Stephen Sommers (THE MUMMY) has signed on to direct a live-action feature version of G.I. JOE for Paramount Pictures, reports the trades. The studio is aggressively looking for a screenwriter and hopes to start production in February, eyeing summer 2009 for a release.
VARIETY reports that Sommers was hired in the room after pitching his version of the film to Paramount chairman/CEO Brad Grey and production president Brad Weston Wednesday night.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Hasbro COO Brian Goldner are the producers alongside Sommers and Sommers Co. partner Bob Ducsay.
Touted as a mix between X-MEN and JAMES BOND, the latest version of the G.I. JOE mythology sees the G.I. Joe unit (which stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity) based in Brussels as a co-ed force using hi-tech weapons to fight the evil organization Cobra.
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