Snake Eyes movie UK release date: Cast, trailer for GI Joe spin-off
Henry Golding is suiting up in this reworked origin story of one of G.I. Joe's standout characters.
With a name like Snake Eyes, it's hardly surprising that this particular G.I. Joe recruit has become a fan-favourite and the first to get his own spin-off.
A reboot of the G.I. Joe film series - itself based on the action figure line which was rebranded as Action Man in the UK - Snake Eyes will serve as an origin story for the title character, explaining how he became the iconic ninja special ops agent and quite possibly the coolest member of the long-running team.
It has a great cast of up-and-coming actors also, led by Crazy Rich Asians star Henry Golding who will be donning the mask as the titular hero.
Here's everything you need to know about Snake Eyes.
Snake Eyes movie release date
Pandemic permitting, Snake Eyes will slice its way into UK cinemas on Wednesday 18th August 2021.
This is nearly a month after most of the world however, with the film opening in countries such as the US on 23rd July 2021.
Like most movies these days, Snake Eyes has been delayed several times from its initial release date of 27th March 2020 due to the pandemic. However, in April 2021 Paramount made the rare move of moving the film up from October to its current summer release date, indicating that another delay is unlikely.
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Snake Eyes cast
Henry Golding, the star of Crazy Rich Asians, Last Christmas and The Gentleman, will be taking on the titular role of Snake Eyes in his first Hollywood action role. He will be taking over the role from Darth Maul actor and martial artist Ray Park, who portrayed the spec ops soldier in the first two G.I. Joe films.
Golding has addressed the race-swapping of classic character Snake Eyes, who was created by Japanese-American comic book writer Larry Hama as a white male to show him as an outsider to his Japanese surroundings.
“People are like, ‘That’s not his history. He’s meant to be white.’", Golding told Inverse. "Well, maybe Larry had to do that. Maybe Larry had to make an obvious fish out of water. He had to make him white with blonde hair and blue eyes.
“It gave us the ability to start over with the blessing of Larry Hama,” Golding added. “Nowadays, we’re all fish out of water.”
Warrior star Andrew Koji will be portraying Storm Shadow, a classic G.I. Joe character who has a complicated relationship with rival and occasional brother-in-arms Snake Eyes. The film will chart their initial friendship, before Storm Shadow joins Cobra and the two ninjas become archenemies.
Úrsula Corberó, best known internationally for playing Tokyo in Money Heist, will star as Cobra operative and the film's villain Baroness, who was previously played by Sienna Miller in 2009's G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra.
Meanwhile Bill and Ted Face the Music star Samara Weaving will play G.I. Joe agent Scarlett, who will likely recruit Snake Eyes to the team - and form a relationship with him if the film follows the comics. The role was previously played by Rachel Nichols in the first G.I. Joe movie.
Iko Uwais (The Raid), Peter Mensah (Spartacus) and Haruka Abe (Ideal) will portray Hard Master, Blind Master and Akiko respectively.
Snake Eyes trailer
A final trailer was released in July 2021, and is suitably stylish showing off some well-choreographed fight scenes:
How does Snake Eyes fit into the GI Joe universe?
Snake Eyes will be the third live-action G.I. Joe film, following 2009's G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra and 2013's G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
However, after a nearly decade-long gap Snake Eyes will act as a reboot, as evidenced by the recasting of several key roles.
Snake Eyes is clearly intended as the start of a new franchise, as in May 2020 - a year before the film was released - a sequel was announced to be in development with Golding set to reprise the title role.
Despite Snake Eyes being a reboot, a third G.I. Joe film titled G.I. Joe: Ever Vigilant has been in development since 2013, said to focus on characters such as Daina Janack, Dr. Adele Burkhart and Wild Bill. However, with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson rumoured to reprise his role of Roadblock from G.I. Joe: Retaliation, it is unclear if the film would be set in the same universe and continuity as Snake Eyes.
In 2015 Paramount announced G.I. Joe would be part of a new cinematic universe, and would cross over with other toy-based films such as Micronauts, M.A.S.K. and Rom. However, while the shared universe has since been cancelled, a potential crossover with the Transformers film series has been in the works for some time - which may well involve Snake Eyes.
Snake Eyes is set to be released in cinemas on 18th August 2021. If you’re looking for something else to watch, check out our TV Guide or visit our Movies hub for all the latest news.
