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Considering how Warner Bros fought me all weekend just because I pointed out that Green Lantern underperformed at the box office, it’s amusing that Time Warner sibling TBS let Conan O’Brien air this on his show Monday:
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Better than the film! I’m surprised Green Lantern did any kind of business. The CGI looked bad, the characters aren’t going to appeal to the mainstream, and the big villain looked like a version of Galactus. Enough with the second tier comic books already. Make some proper movies.
So what if it’s a second tier superhero? The fact that your mom doesn’t know his alter-ego’s name didn’t kill the movie, underwhelming CGI, sub-par performances and a mess of a script did. I’d say Iron Man a couple years ago was about as well-known as Green Lantern is today, and that didn’t prevent it from making a shitload of money.
First, Green Lantern is not a second tier book. Why do people who don’t read comics continue to pretend to be an authority? Green Lantern has been around comics since the 1940s. The Green Lantern universe is one of DC’s most popular line of books.
Second, the problem with the movie revolves around the script. It was filled with cliches and focused on a poor choice of villain, Parallax, who, frankly, was more horrific and insidious than the movie implied.
Third, the film replaced Hal Jordan’s personality with Ryan Reynolds’ film persona: smart ass bad boy. In the comic, Hal Jordan may have been a test pilot and sometimes arrogant but this was a total revision of the character who is usually presented as more akin to a stoic Batman than fratboy.
Unfortunately, Green Lantern and Thor suffered at the hands of either writing by committee, hack writers, or both, who relied on formulaic characterization and plotting.
Thor should have been an epic tale with great, distinctive characters. Loki is one of comics best villains. But this Thor was all mustache twirling with none of the There is no reason he couldn’t have been as solid as complex as the Nolan’s Joker.
It’s a shame that Warner Bros. will have trouble making back its money. The script should never have been greenlit.
As for Thor, it’s made decent money. I hope if a sequel is made, better writers are attached.
‘Green Lantern’s been around since the 1940s.’ Crap’s been around forever, doesn’t mean it’s good. Make all the excuses you like. There are some universes and characters that just won’t work as films. End of.
Sorry, dude above you is right. If you actually read comics you’d know that if done right, Green Lantern could have become the new Star Wars. It’s mythology is unique. Lord of the Rings in space. Pure imagination. I refer you to “Sinestro Corps War” hands down the best superhero story ever and the best Star Wars story since Empire. After reading that I wasn’t thinking “some things shouldn’t be made into a movie” instead I was thinking “Why the hell isn’t this a movie?”. You’re just ignorant, it’s the same type of attitude someone would have to Batman after seeing Batman and Robin.
Sorry, dude above was right. 2nd tier superheros are fellas who the general public like me is hardly aware of. That makes GL definitely 2nd tier.
That being said, it could have overcome being lesser known (or desired) if it was a good movie. But it wasn’t. So it died a quick death once word got out.
Maybe not a second-tier book given his long history, but a second-tier superhero, definitely. Superman, Batman, Spider-Man are A-list, Green Lantern is B-list.
Litmus test: ask your mom what the name of the hero’s alter ego is.
That didn’t seem to stop Iron Man from becoming a huge hit.
Before the 1966 TV show, no one outside of comic book fans could’ve told you what Batman’s real name was. Yet he had already been around for almost 30 years at that time. Everyone’s got to start somewhere.
Green Lantern’s been a popular hero in the comics for a long time, but his very concept requires special effects that didn’t exist before CGI. (Unless you want to do a Roger Rabbit style mix of live action and animation, which would have REALLY looked cheesy.) The movie effects were a very good translation of the comics to the screen. But more time and effort should have been put into the script.
Agree with your post, esp the wrongheaded decision to stray from Jordan’s established character. But it shouldn’t be a surprise to find that non-comics fans consider GL a ‘second-tier’ character. These folks comprise the mainstream moviegoing audience and wouldn’t know GL from Martian Manhunter. And they shouldn’t have to, imo. The worst thing for a cbm to do is to assume their moviegoing audience is as fascinated by intricate comic book mythology as the dedicated readers or fanboys. This approach makes the story and subject matter too obtuse for the mainstream moviegoer. So you get a script like GL which tries to jam too much comics lore into one film; it’s a mess. Iron Man did a great job distilling its mythology into something easily understood by the mainstream audience and look at the response (well-cast RDJ didn’t hurt either). Overall, Marvel seems to have a better understanding of what works onscreen for their characters than DC (excepting Batman).
The problem was the budget. Unless it’s Superman, Batman, or Spiderman, you can’t spend $200M on the budget (and then an additional $100M to remind people that they “might” have heard of the Green Lantern sometime during their life). If it would have cost $85M, the sequel would have already been announced. As is, it’s a financial disaster. Green Lantern might not be 2nd tier in the minds of comic book readers, but for the mainstream, it is. If it weren’t, WB wouldn’t have had to spend $100M trying to convince people to care.
Ultimately, though, the terrible reviews destroyed it. It might have been tracking well simply because it was everywhere, but once bad word-of-mouth hits in this day and age, it’s over. Wait for the huge drop next weekend.
Poor Green Lantern has become the designated whipping boy of super hero movies; but dare I hope that even for this genre audience expectations are finally increasing? Even just a little bit?
Thor surprised audiences by being genuinely funny and entertaining.
X-Men surprised audiences by being genuinely great, (particularly Fassbender and McAvoy).
Green Lantern surprised no one, it was exactly what it looked like.
Your move Captain America.
Yeah… That’s nice and all but Green Lantern is still and always will be a second-tier comic.
What a good movie! They should all end like that!
My dream ending for the Kardashians and Housewives.
Real Horrorshow droog!
I was a kid when Green Lantern was re-booted in the 1960s and it was a needless series even then. From the “GL” trailer it looks like Kermit the Frog mated with Sharkboy & Lava Girl.
Yes, Green Lantern and Thor seemed they were committee-based writing projects. Look at the GL producer credits and you’ll find none have any experience with action or genre films, yet they were likely directing the writers page by page.
This bit says more about Conan than the Green Lantern. It clearly illustrates that Conan and his writers are not that funny. Cheap humor…cheap shot…cheap show.
@John Stewart
Why are you even comparing Green Lampshade to Thor? Thor was well written in a Superman 2 kind of way and a box office hit. Green is a flop of epic proportions. Greg Berlanti is not a film writer. He’s great at cliches and soapy melodrama for Sunday nights. And Eli Stone was a good show, no disrespect. But come on! Green should’ve been epic. Instead it was a mess. Shame on WB.
Ha ha ha! Green Lampshade! That’s hysterical! They should hire YOU to write the next one! Green Lampshade…Oh, my sides…
Wow… That wasn’t predictable. (Admittedly, the shark was a surprise, the premise of the joke wasn’t.) Way to shake up that late-night talk landscape.
Considering Conan tapes about 30 steps from the WB commissary, that took some stones. I wonder what he’ll do when Batman films next door on Stage 16 later this summer?
Nothing. Batman will be GOOD.
Warner Brothers and TBS have no creative control over Conan’s show.
But they do have the ability to not allow him to use a clip from the movie
Conan, you’re losing it buddy. The only thing offending about this was it not being funny.
Good for you Nikki…You really know what Movies will do at the BO…I mean you said GL will Tank and it did!!!!
Don’t worry, we will forget that you said Bridesmaids will be a failure…
Probably the most unfunny thing I’ve seen today
From E000 till date it shows marvel know what it takes to make a good CBM, they reinvented d superhero genre wt Blade and Launched out wt X-men and next year we are getting Avengers Assemble. The issue with WB is d fact that d avoid d comic concept and try to cram everything in one Movie furthermore they tweak withd real deal and that is what marvel studio is doing stick with the source material.I think DC should have their studios where d make the CBM..check out their animations its coolm I feel bad for GL because I thought it was gonna start a whole new franchise instead it might cost other CBM potential and actors their careers
It’s called JUMPING the shark. Not jumping INTO the shart.
That fate should be reserved for the person who, ahem, “greenlit” this film.
Conan is still on? Does TBS count? Hey yooooooo
At the end of the day worse has been made. Spider Man 3, Batman and Robin…GL just wasn’t done the justice it deserves.
This could’ve been good… Over budget and written by committee has never worked.
Yeah, I don’t understand all this “Green Lantern is 2nd tier” business.
The Green Lantern may be a 2nd tier comic book film character, but he’s not a 2nd tier comic book character. IMO (and among many/most comic book fans), Green Lantern is just as beloved as Superman, Batman, and any other DC property. He may be a notch below Supes and Batman, but he’s in the same tier; 2nd tier is someone like Green Arrow. The Green Lantern literature is among the deepest and most expansive in comic books.
The reason why they never really made a GL film is not due to lack of popularity, but practicality/logistics… it would have been hard to make a film full of green constructs back in the 1970′s and 80′s.
It’s the same thing as people calling Iron Man a 2nd-tier Marvel character. He’s not 2nd tier — he belongs in the 1st tier (he’s one of the founding members of The Avengers, he spearheaded the pro-registration campaign, etc.). They just never made an Iron Man film because his tech suit would have been nearly impossible to portray using 80′s or even 90′s film technology.
Off the fanboy soap box now.
The problem has always been that no one outside of america really knows anything about green lantern. He’s never had a tv show and he’s never had a cartoon. In addition, with cheap looking special effects, and DC’s desperate advertising, folks thought to wait until the the movie was released to the blockbuster $1 kiosk. DC should have made the cartoon first, introducing green lantern to audiences around the world. Within that cartoon, they should have done all of the big green lantern stories like parallax, sinestro war, etc. Then they should have put out a movie. Transformers continues to sell well because they continue to have a cartoon on tv year after year which has become beloved. Comicbook sales have been dwindling for years now since the high’s of the 90′s, you need more than just a great comic books sales to sell a superhero movie. You gotta get the noncomicbook viewing public excited about the movie and DC did not do that. Also if your gonna put together a crappy script, you need actors that can sell it, Ryan Reynolds isn’t a strong enough actor to sell a mediocre script like Robert Downey Jr, Tobey Maguire, Christian Bale, Christopher Reeves can.
Can’t see this in Canada! Arggh!
This is Jay Leno level
“He may be a notch below Supes and Batman, but he’s in the same tier;”
Lol… you do realize that a notch below puts them on… the SECOND TIER? He may be loved by his fans, but he’s not Batman, not Superman, he’s second tier.
Sorry, DC fanboys. But, GL IS 2nd tier — as was Iron Man until his successful movies. Even Stan Lee admitted that Iron Man was 2nd tier before the movie. Thor is also 2nd tier (& will probably remain there).
Here’s what I don’t get: there’s 70+ years of material out there on some of these characters, nearly 50 years on most and at least 20 years on the rest. These characters, & their series, have lasted this long b/c people have been writing good stories for them. Why not take the best plotlines, rescript them to make them work in a movie format and stay true to them? Don’t go the ultracompression route (i.e. Daredevil – cram about 15 issues into 1 movie) or the “I don’t even recognize this character route” (i.e. Elektra & GL) or the revisionist “WTF?” route (Wolverine).
How about we have some movies, instead, based very closely on some of the best story arcs in the characters’ existing arsenals? Are they not allowed to do that for established super hero characters? They can do it for “Sin City”, “300″, “V for Vendetta” and “The Watchmen”. Why not “The Dark Knight Returns” or “Elektra: Assassin” (since Frank is established in Hollywood)? Then, maybe some “Mutant Massacre” or the Denny O’Neil Green Lantern/Green Arrow stuff? Or, take a movie to build a relationship w/Gwen Stacy (& the Goblin) then kill her off @ the end (#121) to lead to a revenge-motivated battle-to-the-death sequel (#122)! Admittedly, I’ve missed the last 15 years of reading so I’m sure there’s plenty more great material of which I’m unaware. SO USE IT!
Green Lantern might have been a better movie had its title character been portrayed as one of those leading men who used to regularly appear in those science fiction movies which were made throughout the 1950s. That type of character used to be played by such reliable B-movie stars like Rod Taylor, Peter Graves, Hugh Marlowe, Kenneth Tobey and James Whitmore. They used to play heroes who were stoic, intelligent, resourceful and courageous. Ryan Reynolds is a talented actor but his Hal Jordan character looked as if it was crafted by people who spent their entire lives by reading Archie comics. Ryan Reynolds’ Hal Jordan tended to behave like a cross between Jughead and Reggie.