Do Warner Bros. believe they have stumbled across a new Harry Potter replacement?
Green Lantern reportedly finished shooting on Saturday in Louisiana amidst reports that Warner Bros. are so pleased with how their latest superhero movie is shaping up that they have astonishingly made plans to release three Green Lantern movies, in three years.
This rumour/theory has been further cemented today with news that Michael Goldenberg has been hired to write Green Lantern 2 - the sequel of an expensive tentpole that is still 10 months away from being released. Unprecedented.
Goldenberg, fittingly, wrote one of the Potter (Order of the Phoenix) movies, did a re-write on GL to suit director Martin Campbell and has the Jodie Foster sci-fi drama Contact on his CV.
He’ll be working from a treatment outlined by the original writing team of Greg Berlanti, Marc Green and Marc Guggenheim, and as he is Campbell’s screenwriter of choice, it’s encouraging for the former Bond director’s commitment to the franchise from here on in.
The strategy behind a quick Green Lantern trilogy is obvious – WB clearly want to be in the same position Marvel are in right now as they head towards the superhero ensemble of The Avengers and they know they have some ground to cover.
With GL, they believe they can quickly put together some successful movies that will eventually springboard other characters, even potentially other Green Lantern’s into their own movies. By all the news we’ve heard, WB have been mighty faithful to the mythology of Lantern, and the scope is quite unlike anything we’ve ever seen in a WB superhero movie in terms of universes, character history, etc.
Bleeding Cool reported last week that GL 2 could be in theatres by the Summer or Christmas of 2012, presumably depending on when Wonder Woman or The Flash is due. And then a third movie could follow the year after.
What would this mean for the X-Men spin-off Deadpool?
Well – it’s obvious WB don’t want to see their marquee name prance around in a Marvel costume for a rival studio and they will want to keep him exclusively as Lantern, so any contract Fox might have that holds Reynolds down for Deadpool could easily be bought out by WB.
Usually I would say without Reynolds, Fox probably don’t have a movie, though in truth the character was to be depicted as so wildly different (basically his first on screen appearance brushed aside) that a re-casting, no matter how perfect Reynolds is for the role, would actually be beneficial and maybe they could continue without him.
Last we heard, Fox wanted Reynolds to commit to a scheduling date soon to film Deadpool under the direction of Robert Rodriguez, but who knows now?
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12 Comments
But Reynolds has been spearheading the whole Deadpool project, working with Fox (who would rather do First Class) on getting the movie done. He’s a big DP fan and has stated countless times he’s been trying to get this movie made since 2001. This is one time I know an actor won’t be bought out.
I agree EriconIX. Reynolds hasn’t stopped talking about Deadpool since before Blade Trinity. He wouldn’t sacrifice his “dream role” as he calls it, for nothing.
And anyway, i call BS on this rumour. The first Green Lantern movie is a big enough risk. WB just haven’t got the balls to put sequels into production before the first one hits. If it was a tried and tested character like Batman? I could see it happening. But Green Lantern is not Batman.
Also another thing… why do people assume WB controls Ryan Reynolds? He signed a contract with Fox long before he signed a contract with WB. Reynolds controls his own destiny. And seeing as he has actually said Deadpool is his destiny, i think it’s totally insane to think he’d drop out.
Good points guys. I would agree it would be against WB’s usual safe policy to put through an expensive sequel before the original film is out – especially as they haven’t really been that productive on comic book movies this past decade. The Flash and Wonder Woman still haven’t made it yet. But still, it’s certainly going to be interesting to see what move Reynolds makes if WB make an aggressive play.
Green Lantern is a franchise on a bigger scope than Deadpool, which Fox still consider to be a cheap spin-off (Which is why they have gone for Robert Rodriguez to direct). I can’t imagine it being on a much higher budget than Predators (certainly no more than $50 million) whilst Green Lantern is one of WB’s biggest movies of next year and it’s going to place Reynolds as a marque star, something he hasn’t really had before.
To be clear, I think WB believe this is a new Superman for them and who knows what the time Reynolds appearing on the set everyday has done for him.
I agree Matt that Green Lantern has more box office potential than Deadpool. Honestly, i think everyone knows this.
Including Ryan Reynolds. He doesn’t want to do Deadpool because it will make him a big star… he wants to do simply because he wants to do it. It’s his passion project. He’s been vocal about wanting to play Deadpool since Blade Trinity. That’s nearly a decade. Plus he was involved with the script writing process. I just cannot see him dropping out of Deadpool. He’s waited so long and it’s finally coming to fruition.
It’d be like running a marathon… getting to the 25th mile… then quiting.
Deadpool died the minute Reynolds signed on to be Green Lantern. It’s silly to even continue to discuss it. They may still make the movie but there’s no chance of Reynolds starring.
Why is that? He has a contract with Fox. He has a contract with WB. He’s an actor, they are two jobs. That’s it.
Warner Bros are just trying be douches and get Reynolds to drop out.
Latest update on the whole situation guys…
http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/movie-news/deadpool-creator-rob-liefeld-panics-over-potential-ryan-reynolds-drop-out.php
Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld clearly panicked over WB’s aggressive move.
Damnit why must they take off Deadpool
Paybacks a bitch. Fox screwed with the Watchmen, Warner’s going to screw with Deadpool, who mind you, they arleady screwed with in Wolverine. I feel nothing for FOX
“already screwed with” Damn chubby fingers
That‘s why you should not cast the same actor for lead roles on rival comics movies.
Is not that you ¨Can‘t¨, is just that you could get in this kind of problems.
In my opinion, Reynolds could be a good GL, but he IS Deadpool, and he feels that same way, so I bet he won‘t turn down on that one.
We don‘t need to see Deadpool‘s face in a movie, i mean, the guy has a disfigured face, so even if it is Reynolds we won‘t really see ¨him¨, so it won‘t be like watching Clark Kent turning into the Amazing Spiderman.
Reynolds was great in Green Lantern, I can’t wait for the rest of the trilogy.
I’ve never even heard of Deadpool before. It sounds more like a band than a Superhero to me.
But The Dark Knight Rises will make all these movies look second rate.