It looks like even a lack of green at the box office isn’t enough reason to dim the light on their sequel plans for Green Lantern. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warners isn’t about to back away on their potential franchise, even though they are “somewhat disappointed” with the box-office results thus far.
Slated to be one of the biggest blockbusters of the summer, Green Lantern opened slightly below even modest expectations, garnering just $53 million in its first weekend. Add onto the fact that the film was also critically lambasted, which helped make the choice for many skeptics who were wary of the CGI heavy trailers that didn’t really help sell the story, and you can see where the downward spiral started to really take shape.
With a second weekend drop of 66%, and an $18.4 million intake, Green Lantern stands at just $89 million domestically, and $118.7 million when international totals are included. This may seem like a decent number for any film in only its second weekend, but Warners really went above and beyond when it came to advertising for Green Lantern, with reports suggesting they went as high as $100 million in marketing alone. That, plus the reported $200 million production cost of the film, and you can see why many believed that any chance for a follow-up film — despite reports that the studio had begun working on a script for one almost a year ago. It seems, however, that Warners still has faith that the film will make back enough money to justify sending Ryan Reynolds back out into space at least one more time.
The Pulse: I was one of the handful of critics who actually enjoyed Green Lantern, so when it had a weak opening weekend, I was rather disappointed — especially due to the fact that I could see the potential this character truly has.
One of the main problems with Green Lantern is that he’s just not that well known publicly. Sure, he’s been around since the 1940s, and he’s been at the center of the some of the biggest DC comic events in recent years; however, if you ask random people on the street to tell you who Green Lantern is, or who some of the villains he battles with are, you’ll likely be met with blank stares. You can’t say the same thing would happen if you asked someone to tell you who Batman was, or name a villain of his, even if the only one they know is The Joker. While this isn’t an excuse, it didn’t help Warner Bros. any that even with their huge marketing campaign, they failed to get the true epic feel of the character and film across until their third trailer attempt.
Though I’d read previously that Warner Bros. had banked on this film so much so that they’d already begun writing a sequel to the film, I’ve been skeptical that it was going to happen, and was eagerly awaiting to hear if the studio was going to stick to its plans. Even though Green Lantern will still likely end up in the red, there’s still a big chance for Warners to turn this whole franchise around and make it bankable with a proper sequel.
While I’m a huge fan of great origin stories (I love both, I place Batman Begins above The Dark Knight in terms of favourites,) I can definitely see the sequel to Green Lantern having the potential to blow the original out of the water when it comes to delivering an epic saga. With everything in place to bring one of the biggest Green Lantern stories to the big screen — one with a much more straight forward Good Vs. Evil plot that should be an easier sell to audiences — here’s hoping that Warners stays true to their word and takes a chance on this franchise, because I believe the brightest days for it are still ahead.
What about you? Did you enjoy Green Lantern enough to believe it deserves a sequel? Do you think Warners is foolish not to just cut their losses and move on? Sound off below!
