Just because it's expected doesn't make it any less painful. A movie does well at the box office, and on Monday morning it's time to announce a sequel. It's business as usual for G.I. Joe, which will have a sequel in production soon, according to Paramount's vice chairman Rob Moore. Moore told the Los Angeles Times that the entire cast is contractually obligated to return for a sequel, though the director Stephen Sommers has the option of bailing.

But based on an obnoxious interview Sommers gave Variety, he probably won't be hopping off the money train any time soon. He crowed over the critics who were shut out of advance screenings of his film, claiming "I don’t think the mainstream critics are relevant here, they have criticized themselves into irrelevancy. Transformers 2 got the worst reviews in the last decade, and it is the biggest hit of the year. More people will see that than any other movie. On my movie, it became so clear to us. Why not make those reviewers pay their $15 like everyone else?"

I don't really mean to turn this into a "Stephen Sommers hates critics, he deserves to die" tirade (that might come later), but I can't help clenching my fists reading this. He goes on to proclaim that he doesn't read reviews (of course), claiming that "I make the kind of movies critics love to hate. They love dark and depressing movies. If you make those, you expect they will love you, you need them to love you. The kind of movies I make? They don’t enjoy commercial or popular movies." Yes, because the rave reviews for Up and Star Trek clearly indicate that what's popular will never, ever be critically loved.

Sorry, this is turning into that tirade I promised I'd avoid. Anyway, they're making a G.I. Joe 2, and hey, even the official Cinema Blend review was positive. I guess we might pass his relevancy test-- that is, "you are relevant if you like my movie"-- after all.