Development After the financially successful release of
The Rise of Cobra, Rob Moore, the studio vice chairman of
Paramount Pictures, stated in 2009 that a sequel would be developed. In January 2011, Rhett Reese and
Paul Wernick, the writers of
Zombieland, were hired to write the script. The movie was originally thought to be titled
G.I. Joe: Cobra Strikes, which was later denied by Reese.
Stephen Sommers was originally going to return as director of the sequel, but Paramount Pictures announced in February 2011 that
Jon Chu would direct the sequel. In July 2011, the sequel's name was revealed to be
G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Chu would later declare that Paramount wanted a
reboot that also served as a sequel to
The Rise of Cobra since "a lot of people saw the first movie so we don't want to alienate that and redo the whole thing."
Casting In January 2011, it was confirmed that
Lee Byung-hun would reprise his role as
Storm Shadow in the sequel.
Channing Tatum and
Ray Park also returned, as
Duke and
Snake Eyes, respectively.
Rachel Nichols, the actress who played
Scarlett in the first film, stated that most cast members would not be returning, except for the three aforementioned actors. In March 2011,
Sienna Miller stated that she would not be returning for a sequel.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt also confirmed that he would not be returning as
Cobra Commander in the sequel because he was too busy with
The Dark Knight Rises. In June 2011,
Dwayne Johnson was cast as
Roadblock,
D. J. Cotrona and
RZA were cast as
Flint and
Blind Master, respectively, while
Élodie Yung was in talks for the role of
Jinx. In July 2011,
Adrianne Palicki was confirmed for the lead female role of
Lady Jaye, and
Ray Stevenson was confirmed to portray the villain
Firefly.
Arnold Vosloo also confirmed that he would reprise his role of
Zartan.
Jonathan Pryce will reprise his role as the
President of the United States.
Joseph Mazzello was confirmed to play
Mouse. In August 2011,
Walton Goggins was added as Warden Nigel James, and it was confirmed that
Bruce Willis was cast to star in the film as the original G.I. Joe. The character of Joe Colton was a replacement for fan-favorite Joe character
Sgt. Slaughter. Sgt. Slaughter stated that he "was originally supposed to be the part of Bruce Willis' [as] Sgt. Slaughter but because we had a conflict in toy companies, Hasbro and Mattel, I wasn't able to do it. It's one of those things, Rock (Dwayne Johnson) doesn't have a contract so he can do what he wants to do and he's been very successful". In September, a casting call sheet leaked to the Internet revealed that Cobra Commander would appear in the sequel, though it was unknown who would play the character. Chu said that fans would get a glimpse of
Destro in the film, but
Christopher Eccleston would not reprise his role in the sequel. On May 1, 2012, it was confirmed by Jon Chu that
G.I. Joe: Retaliations Cobra Commander is Rex Lewis, the same character that
Joseph Gordon-Levitt played in
The Rise of Cobra.
Filming Principal photography began in August 2011 in
Louisiana. The battle on the Himalayas was shot in the south vertical assembly building at NASA's
Michoud Assembly Facility, that had been fitted with a
green screen wall at a very steep angle with a lot of rigging above to swing the stunt people through.
Fort Pike in Louisiana stands in for
Fort Sumter in
South Carolina as the site of the climactic summit meeting of the leaders of nuclear-armed countries.
Fatality On November 22, 2011, a crew member, Mike Huber, died in an accident at a New Orleans warehouse used as a soundstage for the film. Crew members were changing out a set, and the
scissor lift Huber was operating fell on him.
OSHA assessed Paramount for a $21,000 penalty, some five years later the penalty was still being contested.
Visual effects Retaliation had 700 visual effects shots, which were mostly handled by three effects companies. The major part of the effects was given to
Digital Domain, which for 227 effects created digital vehicles and aircraft that had to "look fantastic but which are also plausible", given they had to match practical models, the Zeus satellite and a sequence where Zartan shows his nanomite-related disguise to the president—done with the same head replacement software developed for
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and
Tron: Legacy.
Industrial Light & Magic made the London destruction, a digital White House, and the mountain sword fight, which had computer-generated backgrounds and digital augmentation of the stunt people's performance.
Method Studios was responsible for the desert attack, Firefly's explosive bugs, and malfunction on underground prison. Saints LA handled minor effects such as
compositing and news graphics.
Music The film's score was composed by
Henry Jackman, conducted by
Nick Glennie-Smith and performed by the
Hollywood Studio Symphony. A soundtrack of the score was released in April 2013. ==Release==