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Paramount has scheduled its new G.I. Joe movie for a wide theatrical release on October 20, 2028, according to TheWrap. Bradley Cooper is set to play Duke, while Danny McBride will direct a new take on the franchise based on Hasbro’s toy line.
The date gives the project a place on the cinema calendar seven years after the franchise’s most recent live-action film, Snake Eyes. McBride also wrote the screenplay with Jeff Fradley and John Carcieri. Additional casting, the production start date and the new film’s relationship to earlier screen versions remain unclear.
The announcement establishes when audiences can expect the film in theaters, but the creative details are as notable as the date: Cooper is taking on one of the franchise’s best-known characters, while McBride is bringing a team that includes his The Righteous Gemstones collaborators Fradley and Carcieri to the script.
What is known about McBride’s G.I. Joe film
The project has been described as a reimagining rather than simply identified as a sequel to a previous movie. McBride is known for television shows including Eastbound & Down and The Righteous Gemstones, as well as his work on the recent Halloween films. For G.I. Joe, his role extends beyond directing to developing the screenplay alongside Fradley and Carcieri.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian and Zev Foreman are producing for Hasbro Entertainment. Di Bonaventura is a longtime producer on the franchise, bringing a link to its earlier films even as the new project is being presented as a reimagining.
The studio has not released a full plot synopsis. Cosmic Book News reports that McBride told interviewer Josh Horowitz the story follows Duke and a squad of Joes in Springfield, a town secretly controlled by Cobra. That account offers a more specific premise than the release-date announcement, though it is not a studio synopsis.
The theatrical plan is a wide release, rather than an announced streaming premiere. Its October 2028 date also places it two weeks before two other films currently on the calendar: an untitled Duffer Brothers movie from Paramount and Warner Bros. Animation’s The Lunar Chronicles, both scheduled for November 3. Those are separate projects, not part of the G.I. Joe announcement.
Where the new movie fits in G.I. Joe’s screen history
G.I. Joe began as a Hasbro toy line and grew into a franchise that includes comic books and animated series. Its previous live-action theatrical films are G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra in 2009, G.I. Joe: Retaliation in 2013 and Snake Eyes in 2021.
That history gives the 2028 film a substantial screen legacy to draw on, but it also makes the description of the project as a reimagining important. The earlier movies arrived over more than a decade, and the latest was released as cinemas were recovering from the pandemic. Snake Eyes grossed about $40 million.
The new release date therefore marks another attempt to bring a property familiar from toys, comics and animation back to a broad theatrical audience. Cooper’s Duke supplies a recognizable character for that return, while McBride and his co-writers are responsible for shaping the new version.
For viewers tracking the project, the immediate takeaway is the combination of a dated cinema release and an identified creative team. The eventual title, fuller story and wider cast will determine more of what distinguishes this version from the films that came before it.
