Why the Snake Eyes Movie Failed at the Box Office
The Snake Eyes movie came and went. It has been only two months since the film’s release, yet no one is talking about it.
The phrase “snake eyes”, refers to the worst possible result when rolling a pair of dice (rolling double ones). At the beginning of the film, Snake Eyes’ father is killed when the killer rolls double ones on a pair of weighted dice; “Snake eyes”, the murderer proclaims.
Similarly, the Snake Eyes film itself didn’t have much luck and became a box-office bomb. The film grossed less than $40 million worldwide, failing to recoup its production and marketing costs exceeding $100 million.
As a reboot of the G.I. Joe film franchise and an origin story for one of G.I. Joe’s most beloved characters, Paramount was counting on 2021’s Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins to kickstart a franchise and entire cinematic universe.
What Paramount failed to realize is the long list of things preventing the movie from becoming successful from the get-go; Paramount was rolling a pair of bad dice from the start.
Smaller Fanbase
G.I. Joe is not Marvel, DC, or even Transformers (another series of films distributed by Paramount and based on a Hasbro toy franchise). There are much less G.I. Joe fans in the world than there are Marvel, DC, and Transformers fans.
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero may have been a popular animated series in the 80s, but an entire four decades have passed and we are now living in the year 2021. Aside from the hardcore Joe fans, many people today are not familiar with G.I. Joe. These people aren’t going to go out of their way to see a G.I. Joe movie when they don’t like or even know of G.I. Joe.
Last 2 G.I. Joe Movies were Poorly Received
2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation, while being action-packed mindless fun, were both poorly received.
Channing Tatum, who plays Duke in both films has expressed his immense dislike for The Rise of Cobra. While on The Howard Stern Show, Tatum said;
“Look, I’ll be honest. I f — ing hate that movie. I was pushed into doing that movie. The script wasn’t any good.” — Channing Tatum
Two poorly received movies and a long hiatus of eight years was never going to boost hype for the upcoming G.I. Joe film, even if it’s a reboot. The fact remained that the general moviegoing audience lacked a strong connection to and relationship with the G.I. Joe brand.
Changing the Character of Snake Eyes
The character of Snake Eyes is easily one of the most popular characters, if not the most popular, in all of G.I. Joe. He is the mysterious badass ninja in black and doesn’t speak… at all.
In several incarnations of the character, Snake Eyes has his vocal cords damaged which is the reason he becomes mute. Alternatively in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Snake Eyes chooses to take a vow of silence, preventing audiences from hearing him utter a single word in his appearances across Rise of Cobra and its sequel; Retaliation. Snake Eyes is also never seen outside of his armor, contributing to the mysterious nature of the character that fans find so attractive.
In 2021’s Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, Snake Eyes’ face is visible for the near-entirety of the movie and talks normally throughout the film. By creating and telling a new origin story for Snake Eyes, the character is ultimately removed of what were his defining traits; his mysterious allure, anonymity, and his status as the perfect warrior (because now you see him as a flawed and fallible human being).
While getting to know someone on a deeper level may make for great character development and storytelling, some fans would prefer not to know about Snake Eyes because for them, that’s what makes him so interesting. It’s similar to how Halo fans do not want to see the face underneath the Master Chief’s helmet in a Halo game.
Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins is an origin story with “Origins” literally in the title. While there are fans who love to see the humanization of their favorites and take a closer look at their favorite characters, others value the mystery and would prefer the characters’ past to never be explicitly revealed.
Solo: A Star Wars Story removed a lot of the mystery of Han Solo’s past, revealing how Han Solo met Chewbacca, entered the world of smugglers, and got his hands on the iconic DL-44 blaster pistol and Millenium Falcon — the movie even going so far as to show the Kessel Run and create a reason for why Han’s last name is “Solo”.
Solo did not perform admirably at the box office and lost money for Lucasfilm. The movie has its fans, but there are also Star Wars fans who wish Han’s past had never been revealed. Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins finds itself in a similar position with poor box office results and both fans and critics of how they handled telling the backstory of a major character in a larger franchise.
Originally, Snake Eyes is depicted as a Caucasian, blonde-haired man in the comics.
Some fans took issue with Henry Golding, a half-White, half-Asian man (although many refer to him as simply being Asian) playing what is a White character.
The Snake Eyes character is recognized for being mysterious, wearing a mask and never showing his face, so Snake Eyes’ racial identity is not an important component of the character. With the 2021 Snake Eyes film being a reboot and introducing a new incarnation of the character, Snake Eyes is able to be reintroduced as an Asian man. However, Joe fans who have a strong connection to previous incarnations of the character may not be pleased with the movie failing to be faithful to the original comics. Those people, so long as they’re not expressing disapproval simply because of an Asian role, have a right to not be a fan of a new depiction or creative decision.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura, producer of Snake Eyes, revealed he consulted with Larry Hama on this particular topic;
“Larry Hama, the creator of Snake Eyes, is in on many of the decisions…Snake in the comic is blond haired and blue eyed. We asked [Hama] why he made him that way. He said he didn’t really know. So we asked if he cared if he’s dark haired and Asian here? ‘Probably should have done that in the beginning!’”
In-universe, Snake Eyes’ identity as an Asian man does not affect his character or the story in the film. Neither the character nor Henry Golding are Japanese, and despite being Asian, Snake Eyes is still a foreigner and an outsider when he is introduced by Tommy (later Storm Shadow) to the Arashikage Clan in Japan.
Out of universe (in the real world), it is likely that in today’s political and cultural climate, Paramount wanted an Asian man to portray a character who is a ninja and heavily linked to Japanese culture. Paramount was likely hoping to stir up positive marketing for their movie with Asian representation in a lead role, but more people took notice of and applauded Asian representation in this year’s Mortal Kombat and Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
No Scenes with Snake Eyes in the Suit
The posters, action figures, trailers, and other marketing materials heavily featured Snake Eyes in his iconic black armored suit.
Unfortunately, Snake Eyes doesn’t receive or wear this suit until the very end of the film right before the credits roll.
The movie misses a huge opportunity in showing Henry Golding fight bad guys in the proper Snake Eyes suit. Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins is very eager to setup Snake Eyes sequels and a G.I. Joe cinematic universe, all of which may not happen due to the poor box office results. It is possible we may never get to see a fight scene featuring the 2021 Snake Eyes suit.
Not a Mainline G.I. Joe Movie
Starting a cinematic universe with the origin story of a character many are not familiar with instead of a proper mainline G.I. Joe film was a risky call.
Although Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins is set in the G.I. Joe universe, the movie focuses on Snake Eyes’ quest for vengeance and his dealings with a ninja clan and the yakuza. G.I. Joe is known for its battle between the Joes and the evil terrorist organization as Cobra. In this film, both organizations are not very present and only two characters that are a Joe or Cobra make an appearance, both with minimal screen time.
The seeds were being sown for more movies but G.I. Joe fans seemed to have wanted to see a G.I. Joe movie right from the get-go, instead of a slow tease into a cinematic universe.
Pandemic-Era Box Office
Snake Eyes was released exclusively in theaters but performed poorly that it was made available to watch at home only three weeks after it’s theatrical release.
F9, Shang-Chi, and Godzilla vs. Kong have performed well in theaters during the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic, but still do not perform as well as they would have in a world without Covid. What this indicates is that people are still coming out to see movies but are much more selective with what movies they are seeing.
Snake Eyes turned out to be a movie that not enough people would go out of their way to see.
Roll Again?
Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura revealed that he has pitched a follow-up that was rejected by Paramount. With the world still being in the midst of the Covid pandemic, lower box office returns for theatrically released films, and the financial loss suffered by the studio from Snake Eyes’ underwhelming performance in theaters, the future of the Snake Eyes and G.I. Joe franchise remains unclear.
There is lots to enjoy about Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins and the Joe franchise has immense untapped potential. As to whether that potential can be a given a chance to be realized . . . remains a mystery.
