Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Deep Rising) surrendered directing duties on the upcoming sequel to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. No reasons were given for why the director of the first film has left the project but there were those pesky rumors of last-minute fighting between Sommers and Paramount Studios — with accusations that Summers was locked out of the editing bay.
Sommers denied those rumors around the time of the first film’s release. I don’t doubt there were a few disagreements between Sommers and the studio but any fighting that occurred was probably nothing too serious. Why would Sommers even entertain the idea of directing a sequel if the situation was as bad as rumored.
If anything, he probably just realized what so many movie fans did — the first film wasn’t that good. Why would he want to dedicate another few years of his life directing a glorified toy commercial? Oh wait, Rhett Rheese and Paul Wernick, the writers of Zombieland, are working on the script? Those guys are good, dude. You should have stayed around.
The sequel is expected to still star Channing Tatum as Duke Hauser, a character as plastic and generic looking as the toy that inspired him. The first G.I. Joe was a moderate hit but nothing that screamed for an immediate sequel. With any luck, this project will fizzle away — or maybe lead to a G.I. Joe/Transformers crossover. The geeks will really eat that up!
Sommers will likely continue to work on his announced Tarzan reboot.
