Who do they think will race to the theaters to see the new 'G.I. Joe'?

Growing up in the '80s, I developed a lifelong obsession with one of that decade's most beloved phenomena: G.I. Joe. I remember the blissful feeling of going to the toy store and using my allowance to buy an action figure. I owned the 3 ¾-inch action figures and their vehicles. I watched the cartoon. G.I. Joe played a big part in my young life. The G.I. Joe of today is a much different beast. A few years back I noticed Fox was airing a Saturday-morning cartoon called G.I. Joe: Sigma 6, a cheaply produced, CGI-ish version of what I used to watch on TV. More recently, I was shocked to see Hasbro launch a 25th-anniversary version of the action figures, charging a whopping $20 a pop for them. Maybe that's inflation. I doubt they've improved on the cheap plastic since the early days. And of course, since every piece of entertainment from my era has been turned into a movie lately, we are also getting G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, a potential blockbuster (or bust-buster ... i.e., too crappy to even screen for critics) coming to a theater near you. I've been excited about it despite reports that it could be Snakes on a Plane bad. The trailer above doesn't look terrible. But to whom, I wonder, were the moviemakers hoping to market it? Adults who had grown up on the '80s cartoon and action figures? Kids of this era, who know it in its crappy, computerized form? It's hard to tell just from the trailer, but I'd be surprised if G.I. Joe isn't a big hit and doesn't rekindle popularity in the original series, recession or not.

—Posted by Will Levith