The third comic book movie of the summer hit the box-office this weekend and the results were mixed. Green Lantern took in $52.7 million in box-office receipts, solid enough for first place but still well short of the $60 plus million many box-office experts expected the film to make.
“This is the third superhero film in seven weeks,” says Gitesh Pandya of boxofficeguru.com. “Many action fans may have comic-book fatigue.”
The film was also roundly panned by critics, which may have kept some audience members away.
Super 8, the thriller by J.J. Abrams, dropped just 40% from its No. 1 debut to take second place with $21.3 million.
The Jim Carrey comedy Mr. Popper’s Penguins met the low end of expectations, taking third place with $18.2 million.
X-Men: First Class was fourth with $11.5 million, followed by The Hangover Part II with $9.6 million.
I haven’t seen Green Lantern yet, but as heavily as it was hyped, I doubt anything could live up to those expectations. I’m sure it’s a fine film. I hope to see it soon. As far as critics hating it, I have a theory that 90% of critics were so hopeless as kids that they were bullied by the comic book geeks (which in turn were bullied by the jocks). If a critic says they hate a movie I may like, I check their opinion on 3 movies I hate. If they like 2 out of the 3, their opinion matters not to me because they are obviously wrong.
I saw it this weekend and honestly, I don’t know what the critics are complaining about. It was a fun action summer flick.
I think the critics are simply sick of comic book movies and Green Lantern just happened to be up in the rotation when they unloaded their wrath.
We’ll see how they react to Captain America.
I cannot help but to wonder if Ryan Reynolds was a good fit for the role of the Green Lantern. For some reason I can only associate him with romantic comedies. His casting was enough to deter me from going to see the film.
The guy that is starring as “Captain America”, I remember him in “The Fantastic Four” as the Human Torch, I have my doubts about him also.
I saw the film last night and enjoyed it greatly. Sometimes a bad review just means the critic didn’t “get” the film.
No problem with Ryan Reynolds. He was a good fit for the character arc the film explores.
As with most comic book films these days, stay through the credits for an easter egg.
I had the great misfortune of seeing the movie. I want my money, and my time back. The editing was atrocious, soundtrack was terrible, character development was handled dreadfully, with flashbacks shoehorned into the film. I really don’t understand why people actually liked this turd of a movie. This review sums up my feeling exactly: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/3557-Green-Lantern .