Director Martin Campbell is opening up about his adaptation of the DC Comics property Green Lantern, which starred Ryan Reynolds. The 2011 film was deemed a critical and commercial disappointment upon its release and has been the butt of many jokes in the years since but when it comes to the film’s many failures, Campbell is placing all the blame on Warner Bros. executives.
Campbell has been making the rounds promoting his latest film, The Protogé, and he took to Reddit to host an “ask me anything” (AMA). When the topic of Green Lantern was brought up with the filmmaker, Campbell admitted that the biggest fight of his career came with Warner Bros. executives over the film. The director blames his issues with Warner Bros. over Green Lantern for his distaste about ever returning to that particular genre. When asked if he would do a Marvel movie Campbell said, “I’d love to work in comedy! I think I’d do a good job. Marvel? Forget it. I f*ck*d it up once, never again.”
It’s no secret that Green Lantern was a very troubled production. Ryan Reynolds has been a very vocal critic of his experience and the final product in the years since its release. The actor has referenced multiple injuries suffered on set and he accused the studio of rushing to get the film out because they had an idea for a cool movie poster to promote the film. Reynolds has also hinted that the film needed a true visionary behind it to make the film work which pointed to issues between himself and Campbell. Reportedly, the duo had a poor working relationship and Campbell actually had Bradley Cooper as his first and only choice for the lead. Allegedly, the studio was not willing to make an offer to Cooper and cast Reynolds behind Campbell’s back. This lead to an uncomfortable experience on set for Reynolds who found that Campbell was constantly critiquing his performance. It really seems like there was a perfect storm of issues that led to the failure of Green Lantern.
Green Lantern was released in June of 2011 and instantly received negative reviews from critics and fans alike. The film also underperformed at the box office, grossing $219 million worldwide against a budget of $200 million. Due to the film’s negative reception and disappointing box office performance, Warner Bros. canceled any plans for a sequel. The one good thing to come out of all of this? Ryan Reynolds met his now-wife, Blake Lively, on the film and they are now the official representatives of celebrity couples goals.
Warner Bros. will be bringing back the Green Lantern brand with an HBO Max series that will feature multiple versions of the character. Hopefully, they’ll give the creative minds behind the project some freedom to make something great and won’t unnecessarily interfere so we don’t get another Green Lantern mess as we did in 2011.
What do YOU think caused the failure of Green Lantern?
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