The Green Lantern movie, starring Ryan Reynolds, entering the movie fray on June 17, 2011, simply must do well. The execs over at Warner Bros/DC Comics have said on numerous occasions that this movie is the forerunner of how DC’s hero properties will be handled for movies in the future. What does this mean? It means that if Green Lantern does even reasonably well, the field is open for Green Lantern sequels, more untested heroes coming to film (specifically Flash, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman), Superman and Batman films continue to get big budget love and the best directors, and lastly, the shared universe project (read: Avengers, JLA, Teen Titans) will have another solid leg to stand on.

If the Green Lantern movie bombs (and there is really no middle ground between succeeding and failing), this will be the first domino in a tragic chain reaction that will look like: no more Green Lantern sequels, WB will not be willing to sink money into untested superheroes for a while (no Flash, GA, WW, Aquaman), Superman and Batman – once the initial “Begins” hype wears off – will be seen as properties to stick back on the shelf for another decade, and the shared universe concept will be crippled and likely “Avengers” will be the last and only one we’ll see for a good long while.

So I am abnormally fixated on my favorite superhero becoming a film star. Here are the quotes from the people that matter regarding the film so far.

1. Blake Lively’s manager: “Whatever the mistakes were with Green Lantern, she needs to not react to them and do an indie movie just because a big superhero movie didn’t work… “Even though Green Lantern is supposed to be terrible, it doesn’t mean it’s not going to do extremely well and enhance her foreign value.
2. Scream Awards: The film won the award for “Most Anticipated Movie” in 2010.
3. Stuart Thomas (composer working on film): “Saw new CGI on #GreenLantern today. This thing is awesome!”
4. Jeff Robinov (Warner Bros Motion Picture President): Regarding the poor marketing as a result of delayed CGI – “We are on a learning curve in getting 3-D materials and marketing materials on the same schedule…We won’t be in this position again.”
5. Sue Kroll (Warners’ worldwide marketing president): “Part of the reason the response to the first trailer was lukewarm was that the big-scale sequences weren’t ready to show, and we suffered for it. … We can’t afford to do that again.”

Please post more quote about the upcoming Green Lantern movie as you come across them. For me, so far, the quotes seem grim, but somewhat hopeful. I actually am psychologically needing to say that.

Optimistic Chad

Chad really really hopes things are going to turn out ok. He loves his wife - with the passion of 1000 exploding suns, and is a diligent, but surely mediocre father to his brilliant and subversive children. He likes Chinese food.

More Posts