If you watched the first G.I. Joe thinking to yourself, ‘Hhhm… this is fun and all, what with the explosions and the super-suit stuff, but what it really needs is better dance choreography,’ your frankly disturbing prayers just got answered as Step Up 2/Step Up 3D director Jon M Chu is now being handed the reins to the sequel,according to Deadline.
Chu’s name caused some eyebrows to rise when it first arrived on the rumour list following Stephen Sommers’ departure, mostly because his experience in the director’s chair has been mostly focused on the likes of the Step Up Films and his work with the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. But the fact that he’s just made Paramount a truckload of money with a little film about Justin Bieber probably helped nudge him to the front of the crowd, even if we’re not quite sure we see the link between a singing pop moppet and an elite fighting force. Although, given Bieber’s ability to inspire a horde of troops…
Plus, in Chu’s defence, shooting dancing is likely good training for fight choreography and staging action. And while the scripts for the Step Up films weren’t exactly the best part, you could say the same about G.I. Joe. The job for the sequel’s screenplay has fallen to Zombieland’s Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, so we have a little more faith this time around.
Now that Paramount is finally locking in a director, the studio can start rounding up the acting troops – assuming it can’t just draft them all back for the sequel under stop-loss style contract options…