Best Hit Movies: Green Lantern Special Effects Work Delays Marketing Campaign

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Green Lantern Special Effects Work Delays Marketing Campaign

Green Lantern's marketing campaign delayed by 3D visual effects work

With just three months left to go before its theatrical release, many are wondering why we've only seen one Green Lantern teaser trailer this close in, and not much else. Turns out, director Martin Campbell's highly anticipated DC comics adaptation starring Ryan Reynolds is having its marketing campaign delayed by the massive Visual and Special effects work needed to finish the movie.

Warner Bros. has also been apprehensive about launching their second trailer, as the first teaser was poorly received by the filmgoing public at large. More specifically, by that all-important 18-35 demographic that most frequents comic book movies. Warner Bros. has all of its hopes pinned on Green Lantern becoming their next tentpole franchise after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 brings that series to a close this summer.

The superhero adventure, shot for close to $ 200 million, is rushing to be completed by its set-in-stone June 17th release date. But Green Lantern's intricate 3D visual effects, which has about 2/3's of the movie taking place in space with detailed alien life forms providing most of the character work, are taking longer than anyone had anticipated at the forefront of production.

While Warner Bros. is previewing certain "elements" of Green Lantern at both CinemaCon in Las Vegas this week, and at WonderCon in San Francisco, we won't see the full trailer until May 6th, when it will arrive in theaters attached to prints of Thor.

Warner Bros. worldwide Marketing president Sue Kroll has acknowledged that fans awaiting the first teaser were severely disappointed at what they eventually saw unspool. She is adamant that this won't happen again.

"Part of the reason the response to the first trailer was lukewarm was that the big-scale sequences weren't ready to show, and we suffered for it. We can't afford to do that again."

Warner Bros. remains optimistic that the finished movie will be both a critical and financial success.

Green Lantern comes to theaters June 17th, 2011 and stars Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Temuera Morrison, Jenna Craig, Jon Tenney, Tim Robbins. The film is directed by Martin Campbell.

Thor comes to theaters May 6th, 2011 and stars Natalie Portman, Chris Hemsworth, Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Hopkins, Kat Dennings, Stellan Skarsgård, Ray Stevenson, Jaimie Alexander. The film is directed by Kenneth Branagh.