Paramount Pictures and Danny McBride are putting up their Duke.

Bradley Cooper has signed on for military duty to star in Paramount’s new and untitled G.I. Joe feature.

McBride, known primarily as an actor and for his work as creator of HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones, is directing the project. He also wrote the script, along with Jeff Fradley and John Carcieri.

Little is known about the new take on the Hasbro property, a toy line that gained its modern relevance from a relaunch that included a cartoon series and a Marvel Comics comic in the 1980s. (It was first launched in mid-1960s as a realistic soldier toy.)

It was this version that not only introduced a commando strike force featuring soldiers with monikers such as Duke, Roadblock and Snake Eyes but also its over-the-top, hi-tech adversary, the terrorist organization known as Cobra, with key bad guys including Cobra Commander, Baroness, Destro and Zartan.

Cooper will play Duke, the nominal leader of the Joes. The character was played by Channing Tatum in the live-action movies G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra and G.I. Joe: Retaliation, released by Paramount in 2009 and 2013, respectively.

The Joe feature has been one of the big priorities at the studio, which, under new owner David Ellison, has been ramping up development of major IP and brands such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Star Trek. Securing Cooper as the lead of what will be an ensemble signals that, among the IP plays, the project may be the one that gets before cameras and presumably theaters first.

Producing are Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian and Zev Foreman of Hasbro Entertainment.

G.I. Joe is a rare IP play for Cooper, whose last major role was starring as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro, the ambitious biopic he also co-wrote and directed, earning four Oscar nominations in the process.

Cooper is known as the voice of Rocket in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies and had a cameo in James Gunn’s Superman movie last year. He worked with McBride previously when he appeared in episode of Gemstones.

He is repped by Range Media.

Well, on the bright side of things, the autumn box office should continue at a great hum this weekend thanks to Amazon MGM Studio’s feature take of Colleen Hoover thriller, Verity, starring Dakota Johnson, Anne Hathaway, and Josh Hartnett. The domestic outlook is $30M+ at 3,510 theaters with the definite potential to over perform given how there’s walk-up business from Hoover-philes. The Michael Showalter directed thriller has a shot at $20M-$25M in 70 offshore territories sans Japan, South Korea Taiwan, Vietnam and CIS in this suite, for a $50M-$55M+ global start. Previews stateside start today on Verity at 2PM.

Meanwhile, light candles and say prayers for Warner Bros/Legendary Entertainment’s Tom Cruise starring, Alejandro Iñárritu directed Digger. Many are bracing for what could be one of Tom Cruise’s lowest wide openings at the box office during the millennium. Warners believes the movie can get to $12M-$15M at 3,300 theaters, others believe it’s lucky to break $10M at the domestic box office. Seventy-three foreign territories except Poland, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand (no China release) are expected to deliver another $15M-$20M abroad at 14,000+ screens, for a $35M WW global start at the high-end for the reported net $125M production (rumors out there is that the movie was much higher between $140M-$150M). Unlike the Dune franchise, Legendary didn’t co-finance this, but they did produce Digger. Previews start at 2PM in North America with tickets on sale in Imax, Dolby Cinema, VistaVision, PLFs, and motion seats.

Digger was shot at Leavesden with UK tax credits. Global marketing spend is approaching $100M. To say that the movie is divisive is an understatement with some critics hailing the brilliance of the polemic movie in its Doctor Strangelove satire while others were simply impatient while watching it. Current Rotten Tomatoes critical score is 52% and know that Cruise has had lower ratings (2017’s The Mummy was 15% Rotten with reviewers; 2016’s Jack Reacher: Never Go Back was 37% Rotten). Warners in a last minute marketing salvo is leaning into selling the controversy of the film with a final spot, this tweet having clocked 2.2 million views:

Talia Ryder is the latest star lacing up their dance shoes for Tom Holland’s Fred Astaire biopic.

The Sony production about the legendary dancer and actor of Hollywood’s Golden Age has already tapped Margaret Qualley to play Adele Astaire, Fred’s older sister and Broadway partner, and Sabrina Carpenter as Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire’s frequent film co-star. Ryder, a classically trained dancer, will play June Allyson, a dancer and MGM actress who was originally set to star opposite Astaire in the musical film Royal Wedding.

Paddington filmmaker Paul King is directing from a screenplay he wrote with Steven Levenson based on the book The Astaires: Fred & Adele by Kathleen Riley.

Amy Pascal and Rachel O’Connor produce for Pascal Pictures along with Ben Holden and Josh Hyams for Lightbulb Pictures and Holland for Billy17. Steven Levenson and King penned the script based on the book The Astaires: Fred & Adele by Kathleen Riley.

The film has support from some Astaire family members, including Fred’s daughter, Ava Astaire McKenzie. Her son, Tyler McKenzie, serves as a consultant and co-producer.

Ryder‘s onscreen credits include a breakout in Sundance indie Never Rarely Sometimes Always and Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t, where she appeared opposite Qualley. As for musical cred, Ryder had a role in Steven Speilberg’s adaptation of West Side Story and began her career in Broadway‘s Matilda the Musical.

Ryder, who is repped by UTA, LBI and Vainshtein Law, will next be seen in Amazon MGM’s 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank and the second season of Amazon Prime’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith.