Channing Tatum is well on his way to becoming as ubiquitous as Michael Fassbender, and apparently Paramount executives want to take full advantage of Tatum's newfound fame. The buff star -- who has already appeared this year in "Haywire," "The Vow" and "21 Jump Street" and has "Magic Mike" out in theaters next month -- co-stars in the recently rescheduled Paramount production "G.I. Joe: Retaliation," but doesn't have enough screen-time to please some audience members.
Spoiler alert: The following post contains speculative spoilers about "G.I. Joe: Retaliation."
That's because Tatum's Duke, who featured heavily in "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra," apparently dies in the opening sequence of the new film. That upset some audience members as a test screening, who wanted to see more of the interplay between Tatum and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, reports Deadline.com's Nikki Finke.
"We went back and shot another week with Channing to develop more of his story with The Rock," said an unnamed executive to Finke, "which made the film play much better."
Adding more Tatum Power to "Retaliation" is just one of the reasons the film was moved off its June 29 release date and into 2013 -- a last-minute move that surprised many, since "G.I. Joe" marketing was in full swing. (Stand-up posters from the film were still on display at one New York theater on Monday afternoon.)
Based on reports to Deadline.com and THR, Paramount was also spooked by the poor box-office performances of "John Carter" and "Battleship," two high profile duds that performed better overseas than in North America. By delaying "G.I. Joe" for nine months, Paramount can retrofit the production into 3D and try to squeeze as much global box office as it can out of the now-scuffling project.
"G.I. Joe: Retaliation" is due out in theaters on March 29, 2013. In 3D. For more on the film's current production mess -- including what issues director Jon Chu is facing -- head over to Deadline.com.
[via Deadline.com]
