Paramount Pictures has set Danny McBride’s untitled G.I. Joe reimagining for a wide North American release on 20 October 2028, The Hollywood Reporter and TheWrap reported on 6 November from a studio date announcement. Bradley Cooper is attached to star as Duke. McBride directs from a screenplay he wrote with Jeff Fradley and John Carcieri; Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian and Zev Foreman produce for Hasbro Entertainment.
Key facts
- Title: untitled G.I. Joe reimagining; director/co-writer Danny McBride with Jeff Fradley and John Carcieri
- Cast (disclosed): Bradley Cooper as Duke
- Release: 20 October 2028, Paramount wide; producers di Bonaventura, Vahradian, Foreman for Hasbro Entertainment
- Same-day calendar move: untitled Paranormal Activity film shifted from 21 May 2027 to 22 October 2027 (Paramount and Blumhouse Atomic; Ian Tuason directs)
Where the date sits in the slate
The October 2028 slot is the first firm theatrical date attached to the McBride–Cooper package since Deadline reported Cooper’s casting as Duke on 1 October. That earlier report said McBride had won the directing job after Paramount weighed several pitches, and that the film is uncoupled from a previously floated Transformers crossover that is no longer in development. Plot details remain undisclosed; both THR and TheWrap describe the project as a franchise reimagining rather than a continuation of 2021’s Snake Eyes.
Hasbro Entertainment’s producing credit puts the toy line’s owner inside the package alongside Paramount’s distribution. The last live-action G.I. Joe theatrical, Snake Eyes, opened in 2021 and underperformed against the brand’s earlier peaks, which is why the studio framed this entry as a reset rather than a numbered sequel. Budget, shoot start and supporting cast were not in Friday’s date release.
The Paranormal Activity companion move
In the same calendar update, Paramount pushed an untitled Paranormal Activity film from 21 May 2027 to 22 October 2027. TheWrap says Paramount and Blumhouse Atomic will finance and produce jointly, with Paramount taking worldwide distribution. Ian Tuason directs; Oren Peli produces for Solana Films, with James Wan and Jason Blum for Blumhouse Atomic. Chase Yi, Sonia Mena and Maya Da Costa are the disclosed cast. The original 2007 Paranormal Activity is routinely cited in trade coverage as one of the highest-return horror titles on cost; the franchise’s cumulative worldwide gross is reported above $900 million across seven instalments.
Pairing a Hasbro tentpole date with a Blumhouse horror shift in one studio note is ordinary slate management: Paramount is staking a late-2028 franchise weekend while clearing May 2027 and planting found-footage horror in the October corridor that has favoured the genre. Neither announcement disclosed production budgets or start dates.
Our reading
For exhibitors and foreign buyers, the actionable item is the locked 20 October 2028 weekend with Cooper as Duke and McBride directing – a named auteur-comedy voice on a military-toy IP that has lacked a coherent theatrical strategy since Snake Eyes. What is still missing is the production window and a supporting cast that would tell sales agents whether this is a $150m-plus event film or a contained reboot. The Paranormal Activity move is secondary calendar news unless Blumhouse discloses a budget or a creative hook beyond the brand name. The next document that would firm either title is a start-of-production notice or a Comic-Con / CinemaCon reel.
Related: Lionsgate’s animated John Wick prequel; Maya Hawke boards Legendary–Hasbro’s Magic: The Gathering; Netflix’s Other Worlds Stranger Things prequel for 2028.