Back in 2010, Warner Bros realized that one of their flagship franchises, Harry Potter, would be wrapping up the following year and they needed a replacement. They also realized that with the exception of Chris Nolan’s two Batman films, Marvel was killing them in the comic book movie department. So they decided to launch a new franchise based on a character with one of the deepest mythologies in comics, helmed by a talented director and starring one of the most promising leading men in Hollywood.
Except, Green Lantern was kind of a crap movie. Like, really crap.
And now, with news that DC will eventually be tackling a Justice League movie, it looks like they’re considering sweeping that pile of green poop under the carpet and just forgetting about it.
With a production budget of approximately $200 million, plus a rumoured advertising budget of an additional $100 million to $150 million, the film’s eventual $220 million global box office earnings was certainly not leaving the competition green with envy. In fact many were surprised when Warner Bros announced that despite the limp earnings, they would still soldier on with a sequel, as they were looking to build a franchise.
By August of last year a script for said sequel was written by 3 of the 6 Green Lantern scribes (Yes, 6 writers! That’s not a problem, right?), which Warner Bros then indicated that they would be making changes to, “to make it a little edgier and darker with more emphasis on action. … And [we have] to find a way to balance the time the movie spends in space versus on Earth.”
But according to a new report from Variety, those changes could possibly be a lot more drastic than just tweaking the terrestrial time-share, as Warner Bros are now considering scrapping the entire thing and just starting over fresh.
And leading man Ryan Reynolds – who, despite early aversions to his casting as Hal Jordan, actually ended up being one of the (very) few redeeming factors in the film – may just find himself being kicked to the curb along with that film, as Justice League could possibly be used to introduce brand new faces, who would then spin off into their own movies. A reverse Marvel, if you will.
That doesn’t mean that Warner Bros are flying completely in the face of everything that Marvel has pioneered (very successfully) with their own movie universe though. In fact, according to Variety’s sources there’s one particular Marvel approach that Warner Bros is in favour of embracing themselves:
” …the studio learned that when making a superhero pic, it needs to tap creatives that genuinely understand the characters the way Joss Whedon was comfortable with “The Avengers.”
It’s at this point that I pause to facepalm, as this should not be some great revelation. This is what fans have called for for ages. Even Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, which may take some departures from its source (Joker being the most prevalent example), worked because Nolan respected the character immensely and treated it seriously, instead of just dismissing it as another brightly coloured, kiddies cartoon.
And as a decades long Green Lantern fan, whatever decision Warner Bros takes, that’s all I’m asking for: Respect the character and its mythos. When you have a group of space-cops, wielding what is considered the most powerful weapon in the universe due to its only restraint being imagination, facing down a galaxy destroying threat, and all they can come up with is to throw a big green net on it, then you’re not respecting the character. You’re hitting fans in the face with a green rubber penis.
Last Updated: June 12, 2012
James Lenoir
June 12, 2012 at 13:34
I’m going to come out and say it, I enjoyed the Green Lantern. Sure it wasn’t as focussed as Thor or even remotely as awesome as the Dark Knight, but Ryan Reynolds was hardly a stinker in the flick. I recently watched the Street Fighter Chun Li movie (much to Geoff’s delight), and it reset what I would consider a bad movie to be.
Gah! It’s kryptonite to my eyes.
Kervyn Cloete
June 12, 2012 at 15:06
Like I said, I actually like Reynolds in the role, which I really didn’t expect to happen. The script though was horrible. Hal finds a crashed spaceship, meets an alien, gets given a magic ring that drags him through a wormhole to the center of the universe, where he meets an entire planet of aliens from every corner of the universe, and told that he has been granted one of the most powerful weapons in the universe…. and the dude barely blinks an eye to all of it.
Also, apparently the only training you need to wield said weapon, is to have two guys take literally 15 mins to slap you around without actually teaching you a single thing, and you’re good to go.
James Lenoir
June 12, 2012 at 16:34
Yeah, the script wasn’t that great. I’m not exactly sure what they were going for, but I recently watched Green Lantern Emerald Knights, which is actually a pretty decent cartoon movie.
Kervyn Cloete
June 12, 2012 at 17:27
What they were going for was to have every WB exec and his lackey tell director Martin Campbell what to put into and cut out of the movie so that it can appeal better to their target demographics, and also give them the most merchandising opportunities.
Campbell famously said that it was the worst filmmaking experience of his career, and even if the movie broke box office records (which it clearly didn’t), he would refuse to work with them ever again.
I feel for Reynolds though, because just like Brandon Routh with Superman Returns, he acquitted themselves very well, despite all the garbage around him, and now he is probably going to have to go down with the ship.
Justin Hess
June 12, 2012 at 17:19
Look, Warners has to do what every good superhero movie, shit, what every good movie in general does. Find the humanity of the characters.
It’s what made Raiders such a great film, Alien, The Dark Knight etc. Let the characters be human, be true and sincere and then build your story. No matter how fantastic things might get, retaining the characters’ humanity gives them and the story relevance.
Focusing on spectacle, silly one liners and sfx is a foolish, amateur hour mistake and it’s something that all too many mainstream blockbusters are guilty of these days.
Your audience is comprised of human beings and with that in mind, it should make sense that they’ll want to see what other humans are doing