Green Lantern is a turd. Regardless if you loved the film (though statistically, you most likely did not), Green Lantern is shitting the bed pretty thoroughly — really soaking through that duvet. A 66% drop to pull in a scant $18.4 million this past weekend brings the film up to an $89.3 million total. That ain’t good. At an estimated $200 million budget, plus god knows how much more money for their mega media campaign, there is little chance that the film can become profitable unless it starts doing Pirates 4 numbers oversees. And with Transformers 3 exploding this week that seems almost impossible.
Bottom line, good or bad, people just don’t give a crap about this movie.
But according to The Hollywood Reporter, Warners Bros believes in the franchise (ie is desperate for more franchises now that Harry Potter is ending) and is already planning a sequel. Warner Bros president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman defended GL noting that comic book films generally have a big drop in the second weekend, which is true, but 66% is still pretty huge even by geek property standards. Comparatively, X-Men First Class dropped 56% in its second weeks, and Thor only dropped 47%.
It certainly isn’t unusual for films with unspectacular box office takes to generate sequels, but there is almost always a positive force behind the decision. The Fantastic Four didn’t do huge numbers but got a sequel because audiences genuinely liked the film; it showed that a similar number of people might show up a second time. Hellboy got a sequel because Guillermo Del Toro’s shit was white hot at the time and the film had a small by rabid following. It is too early to pass total judgement on Green Lantern, but I don’t see it falling into either of those slots — and financially speaking, both of those examples proved less than great ideas anyway.
This feels like denial to me. Soon will come anger. Then bargaining. Then depression. And finally, Warner Bros, acceptance. Let’s move on. Time to make The Flash.
40 comments
I think a restrained approach would have worked better on this, it became too “cosmic”. They should have just made a lean action movie( like the Hulk). Also, I think Bradley Cooper would have been better received by audiences then Reynolds.
I must respectfully disagree.
Bradley Cooper is further from Hal Jordan’s character than Ryan Reynolds is, and you think the film was TOO cosmic? I felt like the time spent on Earth was pointless, while the breathtaking scenes in space were sadly too brief!
What’s hilarious is that its domestic take is really on par to be very close to what X-Men: First Class is gonna pull in, yet nobody really talks about how much that one is bombing. I guess because this one cost more? Oh wait, it didn’t. Then I guess it’s because of the “critics,” because they are GOSPEL. Except not.
If they tried to reboot this property to make it cheaper… well, they couldn’t do it easily. This one cost them an arm and a leg because they did the whole “Green Lantern Corps” thing in space, and almost any Green Lantern story has to do that… with one exception…
Go full Alan Scott with this shit. You can make that movie a lot cheaper than most Green Lantern stories, because there’s no space travel, and it’s easier for audiences to understand, because you just say “the ring is magic.” If you like, do it as a period piece since people seem to getting a lot of those kinds of superhero films lately. Best of all, his main enemy is Solomon Grundy – an easy opponent to explain, because it comes down to “buff zombie dude.” There, now you can film a Green Lantern movie for an easy 60 million. (And you can promote the fact that Alan Scott operates out of Gotham City, too, just to confuse/lure in the Batman fans.)
A) People are talking about First Class underperforming. B) This cost a lot more than First Class. The only reason there’s a positive spin on First Class is because it is a good movie. This is not.
Difference between First Class and Green Lantern:
1) FC costs way less than GL
2) FC is received alot better than GL, both from critics and from fansites like CHUD
3) If FC truly bombs, it might pave the way for the rights to be revert back to Marvel. GL will stuck with WB no matter what happens
THIS will get a sequel, but not X-MEN FIRST CLASS? Ludicrous. Also, Chris Pine would have been a better choice for GL.
It cost $40 million more. I’m no math wiz but if my calculations are correct that also means GL needs to make $40 million more at the box office to be on par with XMEN. Plus GL had a bigger marketing budget too. And as Sebastian OB notes, XMEN got a ton of shit for underperforming. The most relevant factor here is that Fox ISN’T moving forward with a FIRST CLASS sequel yet.
I didn’t know there was a single audience that genuinely enjoyed The Fantastic Four. Green Lantern was streets ahead of that shit and I was bored to tears by most of it.
I think kids liked it. It was the CARS of superhero movies.
i still dont see how they could make a Flash movie and sell it to the mainstream. hes a guy who can run super fast….and thats about it
Both are listed as having approximate production budgets of 150 million dollars by their studies. However accurate those claims may be.
And First Class… hooooo… I really don’t get the love outside of the central two performances. So many continuity errors and logic holes… messy.
Fox is claiming First Class had a production budget of $150 million. WB is claiming Green Lantern had a production budget of… $150 million. Now, obviously WB spent way more on the marketing side. And obviously we can’t know if either number is accurate. But if we take what we know at face value, they apparently cost the same to produce.
2005’s Fantastic Four was absolutely terrible and far inferior to most bowel movements, let alone Green Lantern.
I don’t think you’ll find many who disagree with that on CHUD.
me too. at times the digital model of reynolds seemed to look more like cooper to me. cooper is also more serious looking which would have added to it.
Stop trying to coin the phrase ‘Streets Ahead’.
nah, i saw a budget of 125 for FC at one point in its production, and to me, thats what it looks like. a 125 million dollar movie. the effects arent that great and certainly arent as extensive as GL. Then theres the 3d conversion/production difference between the 2 movies. just my thoughts.
You’re forgetting First Class was the FIFTH film in the franchise, it had a pretty sizeable built-in audience. Hell, I’m not defending GL for a microsecond, but it being the first film it was at a disadvantage to FC. In fact, considering FC’s built-in audience it’s returns are probably more disappointing than GL.
Fantastic Four is the closest we’ve seen to an all-ages Marvel movie so far, and while it’s not great necessarily, it has it’s appeal, and I’ll still find myself watching it when it pops up on TV. I can appreciate it for what it is, but it really didn’t need a sequel, at the least the sequel that it got.
So, is DC just trying to keep Reynolds busy so that he can’t run off and do “Deadpool”? I thought I saw something a while back about WB locking him down for a couple of sequels, in anticipation of GL being a big hit, but that obviously didn’t happen. It’s been 5 years since Superman was an expensive disappointment, and while there was sequel talk back then, it still took another 5 years and none of the original players returning to get anything in motion. Using Superman as an example (minus the goodwill for the history of that franchise), expect a GL reboot around 2020.
Good point, but you fail to mention that First Class was sort of handicapped by the fact that Wolverine had pissed away a lot of the good will that people had for the X-Men franchise, even after X-Men 3. I saw a lot of comparisons to Batman Begins, which was in a similar position. It wasn’t the lowest performer for that franchise, and it only did a little better than Batman Forever, but people really liked it, WB let it continue in that direction, and it’s gone pretty well. I’m not saying that a follow-up to First Class would be the Dark Knight of the X-men franchise, but i’m certainly more interested in seeing First Class 2 (ummm, Second Class?) than I am in seeing an X-Men 4 or Wolverine 2.
Anyway, X-Men: First Class had an uphill battle and we know there can be more quality X-Men films, based on what we’ve seen in the past, but Green Lantern needed to be hot out of the gate, and it wasn’t. If anything, being a relatively unknown and untested property was an advantage, but WB and DC couldn’t really capitalize on it properly.
WB may be claiming GL had a production budget of $50 million, but just about everyone else is pegging it at closer to $200 million (let’s not forget that they poured a bunch of extra money into the CGI at the last minute).
First Class was roughly $10 million dollars ahead of Green Lantern in terms of overall grosses by its’ second weekend, and didn’t have any padding from 3D or IMAX 3D screens. Attendance wise, a good chunk more people saw First Class than Green Lantern.
Wait, audiences liked Fantastic Four? I’m pretty sure that’s false.
I’d like to see a sequel if for not other reason than to see Sinestro again. Plus, with all that origin crap out of the way they could really go cosmic-sci-fi. The whole Green Lantern Corps is what made the movie enjoyable to me.
But I know I am in the minority.
I believe the proper title for the hypothesized sequel will be “X-Men: Business Class”.
Joshua Miller, OA WOW! I definitely…Loved, Green Lantern! The film truly was…Awe-Inspiring during the space scenes. If there is a sequel, I hope that it will…Equal, Blake Lively as Carol Ferris/Star Sapphire! I was never bored in watching the film, and it is…Easilly one of my favorite Superhero Films! I wouldn’t mind if the filmmakers leave…Earth, Behind for Part 2!
The movie was fine except for the AWFUL SCRIPT. If there had been a Hal Jordan wort connection to on an emotional level, we would still be talking about it. Even the Christen Bale Batman had something to hold on to. Hal Jordon: male model body, no fear, perfect life, perfect job, hot chick, awesome car, green power ring, saves Earth. Blech. Go watch Spiderman 2 and tell me what made you love that movie. Was it Spiderman saving New York or was it Peter Parker trying his hardest and always coming up short…just like us in real life. When you have something to overcome, then you have something to fight for. Hal Jordan is like no one I know. I know hundreds of Peter Parkers.
I disagree. I think the best bits of the movie were its most cosmic. I found myself incredibly disappointed that there wasn’t more of the Corps throughout the movie. (SPOILERISH: Would it have killed the makers to have the three other Lanterns show up a little sooner to help Hal out?)
It took a shitting the bed quote for me to finally find out what “duvet” means.
I think “masochistically” would be just as appropriate for the headline, given the money Warner Bros. is likely to lose on this turkey.
Wow… judging from these comments… I guess Warner Bros aren’t the only ones in denial.
These guys are still holding out for a ” Serenity ” sequel too I suppose.
The more interesting story is whether Captain America will be able to earn enough much against Harry Potter, Green Lantern has already gone to the great superhero dumping ground in the sky
( and no, I don’t mean OA )
Wouldn’t be surprised if this sequel talk is a desperate attempt at keeping GL box office from tanking overseas. WB has certainly done a pretty good job at damage control – usually there are headlines and gossip about a movie like this tanking, but mainstream media has been pretty quiet on this film. I have to admit that the massive amount of internet denial caught me off guard: why reward a bad film? It’s not it’s a sleeper or a critical darling. Word of mouth is terrible and critics hated it. Save your strength for a film that matters.
X-Men First Class earned back its production budget overseas and its promotion budget domestically. It isn’t setting the world on fire but it won’t lose money either.
Green Lantern opened soft domestic and international. It is not likely to make back its production budget with its total world-wide gross much less the promotion budget. WB has to count on home video and merchandise to break even on this one.
My thought would be to forget a sequel and just stick the John Stewart Green Lantern in the Justice League movie. Forget Hal Jordan ever existed.
I quite enjoyed The Green Lantern. I knew nothing about the comic other than its existence. I think that now that they’ve got the obligatory origin story out of the way, now they can focus on making a better story (more pulpy space-opera stuff plz)
Green Lantern is Streets Behind.
There should never have to be a “Now they can focus on a better story”. While I appreciate it when the first film in a franchise doesn’t go completely balls-out like there’s no tomorrow, I absolutely hate the “If you like this, you won’t believe what we put in the sequel!” mentality, because there might not be one! Enough with the teases. On the Marvel side of things, we know there will be more films, so it’s OK if Thor or Captain America set up things for the Avengers. However, if another GL film doesn’t materialize, then something like the Sinestro credits scene is just more time and money that was pissed away. If they wanted Sinestro to go bad and face Hal, they should have done it in the film we saw, or just not have it happen at all.
I agree. No way they can make a decent Flash movie. He was my favorite character (Silver Age Barry Allen) when I was a kid. But a live action Flash movie? A superhero is only as compelling as his best adversary. Captain Boomerang? Captain Cold?? The Top??? Maybe Gorilla Grodd. I don’t know. If GL can’t make it, The Flash certainly won’t.
I think older women liked it. When my son and I saw it, there were quite a few older women there with no kids or a man. They might get a bigger draw with the ladies if they ramp up the romance angle in the sequel. Not my thing, but just throwing that one out there.
I think it boils down to Green Lantern being a shitty character? Some things just don’t translate well, and GL is a dopey comic.
Green Latrine needs a sequel to make its money back. They’ve already spent so much on effects and such that the second should cost half as much as the first. Unless they are really stupid and shoot themselves in the foot. And given DC’s track record with movies, that’s almost a given, Batman excepted.
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