Hops and Box Office Flops: GREEN LANTERN – Shallow Hal Jordan

Green Lantern is a mess—an expensive one, at that. Its horrid CGI suit tells all the tales one needs to know about how misguided the project was. And it was a misfire that had serious ramifications.

In 2011, Green Lantern was meant to serve as the kickoff to a new DC movie universe. That notion was immediately squashed. On a budget over $200 million, it grossed just $219.9 million worldwide.

Worse, critics (26% on Rotten Tomatoes with 246 reviews) and audiences (45%) reviled it. There would be no sequel, and there certainly would not be an integrated universe with Ryan Reynold’s Hal Jordan at its center.

When you watch it, none of the numbers above are shocking. Green Lantern, like its central protagonist, suffers from an identity crisis. It’s plot is undercooked—adding characters and elements with little context—and its execution is lacking. The latter no doubt a consequence of the turmoil behind the scenes.

Reynolds was miserable; the director probably more so; and the studio was full-on panicked throughout. The imagination that so often has defined the character, as well as his will to muster whatever comes to his mind, was swallowed whole by the dreaded Parallax—aka movie making by committee.

So, sit back, create a pint class with your Lantern’s ring to pour a Torpedo Extra IPA from Sierra Nevada, and fight the allure of fear! I, the Thunderous Wizard (@WriterTLK), Capt. Cash, Chumpzilla, and Mayor McCheese are furiously taking notes in Ring Slinging 101!

This Week’s Segments:

Introduction/Plot Breakdown – We dive headfirst into the galactic fart cloud of doom that is this movie’s plot. (00:00)
Lingering Questions – We hear from our beer bros. at Hop Nation USA and then assess what possibly could’ve righted this ship. (1:06:57)
Trivia Challenge – Capt. Cash challenges the field to a bevy of Green Lantern-centric trivia. (1:27:42)
Recommendations – After a word from our pals at The Double Turn Podcast, we offer our picks for the week; and next up: We all avert our eyes from poor Henry Cavill’s face for the second entry in our “Hops and Heroic Flops” series, Joss-stache League! (1:33:54)

And, as always, hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to check out all the interesting factoids—the on-set acrimony and more—from this week’s episode!

You can find this episode of Hops and Box Office Flops on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, Acast, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Vurbl, and Amazon Music!