Despite its 66 percent dropoff in ticket sales and its generally bad reception, Warner Bros. is still going to move forward with a sequel to Green Lantern. Ryan Reynolds will reprise his role. Because what this movie needs is a second chance. And Warner Bros. is also running out of franchises, so why not invest in this one? It’s, you know, there. Thanks, Hollywood.
“Oh, but lots of ‘fanboy movies’ have a dropoff in their second week in release!” That’s the big defense by Warner Bros., and to an extent, that’s definitely true. But not 66 percent. Green Lantern took in about $53 million its opening weekend, then dropped to $18 million this past weekend. Keep in mind that it cost $200 million to make in the first place, and that’s not even including what it spent on marketing. Thor and X-Men: First Class also experienced drops (47 and 56 percent, respectively), but the movie with the most comparable drop was Hulk. That would be the first Hulk, directed by Ang Lee. The one that experienced a 70 percent drop and had to be rebooted completely.
And now, Warner Bros.’ other famous franchise — Harry Potter — is ending and facing competition with the Michael Bay blow-’em-up Transformers franchise, the third installment of which opens tomorrow. So, WB is panicking. And this was the first thing they could think of. We get it, Warner Bros. But before making such a rash decision — and another gigantic investment — maybe wait to see what other franchises might be out there before spending even more money on another flop? Just an idea.
(Hollywood Reporter via Blastr)
