With yesterday's release of the film adaptation of DC Comics' Green Lantern onto DVD and Blu-Ray, just in time for this weekend's New York Comic Con, it's no surprise that The Hollywood Reporter is asking about the possibility of a sequel. Even though the film disappointed with only $116.6 million in domestic box office, it still pulled in a total of $219.8 million worldwide, $19.8 million over its reported production budget of $200 million. And that was before home video sales, so a sequel may not be as out of the question here as some might think.
THR's Heat Vision posted a piece about DC Comics' Chief Creative Officer and current Green Lantern writer Geoff Johns speaking about the subject at the "Green Lantern All Access" panel yesterday at the New York Comic Con. "There is the hope that we will eventually see one," Johns said, apparently channeling his hopeful Blue Lantern creation Saint Walker. "I hope that the character gets another film, and it will be live-action again -- I guarantee."
Johns also mentioned the criticism the film received for not having enough character development, but he was happy that it introduced Green Lantern to a large amount of people not familiar with the character.
"There was a lot of really good stuff in the movie," said Johns, pointing out that the Extended Cut Blu-Ray released yesterday includes additional scenes that add to Hal Jordan's character.
In addition, Johns discussed the upcoming Green Lantern: The Animated Series debuting on Cartoon Network on November 11, 2011. "With the new animated series, Green Lantern is only going to get bigger," he remarked, which could potentially tip the scales in the film sequel's favor if the animated series brings in solid ratings.
One of my chief criticisms of this summer's film was that the character Sinestro was being set up for a sequel even though he was far more of a menacing threat in his limited screen time than main villains Hector Hammond or Parallax were in all of theirs. As a result, Sinestro is the obvious choice for the sequel's villain and based on the post-credits sequence where Sinestro receives his yellow Sinestro Corps uniform, it seems "The Sinestro Corps War" would be the presumed basis for the storyline.
But bottom line, if you want to see a sequel to Green Lantern, it sounds like you'd better go out and buy that Blu-Ray and watch the animated series every week. And maybe then, all will be well...