movie scripts in hopes of bringing the popular franchise back to the big screen. The bad is that, while beloved Hollywood figure Danny McBride is developing one G.I. Joe project, Max Landis is spearheading the other. Also weird: even though the two are working on totally independent G.I. Joe movies, Paramount apparently hopes to eventually combine them into one movie.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount has tapped Max Landis to work on a treatment for a new G.I. Joe movie. Meanwhile, at the same time, the studio also has Danny McBride writing his own script. But while these are totally separate attempts at bringing those iconic figures to the silver screen once more, sources for THR’s Borys Kit say Paramount “will then try to blend the two scripts into one.”
….Sure. That sounds like nonsense guaranteed to fail, but sure.
That’s a curious creative decision for a future G.I. Joe movie or movies. Far stranger, though, is the personnel one. Despite many credits to his name early in his career, the 40-year-old Max Landis, son of John Landis, has been persona non grata since 2019. That’s when The Daily Beast published a lengthy piece where eight women credibly accused Landis of “emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.”
Landis has addressed the allegations since then. While he admitted to “serious mistakes” and being a “toxic presence,” he has denied the most serious accusations. Landis has never faced any formal charges.
It does feel strange that, of the countless creative, thoughtful minds in Hollywood capable of writing a good script about cartoon army guys facing an evil organization named Cobra, this is the person who gets the opportunity.
The good news? We’re confident Danny McBride’s G.I. Joe movie script will be fantastic. We’ll see where the G.I. Joe movies end up heading.