Green Lantern: Grading, Review, Discuss, Tracking, Sequel?

[DarKush]

Yeah, Kyle Rayner was totally a supporting character in the Green Lantern books while he was the only Green Lantern for ten years.

Agreed. I don't think we have to downgrade the other human Lanterns to elevate Hal. Even though Gardner and Stewart started as back ups they have long since stepped beyond that status and should be acknowledged as such. Kyle started out as a solo star to begin with.

One of the cool things about the Green Lantern concept/franchise is that it can give us four different leads if necessary and all of them have different personalities and approaches to the job.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Yeah, Kyle Rayner was totally a supporting character in the Green Lantern books while he was the only Green Lantern for ten years.

Ah, the "Loser era." It's probably wrong to call Rayner a supporting character in that regard, since he couldn't support the sales of the title. Like most folks, I rarely picked up GL during that time unless an issue featured Hal or some variation of the Corps - something that the publishers were well aware of and which was the corporate motivation for those stories.

But I'm sure the studio will get right on that. "This movie didn't make as much money as we'd like, so let's reboot it with a character who couldn't even sell comic books."

 

[davejames]

When I heard the villain would be Parallax and not Sinestro I immediately thought "WTF?". I gave it the chance it deserved, but as it stood, the movie gave the audience zero interest to care about defeating Parallax. I think it's a no-brainer that the movie should have had Sinestro turn from good to bad during this movie and become the primary antagonist. I don't really understand why they thought it was a good idea to put that off for a sequel that might never get made.

I guess I'm the only one, but I thought Parallax made a plenty effective villain in this. From his ferocious attack on Abin Sur in the opening, to him ripping the skeletons out of people left and right, I don't see how he could have been any more threatening. And him being the embodiment of fear didn't seem all that hard or abstract a concept to grasp.

Obviously Sinestro as the villain would have been pretty awesome as well, but I didn't mind waiting til the next movie to see it.

Green Lantern the movie was boring, drab, unimaginative and incoherent from beginning to end. Simple reason why it failed.

The first three I can kind of understand, but I still don't see what was so "incoherent" about GL. It was as simple and straightforward a story as you can GET. It might have got a bit rushed here and there towards the end, but it was always easy as hell to follow. There was never a point in the movie when I was wondering "Why is this happening? What is going on?"

 

[Captain Craig]

Ah, the "Loser era." It's probably wrong to call Rayner a supporting character in that regard, since he couldn't support the sales of the title. Like most folks, I rarely picked up GL during that time unless an issue featured Hal or some variation of the Corps - something that the publishers were well aware of and which was the corporate motivation for those stories.

But I'm sure the studio will get right on that. "This movie didn't make as much money as we'd like, so let's reboot it with a character who couldn't even sell comic books."

Your entitled to not like anyone but Hal no one is saying otherwise. You do realize that sales on GL were so low when Hal had the book that by issue #50 "the great Hal" was NOT "selling" the book. Does that even register with you? Or is it like your political opinions and you just block out what you don't like regardless of any facts?

Kyle sold the GL book for 10 years, yes TEN YEARS so your pretentious attitude is really making you look silly. Over twice the time that Hal was "able" to appeal to readers.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I guess I'm the only one, but I thought Parallax made a plenty effective villain in this. From his ferocious attack on Abin Sur in the opening, to him ripping the skeletons out of people left and right, I don't see how he could have been any more threatening. And him being the embodiment of fear didn't seem all that hard or abstract a concept to grasp.

Parallax worked fine as a villain. The writers might have been able to invent a better one rather than borrowing from the comics, but the other obvious choice from the books would have been Sinestro. I like Thaal more as the guy who's going to fall than presented as he originally was in the comics as a villain-with-backstory, so I'm glad they didn't do that - seeing Strong have the chance to play the character as possessing some kind of noble spirit and empathy to balance his vanity and arrogance was pretty sweet.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Which is why they should have really replaced Hector Hammond with Atrocitus, and showed Hal and Sinestro hunting him down. That gives plenty of opportunities to set up Sinestro, and hint at his eventual fall. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to make Atrocitus an agent of Parallax. Maybe he sees Parallax as his best chance at revenge against the guardians.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

You miss the point. Most every-day Joes aren't test-piloting, model-banging egomaniacs who neglect the vast majority of their families. That GL tried to portray Hal Jordan as an every-day Joe who, oh by the way, is a test pilot who wakes up with models and neglects the vast majority of his family, is the basis of the why I believe the film is pretentious.

You don't see it that way? Fine. But the vast majority of moviegoers decided not to see the film -- to the point where it literally bombed at the box office. And I'm pretty sure that my perspective is at least part of the reason why.

You are making this out to be a bit more serious than it is. The Audience does not care to find any similarities between themselves and the heroes/villains of a sci fi action film. All they want is a good, entrtaining, coherent, engaging and flashy piece of movie that'll cheer them up better than the average dull life we all almost lead. Watch First Flight and then also Emerald Warriors to see how a good "Green Lantern" film should be made. Hell, they could have just transferred GL: Secret Origin, with a bit of fat trimmed off, word for word, onto the screen and they'd have had a huge hit in their hands.

The problem here is in your assertions of absolutes. Not every potential audience member will disregard personal connections to the characters of a film. We could debate to what extent audiences need to make connections ... but with respect to the GL film, such a debate is irrelevant: Potential audiences had very little connection to the way GL characters were portrayed in both the promotional materials and in the final product (Dennis notwithstanding).

My point still stands: At least part of the reason why GL bombed is that viewers were either unable or unwilling to connect to the GL characters. Compare that to Iron Man and I think there's a tangible difference in how audiences were able to connect to the character of Tony Stark vs. that of Hal Jordan. One was pretentious (GL -- pretending to be an everyday guy while living a charmed life) while the other reveled in its presentation (IM - fully embracing the charmed life).

Green Lantern the movie was boring, drab, unimaginative and incoherent from beginning to end.

I agree. But the film certainly didn't intend to be any of those things. It desperately wanted to be taken seriously (the whole Will vs. Fear theme). Because it was trying so hard to be so "serious" (as you might put it), but utterly failed at doing so, I characterize the film as pretentious. And posit that such a failure is one reason why the film didn't live up to studio expectations at the box office.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Which is why they should have really replaced Hector Hammond with Atrocitus, and showed Hal and Sinestro hunting him down. That gives plenty of opportunities to set up Sinestro, and hint at his eventual fall. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to make Atrocitus an agent of Parallax. Maybe he sees Parallax as his best chance at revenge against the guardians.

I would totally love to see the Red Lantern Corps in a future film. Though they would probably have to tweak a bit, as most RLs are little more than bloodthirsty animals in temperament.

 

[Admiral_Young]

We'd have to get the Sinestro Corp War before we saw Red Lanterns first. The writers of the film along with Geoff Johns have stated that is something that if the film franchise continues we would possibly see. The emotional spectrum is mentioned and shown in the opening of the film and of course the post credits sequence would indicate the SCW could happen.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Yeah, do Sinestro next. The other stuff can wait.

Although I do want to see Blake Lively in a skintight purple jumpsuit.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Blake Lively did do an interview where she said she was excited about the possibility of playing Star Sapphire.

 

[Captain Craig]

It's happened.
Green Lantern is now in less theaters than either Thor or X-Men: First Class and will struggle to reach $115m which is where they likely will pull it. Last weekend it was still in more theaters even though both jumped GL in revenue this past Monday. Now it's both.

Theater Count as of the weekend of 7/29
Thor - 190
XM:FC - 254
GL - 135

Its going to be expanding overseas throughout August so I'll be curious to see if it can muster at least $50m more international to get GL's worldwide total to at least $200m.

 

[davejames]

Nothing to do now but wait for the Blu-ray. It would be cool if we got some kind of longer Director's Cut, but it's probably not likely.

I bought the big "Making Of" book (hey, someone had to ), and it does appear there were a few sequences cut out of it. Such as something in the Oa cemetery.

 

[Vendikarr]

Blake Lively did do an interview where she said she was excited about the possibility of playing Star Sapphire.

I've never like Sinestro. I would much rather see Star Sapphire as the next baddie. And keep it on Earth.

 

[Captain Craig]

August is upon us and this is when Green Lantern is really going to be making the push into most international territories. So, is the following statement, by Jeff Robinov WB film group president, intended to encourage global fans to show up at the theater? Basically saying, "Your vote, $$$, could yet keep a sequel afloat and get it beyond outline form and green lighted? Afterall the sequel statement was mentioned following the weekend GL opened and as noted in the piece, shot down as being approved.

Indeed, despite the weak box-office performance of Lantern in the U.S. and in a limited overseas launch, Warner Bros. has not scrapped the idea of a sequel. With an outline already in hand, studio executives are mulling over what changes would be needed to make a follow-up work. Robinov said he would like to see it be "a little darker and edgier with more emphasis on action.

What are the thoughts on this? Is this a new development or just a repeat engagement of what was said 5 weeks ago and debunked?

My idea for "what changes would be needed" would be to knock $50-60m off the production budget for starters. That alone would've made this installments revenue to date look much better.

 

[davejames]

I don't think dark and edgy is really the answer. And while I'm sure comic fans would love more space action, I don't think that would work either. People already thought this one looked too much like a silly CG cartoon.

They probably just need a solid, well-written Earth-based story that grounds the character a bit better and makes people see that he's just as cool and badass as a Thor or Iron
Man (something I don't think the marketing for this movie really got across at all).

 

[Mr Light]

So, Green Lantern has yet to roll out in some other countries? Why? I thought things mainly all came out at the same time nowadays.

 

[Harvey]

More emphasis on action? How about a little more emphasis on the (so far) shallow characters? I really doubt a sequel is in the cards.

 

[StarTrek1701]

More emphasis on action? How about a little more emphasis on the (so far) shallow characters? I really doubt a sequel is in the cards.

There isn't a sequel in the cards at all.

 

[Captain Craig]

For those still playing the optimist that a sequel will happen here are some numbers to keep your faith alive.

Green Lantern placed #19 this weekend after expanding into almost 150+ bargain theaters for the weekend and crossed the $115m mark domestic.
As it's roll out during August and part of September continues the international total has risen and it's WorldWide figure is now $176.6m.