G.I. Joe secrecy causes huge buzz for pic

You can always tell a movie is bad when the letters in the title outnumber the people who’ve seen it. And Paramount are proving this in spades with their new, “G.I. Joe.”

Claimed as ‘the biggest movie of the Summer,’ it opens on Friday – but the studio has still not screened it for critics. And that’s a bad sign. The endless blitz of marketing and promos so often inflicted by a Summer blockbuster has also been confined to the nation’s heartland, with little or nothing seen on the coasts. And that’s also bad news.

The Huffington Post is reporting that the studio claim this was done by design and not out of fear. Paramount are supposedly aiming the movie ‘at cities outside the entertainment vortexes of New York and LA.’ The only public preview was for 1,000 personnel at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, and the usual barrage of marketing only aired in smaller towns in the south.

“G.I. Joe’ is a big, fun, summer event movie,” says Rob Moore, vice chairman of Paramount. “One that we’ve seen audiences enjoy everywhere from Andrews to Arizona.” he adds with aplomb….You have to admire the man’s skills at BS.

Directed by Stephen Sommers, whose past works include 1999′s “The Mummy” and Hugh Jackman’s “Van Helsing” from 2004, the plot concerns an elite military team who receive orders to take down a rogue arms dealer. The trailer debuted during the last Superbowl, and the buzz on the movie has been dismal since then.

But since debuting six weeks ago, ‘Transformers’ has bagged over $380-million in the US alone. And the lack of pre-screenings for ‘Joe’ could mean that Paramount thinks it can clear even that bar without critics’ help.

Industry sources are saying the ‘low-profile’ ploy is Paramount’s best defense after “Transformers” was hosed by the critics, and Rob would seem to agree, “After the chasm we experienced with ‘Transformers’, we chose to forgo the previews – We want audiences to define this film.”

With a budget that ballooned over $175-million and Dennis Quaid and Marlon Wayans in the cast, they’d better define it as stunning.