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During the ’80s, Hasbro treated the G.I. Joe and Transformers toy lines like two separate completely franchises although their respective animated series hinted that they shared the same universe. Now, the crossover is finally going to take place on the big screen.
Via SlashFilm, Paramount formally announced the Transformers and G.I. Joe crossover movie at CinemaCon. The news isn’t too surprising given that G.I. Joe was referenced in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. But it’s unclear if the new film will build on the continuity of Rise of the Beasts or if it will be a fresh start for both franchises. Steven Spielberg will produce the crossover movie, which doesn’t currently have a release date or a director.
Earlier this year, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura hinted that a Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover movie could arrive as soon as 2026. He also shed some light on the approach to the film.
“We are exploring now how to do that,” said di Bonaventura “And we hope to come in the summer of [2026], we are definitely going to deliver on the promise of a Joe entering the world. People keep talking about crossover. It’s not a crossover the way I see it, it’s a GI Joe character or characters entering the Transformers world so it’s not the mash-up of the two.
Paramount’s last few Transformers films have underperformed since launching the live-action franchise in 2007. However, the Transformers have fared better than G.I. Joe, which has only managed to get three live-action films to date. The most recent movie, Snake-Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, was a box office bomb.
The initial G.I. Joe and Transformers crossovers took place in the comic book realm when both franchises were published by Marvel in the ’80s. Since then, crossovers between the two were published by Devil’s Due, DreamWave Productions, and IDW. Beyond those crossovers, IDW attempted to create a shared comic book universe that featured G.I. Joe and Transformers alongside some of Hasbro’s other properties including Rom, Micronauts, and Visionaries. More recently, Robert Kirkman’s Skybound has started a new Energon Universe for Transformers and G.I. Joe through Image Comics.
