 After the financially successful release of The Rise of Cobra , Rob Moore , the studio vice chairman of Paramount Pictures , stated in 2009 that a sequel would be developed . In January 2011 , Rhett Reese and Paul <unk> , the writers of <unk> , were hired to write the script for the sequel . The movie was originally thought to be titled G.I. Joe : Cobra <unk> , which was later denied by Reese . Stephen <unk> was originally going to return as director of the sequel , but Paramount Pictures announced in February 2011 that Jon Chu would direct the sequel . In July 2011 , the sequel 's name was revealed to be G.I. Joe : Retaliation . Chu would later declare that Paramount wanted a reboot that also served as a sequel to The Rise of Cobra since " a lot of people saw the first movie so we don 't want to alienate that and <unk> the whole thing . " 
