Entertainment, Movies - Army Times

Reassignment of the Week: G.I. Joe

As of 2009, G.I. Joe will no longer be a “real American hero.”

In a Paramount movie expected to begin production early next year, the combat veteran and his battle buddies will be rechristened G.I.J.O.E., an acronym for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, and the icons of countless American boyhoods will become part of an international military force.

The JOEs will be part of a Brussels, Belgium-based special operations unit battling the evil Cobra army, which is headed by a Scottish bad guy, according to Variety, the newspaper that reports on the film industry.

This will be a live-action film, but the role of Joe has not been cast.

The Variety report said de-Americanizing G.I. Joe, the Hasbro product long known as “A Real American Hero,” is being done to broaden the movie’s appeal for international audiences because America and its military are not too popular in some areas of the globe today.