Article from screenrant.com

Despite generally negative critical response to last year’s G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra and questionable special effects, director Stephen Sommers brought a relatively fun summer film to audiences around the world. Produced with the hefty budget of $175 million, the film brought in around $300 million worldwide but excelled even further with merchandise sales for Hasbro and on home video.

We’ve known that G.I. Joe 2 would be made for quite some time and in May producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura revealed that they hoped to start filming next Spring for a Summer release in 2012. What was still uncertain was whether or not director Stephen Sommers would be back to direct the sequel.

According to an exclusive from The Wrap, Sommers will be back to work for Paramount in directing G.I. Joe 2. We can expect the principal cast to return as well so if you’re a fan of the first movie, prepare for some more Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans and Rachel Nichols.

While I was able to take away some enjoyment from the first G.I. Joe, it wasn’t a quality film by any means and there were a lot of issues with it (arguably too many). I hope the sequel – with it now having an established villain – will do more for fans and look better. It needs to earn some more positive reception – higher than 34% on Rotten Tomatoes would be a good start…

I think we can all agree that we don’t want this franchise to turn into Paramount’s other giant toy commercials, the Transformers movies, where the second installment was actually worse than the first. For these reasons, I can’t get excited about Sommers returning at this point. That and I thought The Mummy Returns and Van Helsing were also awful.

At least we’ll get more of Ray Park’s Snake Eyes character and of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Cobra Commander.

Alice Eve, Malin Ackerman and Rachel Nichols have been in talks with Marvel, with either Eve or Ackerman now close to landing a part in The Avengers.

Our boys over at Latino Review seem to be all over the Conan remake buzz after already letting us know that Stephen Lang was interested in the role of the film’s baddie. Now they are reporting that G.I. Joe star Rachel Nichols will play Tamara the female lead in the film. They also report that she beat out actresses Jessica Lucas and Sarah Shahi for the role.
Tamara is a master of martial arts and is the bodyguard and best friend of the Queen who has been kidnapped by Lang’s character. She finds herself in league with Conan because of a mutual need to find Khalar Singh. She is not in the least intimidated by Conan’s size or grim demeanor and their alliance eventually blossoms into something that surprises them both, a little booty for the big man. hehe.
Nichols is a total babe and nicely proportioned as well. Besides that which is sort of shallow to say, she is talented and will play a nice opposite to Momoa’s Conan. Lang, Momoa and Nichols is surely shaping up to be a nicely done film at this point.

taken from fusedfilm.com

Rose McGowan has been added to the cast of Lionsgate’s barbarian epic Conan.
The Grindhouse star will play an evil human/witch hybrid in director Marcus Nispel’s fantasy remake.
Jason Momoa will take on the titular role, made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the ’80s, while Avatar’s Stephen Lang, Rachel Nichols, Ron Perlman, Said Taghmaoui and Leo Howard are in supporting roles.
Conan kicked off production in Bulgaria this week and will be released in cinemas next year.

Rachel Nichols has joined the cast of Marcus Nispel’s Conan The Barbarian remake, reports Latino Review.
The actress, who appeared in last summer’s blockbusters Star Trek and GI Joe, will take on the role of Tamara, a novitiate of a Greek-influenced monastery and bodyguard to the Queen.
Jason Momoa, Mickey Rourke, Bob Sapp and Leo Howard are already on board to star in Conan, which is based on Robert E. Howard’s mythical warrior.
Production is slated to start next month in Bulgaria.

Paramount Home Entertainment has confirmed that GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra from director Stephen Sommers is coming to Blu-ray Disc and DVD on November 3. In addition, the adult web series that aired on Comedy Central, GI Joe: Resolute, will be released on DVD only the same day.Rise of Cobra starring Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Sienna Miller, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rachel Nichols, Ray Park, Dennis Quaid and Christopher Eccleston will be presented on Blu-ray in 2.35:1 1080p video and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio.

Bonus features appear slim on paper but run times could make them more substantial. The audio commentary is the only extra on disc one.

• Feature commentary by director Stephen Sommers and producer Bob Ducsay
• Digital Copy
• The Big Bang Theory: The Making of G.I. JOE— Join the G.I. JOE team as they set out to “Sommer-size” the summer action epic and bring G.I. JOE to the big screen.
• Next-Gen Action: The Amazing Visual FX and Design of G.I. JOE— With over 1,650 visual effect shots, G.I. JOE was a truly massive endeavor. Showcasing the hard work and creativity of the film’s effects and design team, this piece looks at the unique challenges of bringing the world of G.I. JOE and COBRA to life, while immersing viewers in the incredible thrills and various FX challenges of the film’s major action sequences.

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com.