As predicted Warner Brother’s Green Lantern topped the weekend box office with a less than impressive $52.6 million. Now you are probably asking yourself how that much money for an opening weekend is not considered impressive. However, Green Lantern is a $200 million film that is going to be hard pressed to make those dollars back. Compared to other films which have opened this summer, Green Lantern should have opened much higher. Unlike Thor and X-Men: First Class, GL has a well known star with Ryan Reynolds, who may not be a box office champion, but the name recognition is definitely there.

As we reported yesterday Green Lantern had a Friday opening of $21.6 million. In comparison Marvel’s Thor opened with $66 million back in May and X-Men: First Class had a $55 million opening earlier this month. X-Men: First Class did not bring in the kind of box office numbers the previous X-Men films have achieved, but First Class was well reviewed. You can’t have it all can you? Green Lantern is certified rotten according to Rotten Tomatoes where the film is tracking at 25%.

So what does this mean for the future of Green Lantern? I would expect a significant decline in next weekends box office numbers as word of mouth will spread that this film is a dud. How did the rest of the weekend box office end up?

Last weekends number one film Super 8 held on strong with $21.2 million in weekend number two. That brings J.J Abrams’ latest film to a total of $72.7 million. For a film with a budget of only $50 million, those are good numbers.

The other new wide release this weekend belonged to Jim Carrey’s new children’s movie Mr. Popper’s Penguins which debuted at $18.2 million. This is a low opening for Carrey who’s film is even based on a popular children’s book.

Rounding out the top five were X-Men: First Class (#4) which added another $11.5 million to its box office run. That gives the Marvel mutants a total of $119.9 million and counting. The Hangover Part II took the fifth spot with $9.6 million. After 4 weeks in release The Wolfpack have grossed $232 million which stands as the summers top movie so far.

1. Green Lantern – $52.68m
2. Super 8 – $21.25m – $72.78m
3. Mr. Popper’s Penguins - $18.2m
4. X-Men: First Class – $11.5m – $119.92m
5. The Hangover Part II - $9.63m – $232.67m
6. Kung Fu Panda 2 – $8.7m – $143.34m
7. Bridesmaids - $7.48m – $136.84m
8. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – $6.2m – $220.3m
9. Midnight in Paris – $5.23m – $21.79m
10. Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer – $2.24m – $11.16m

Box Office reports via Box Office Mojo

Defying less than stellar reviews, DC Comics and Warner Brothers should have a strong weekend performer with Green Lantern. Kicking off the weekend with $21.6 million (that includes the $3.4 million it made for Thursday midnights), the superhero film starring Ryan Reynolds should see a weekend total between $50-60 million.

How do those numbers stack up to the other two comic book movies which have already graced the silver screen? Thor kicked off the summer movie season with an opening weekend gross of $66 million. Opening day numbers exceeded that of Green Lantern as the Marvel superhero hit $25.7 million in one day. X-Men: First Class arrived in theaters a few weeks ago to the sum of $55 million Friday-Sunday with an opening day total of $21 million. It looks like Green Lantern is on the path towards similar numbers, however GL has to deal with negative reviews, while X-Men: First Class was loved by just about everyone.

With a summer filled with superhero films like Thor, X-Men: First Class, and the upcoming Captain America film, Green Lantern has a major battle to be successful. This is a crowded summer of popular films that include Transformers 3 and the final Harry Potter film all which are hitting theaters in the next 4 weeks.

While poor reviews may deter some viewers from checking out Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan/ Green Lantern, the film will undoubtedly pull in strong numbers opening weekend as comic book fanboys will surely flock to see how the films stacks up. Unfortunately for Warner Brothers they have a $200 million budget to recoup and a $50 million opening weekend is just the beginning. To make the money the film needs, it will have to grow some legs, which if this crowded summer lineup is any indication, you gotta open big or go home.

Box Office numbers courtesy of Box Office Mojo

A movie based on the Green Lantern franchise has long been overdue. With huge comic book adaptation success in the past decade, both Marvel and DC Comics stories have been brought to the big screen. Some have soared while others have floundered. For every Spider-Man 2, there’s a Hulk. For every The Dark Knight, a Superman Returns. Ryan Reynolds, one of Hollywood’s hottest commodities right now, has a lot ridding on the success of Green Lantern. In fact, there’s a chance Green Lantern might alter what comic book movies are green-lit in the future. So, does Green Lantern burn bright, or does it get buried in the blackest of nights?

Green Lantern tells the story of the first human Lantern Corps member, Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds). A kid haunted by the memory of watching his father’s aviation accident death, he lives life on the edge, always pushing himself and his aircraft to the limit. He’s a pilot for his childhood friend’s company, Ferris Aircraft. There, Carol Ferris (Blake Lively) and her father are trying to get a military contract for an unmanned vehicle. Dog fighting the machines, Hal is reckless. He ends up disappointing everyone and not sure if his life is on the right path. Across the universe, our sector’s Lantern Abin Sur is mortally wounded by the evil entity Parallax. Abin Sur’s ring seeks out its replacement, which brings Hal to the dying alien’s side. From there, Hal learns about the Green Lantern Corps, the Guardians of the Universe, Sinestro and his destiny to protect the galaxy. It’s a huge mythology, spanning decades in comics and chopped down and reshaped to fit into a movie.

I would love to say Green Lantern is a fantastic movie. It isn’t. I’d love to say the story is well paced, and the script is tight and great. Neither is correct. First, the movie has a serious pacing problem. It starts right out with rapid-fire narration, giving the audience a crash course in Lantern history. Even I, a novice but somewhat knowledgeable comic reader, had a hard time keeping up with all that is explained. We jump into some action, then pull back to Earth and Hal Jordan, the charming pilot. Throughout the movie, we see majestic realms like Oa share time with boring old Earth. Every movie, especially an origin story, will have to balance action with story and character development, but I feel like audiences will come for the out of this world experience of the Green Lanterns, and end up realizing much of the movie was spent building up characters like Hal and Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) with little to no significance. I for one didn’t know Hal Jordan had brothers and a nephew, but the several minutes the movie spends on them do not pay off. Parts of the movie that are truly entertaining, like Hal’s training on Oa, would have been much more entertaining had they spent more time dwelling on them. The other pacing problem the movie has is how much of the film is spent on Hector Hammond. What I feel we should have got was a man infected with Parallax who seeks out the Green Lanterns to wipe them out, and instead we are treated to a geeky scientist whose daddy issues and inferiority complex make him out to be more pathetic then threatening. It may be that’s how it is in the comics, but it didn’t work for the movie.

One of the better points of the movie were the Lanterns themselves and what they can do. Lanterns like Tomar-Re (Geoffrey Rush) and Kilowog (Michael Clarke Duncan) are shortly on-screen but still good. Mark Strong does a brilliant job as Sinestro, one that makes me direly want a sequel that focuses more on him. As fans of the story know, Sinestro becomes a Yellow Lantern, the founder of the Sinestro Corps and prime enemy of Hal. We do see those seeds planted in the movie, enough to make a fanboy smile while having to sit through the frustrating pains of the film. One of the biggest challenges that I felt the movie handled well were the constructs. Having a ring that allows you to create anything you imagine is a powerful weapon. These constructs range from anything as simple as a sword, to a giant gun and even a Hot Wheels racetrack. Part of what makes Green Lantern fun is the creative things the ring can do. Just like with the other Lanterns, the problem with the constructs is a lack of screen time. We see a few cool ones, but we could have done for more of them.

I wish I could have enjoyed Green Lantern as much as I loved X-Men: First Class. Unfortunately, it’s another comic book movie dud. I do hope it makes enough at the box office for another movie or two to get made, I think the filmmakers can learn from the mistakes and right the course of Green Lantern. I’d much rather see that than a reboot a few years from now. A second Green Lantern film could focus much more on Sinestro, and even maybe introduce some of the other Corps or human Lanterns. Regardless, this movie was a letdown, leaving me happy to see some things happen in the movie but ultimately left wanting more.

Fanboyz Grade: C -

As you may recall, Disney‘s The Muppets has been coming out with some funny and ridiculous trailers, mostly poking fun at other movies from this summer. First, there was the one mocking The Hangover: Part II. Now, the next one that’s been released spoofs Ryan Reynold‘s Green Lantern film. It’s on par with the first spoof trailer, and I hope we get a few more spoof trailers rolling out, maybe for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo or Captain America: The First Avenger. Check out the spoof trailer for The Muppets, rolling into theaters November 23, 2011, below.

We’ve been covering a lot of Green Lantern stuff the past few weeks, and as we inch towards the release date of June 17, my excitement has been growing. As someone with a cursory knowledge of the mythos, Green Lantern is showing itself to be a great adaptation of the story. However, there are a lot of skeptics out there. It might be the costume, which some have said looks fake. It might be the story, which others have ridiculed as too fantastic for mainstream audiences. I understand concerns that the movie is so full of rich history that people will be put off by it, and perhaps the studio knows it might be a tough sell. Today, we got a brand new trailer for Green Lantern narrated by Tomar-Re (Geoffrey Rush) explaining the backstory of Green Lantern. It hopefully is enough to sell people who aren’t sure about the flick, which I imagine is a lot of people. Check out the trailer for Green Lantern below, and if you feel more confident about the movie, let us know.

In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, a small but powerful force has existed for centuries. Protectors of peace and justice, they are called the Green Lantern Corps. A brotherhood of warriors sworn to keep intergalactic order, each Green Lantern wears a ring that grants him superpowers. But when a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power in the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of their newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan. Hal is a gifted and cocky test pilot, but the Green Lanterns have little respect for humans, who have never harnessed the infinite powers of the ring before. But Hal is clearly the missing piece to the puzzle, and along with his determination and willpower, he has one thing no member of the Corps has ever had: humanity. With the encouragement of fellow pilot and childhood sweetheart Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), if Hal can quickly master his new powers and find the courage to overcome his fears, he may prove to be not only the key to defeating Parallax…he will become the greatest Green Lantern of all.

Green Lantern lands in theaters June 17, 2011.

As we get closer to the release of Green Lantern, it’s becoming apparent it’s going to be a pretty big sci-fi flick. Traversing the universe with a ring that can create anything the wearer imagines is almost as fantastical as a story can be. I’ve had my reservations about Green Lantern, but there’s hope the project might actually help shape comic book movies in the future. The last thing we’ve seen of Green Lantern was the 4 minute footage that was screened for audiences a couple of weeks ago. Today, Warner Bros. released a new theatrical trailer, with a decent amount of new footage. We get a glimpse at The Guardians of Oa, a training session with Sinestro, and some cool shots of Parallax. Watch the brand new trailer below, and let us know what you think.

When a dying alien gives human Hal Jordan a nearly limitless ring of power, Hal learns the cost of protecting the universe and the sacrifices required to overcome great fear. Only then will he become the greatest Green Lantern of them all! Green Lantern stars Ryan Reynolds and hits theaters June 17, 2011.

One Last Thing: if you look closely in the beginning of the trailer, you will notice two things. When what I believe is Parallax breaking out of it’s containment, you’ll see the emblem of the Sinestro Corps., the symbol of fear. Secondly, it appears as though a figure is present when the explosion happens where Parallax is contained. Could it be a rogue Guardian unleashed Parallax? There is a figure wearing red robes, like the Guardians do, to the left of the screen. Maybe the trailer is cut to make it look like Parallax is being freed in the opening, when it actually is towards the end of the film and is being contained. I took a couple of screen caps and put them below, let me know if you caught anything else or have alternative theories.

Some new images and posters have emerged online courtesy of Bleeding Cool, Yahoo and MTV and they are all pretty sweet. From Green Lantern we have Sinestro and Kilowog character posters that would look great on my wall (Julia) and another image from X-Men: First Class and Captain America: The First Avenger. These movies are all coming down the pipe so soon and I can’t help but wonder how many more tid-bits they will give us. I know that we are all hooked by now and it is becoming more of a cruel tease, rather than a treat. Maybe it’s just me.

What do you think of the images? Post below.

What do you think of this weeks COW? Post comments below.

This past weekend at WonderCon, Warner Brothers and DC unveiled 4 minutes from Green Lantern, the latest comic book adaptation to hit the big screen. Until recently we have seen very little marketing for this film as the first (and only) trailer debuted back in November. However, just in the last week we have seen a big marketing push that included news of when we will see the next trailer, a new poster, and the 4 minutes of footage from the movie. Now we have a fun treat for Green Lantern fans as we have 16 high-resolution images right from that awesome footage.

Check out these photos and be sure to go see Green Lantern when it hits theaters June 17th 2011.

As an amateur comic book reader and a huge movie guy, I often find myself siding with films as opposed to their source material when people ask which one is better.  I am more comfortable with the movies than the comics, that’s just the way I am. However, as all people with one foot in each camp will tell you, there’s been a trend in superhero and comic book movies that have had some differing views. I speak of the idea of realism, and what all that entails. Essentially, what we have been getting lately from superhero movies is a grounded and mostly realistic interpretation of the hero. Their story, their powers, even their costume all serve the purpose of fitting them into our world. There are numerous reasons for this, but there’s an unintended cost involved: if all that is successful are these realistic superheroes, what does that mean to the fantastical and out-of-this-world crime fighters and their sagas?

First, the most impacting film that set this premise to the foreground was Christopher Nolan’s Batman series. I absolutely love the films, not simply on their adaptation of the iconic hero but in terms of filmmaking as well. Never before have we seen such a mature yet approachable superhero, with an A-list cast and amazing action sequences. What is interesting about Batman is that, being a human without super powers, he is both practical and nearly real, without being superfluous or dissociated from the world we live in. Similar to Tony Stark’s Iron Man tech, we see these men actually being just a turn of the knob past the world we see around us. To be honest, if a multi-billionaire had the drive and resources to pull off Batman’s heroics, I think we’d see someone actually try to do it in real life. This desire to have storylines and characters grounded closer to our world is visible in vast ways (the world of Batman and Iron Man being notable examples) and in smaller segments (changing the Phoenix in X-Men: The Last Stand). In fact, one movie I was sure would actually take on this real world hero path was Thor. It seems obvious that Thor would be a vast and supernatural journey that took on this trend in Hollywood, but from what we’ve seen, it looks like it’s actually going to be tied pretty close to science as opposed to strictly Norse mythology. Perhaps Thor isn’t necessarily a god of thunder, but a muti-dimensional being who has some scientific control over thunder (there might even be a Thor storyline where this is explored, but as previously stated, I’m no comic expert). So, how does Green Lantern fit into the equation?

The particular involvement of Green Lantern is simple: this is a big superhero adaptation that is clearly distinct from previous comic book hero films. The distinction: it’s literally not grounded in our world. Sure, Hal Jordan is a typical American male who seeks thrills in airplanes and with lovely ladies. But his journey extends beyond personal family tragedy or gamma radiation. He ends up at the center of the universe wearing a power ring that allows him to create anything he imagines. Green Lantern Corps. members number in the thousands and are all distinct in their alien form. Hal recites an oath to recharge his ring and takes on the giant evil entity known as Parallax. These are all pretty out there things. Fun and exciting to see adapted to the big screen, but it poses a big risk: what if audiences don’t like how extraterrestrial the movie is? We’ve seen aliens in movies in the past (the biggest hero alien being Superman), but we aren’t talking about a human looking person that can fly and pick up cars. These aliens in Green Lantern look alien, even Hal’s suit is alien, being an extension of his powers from the ring. Green Lantern is vary different than the superhero flicks we’ve been getting lately, staying true to the expansive comic universe from which it derives from.

What does all this mean? Honestly, I love Nolan’s Batman films, The Incredible Hulk, and the Iron Man series, but their interpretation of superheros in our world handicaps the more superfluous and grand heroes who deserve their chance to shine. Are those films to blame for why filmmakers and studios are guiding comic book projects to be close to our world and reality? Maybe partially, but green is the voice that speaks the loudest. When The Dark Knight grosses just over $1 billion, you better believe people are going to try to copy that success. Green Lantern being a hit might be a big sign that studios and directors can tackle these difficult stories and characters, expanding beyond a reality close to ours and showing us truly amazing sights. That’s no reason to root for Green Lantern‘s success by itself; the movie’s success should be derived from how well it was made and the story it tells (as all movies’ success should be derived from). However, if Green Lantern is a well-made movie and garners praise and admiration from comic fans and audiences new or unfamiliar to the material, it might just be the start for new expansive projects getting life on the silver screen.