Stephen Sommers | featured news

The MTV Movies Blog had a chance to talk to producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and got a status report on the planned sequel to Stephen Sommers' summer 2009 hit G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra , which grossed $300 million last summer. Although writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have yet to submit a full script, di Bonaventura is optimistic they'll be ready to start shooting the G.I. Joe Sequel sometime next spring for a summer 2012 release.

FRIDAY PM UPDATE: With a big pricetag of $175 million, and bad buzz preceding it, G.I. Joe seemed certain to tank. For months, Paramount's claims that the movie worked fell on deaf ears. Not until the Stephen Sommers' directed pic came on tracking with incredibly high awareness among males (with scores in the 90s).

Stephen Sommers was never let go from project -- One day you're directing one of the summer's biggest tentpoles, the next you're not. Depending on which websites you read.

Before the ShoWest screenings for DreamWorks' drama The Soloist, exhibitors were given a special treat with an extended trailer for Stephen Sommers' G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra , opening on August 7. One assume that the special footage shown would be close to what we'll see in front of either Star Trek and/or Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen this summer.

Paramount Pictures has debuted five new character posters for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra , coming to theaters on August 7. Directed by Stephen Sommers, the action-adventure stars Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Byung Hun Lee, Sienna Miller, Rachel Nichols, Ray Park, Said Taghmaoui, Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans and Dennis Quaid. The posters feature (in the following order) Duke (Tatum), Ripcord (Wayans), The Baroness (Miller), Scarlett (Nichols) and Snake Eyes (Park).

Promising an underwater battle that's "'Thunderball' times 10," Stephen Sommers took a few minutes recently to discuss "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra" with Entertainment Weekly.