The G.I. Joe and Transformers film franchises are finally going to meet, and they’re bringing a huge start with them.
Variety reports that Chris Hemsworth of Marvel and Furiosa fame is “in talks” to star in the upcoming crossover G.I. Joe/Transformers film. Hemsworth will soon appear as the voice of the young Optimus Prime in this year’s animated Transformers movie, Transformers One. (No word yet whether Hemsworth is voicing Optimus Prime in the film or playing some other character. Peter Cullen, who voiced Optimus on the original Transformers cartoon series of the 1980s, has provided Optimus’ voice in all of the other previous Transformers movies.)
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This Hasbro Cinematic Universe was first hinted at in the post-credits scene from last year’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, in which the film’s human hero, played by Anthony Ramos, is approached by a man who wants to recruit him into a secretive military organization. Ramos looks at the business card he’s been handed and it reads “G.I. Joe.”
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While the Transformers film franchise has been a dependable box-office performer for more than 15 years now, the G.I. Joe movies have been far less lucrative or successful. Only three have been produced (compared to eight Transformers); collectively they grossed $712 million worldwide. Three different Transformers movies have grossed more than that by themselves, including two that earned more than $1 billion worldwide.
The most recent attempt at a G.I. Joe reboot, 2021’s Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins is one of the biggest box-office bombs of the century, grossing just $34 million worldwide. That doesn’t mean G.I. Joe couldn’t work as a movie, but it really hasn’t so far. Maybe as the added value and novelty in a Transformers movie (and with Hemsworth involved), audiences might be more interested?
Hemsworth’s Transformers One premieres in theaters on September 20.
