10 years ago, Hasbro had launched the “Transformers” film franchise. While it remains a punching bag, its box-office success cannot be denied with the series’ 4 installments has raked in $3.77 billion at the global box-office.
Hasbro’s attempts at movies based on the properties had more mixed success. Both “G.I. Joe” films and “Battleship” took in $300 million worldwide – only a fraction of “Transformers” money. The cheaper “Ouija” films have been a minor success as well.
Many years ago, Hasbro and Paramount assembled a “writer’s room” of many film scribes and planned out the future of “Transformers” with a new direction kicking off with “Transformers: The Last Knight” in June.
Shortly after they reportedly did the same for the “G.I. Joe” franchise though nothing specific seems to have come from that endeavor so far beyond rumors of the franchise incorporating some other Hasbro properties into it – such as “M.A.S.K.”.
In a new piece in The Los Angeles Times, several Hasbro executives have spoken about plans for more cinematic universes involving their intellectual property, along with taking a more active role in producing and financing – this October’s animated “My Little Pony: The Movie” being their first fully financed movie.
Most interesting though is that the article confirms the “G.I. Joe” franchise is dropping the second sequel in favor of a full reboot “with a revamped look intended to appeal to younger audiences.” It also confirms the rumors that Hasbro brands like ROM, Micronauts, Visionaries, and M.A.S.K. could be incorporated in.
Hasbro’s global brand licensing chief Simon Waters talks about the new approach with the series which hopes to pull in the millennials:
“The world has changed, and I think you’re going to see G.I. Joe changing with it. There’s going to be a much more contemporary approach to the whole franchise, and that will allow us to develop different characters.”
Hasbro’s chief content officer Steve Davis adds:
“We hope to create a head snap. It’s a different kind of ‘Joe’ – one that still resonates with ‘Joe’ fans but brings in an uninitiated audience and expands the audience internationally and domestically.”
The projects are still in the writing phase, and Hasbro has declined to say when a first installment will be released. The company, which has an animated “Stretch Armstrong” series on the way for Netflix, also confirm that Hasbro’s biggest revenue generator, Nerf, may not be turned into a film.
