I’m slowly realizing that this isn’t a common assumption yet, but DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. actually have big plans for their Green Lantern franchise – plans that are already in motion and moving ahead with speed.
While making superhero movies into trilogies is hardly surprising news, the actual speed at which DCE/WB is moving forward with their development of Green Lantern 2 does suggest a level of confidence that you don’t necessarily see in the increasingly fickle world of Hollywood these days.
The latest bit of news, as reported by Variety, is that writer Michael Goldenberg (Where The Wild Things Are) has been tapped to write the Green Lantern 2 script, working off of a treatment for the sequel that was drawn up by writers Greg Berlanti, Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim, all of whom have been heavily involved in the development of this first Green Lantern film.
Goldenberg is no stranger to the world of big-budget movie heroics: he wrote the screenplay for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and he also wrote Contact, so I guess he’s no stranger to human/extraterrestrial relations either ;-).
Most importantly, the hiring of Goldenberg means that DCE/WB is trying to stay consistent with their development of this Green Lantern franchise: Berlanti, Green and Guggenheim all pitched in for the early treatments and script drafts of this first Green Lantern movie, while Goldenberg was the one who penned the final polished version. If DC/WB is suitably impressed with the results, in my opinion it’s good form to stick with the exact same creative team for the sequel (note to Marvel: pay attention).
What we know about the Green Lantern script so far suggests that it follows along the lines of the modern revamped mythos created by DCE Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns. Given that the first film covers the origin of Hal Jordan’s (Ryan Reynolds) induction into The Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic police force, the sequel film would presumably delve into recent (and epic) Green Lantern storylines, which feature the revelation of other colored lantern corps and an intergalactic war. That’s all I’ll say for fear of SPOILERS.
Right now, at this moment, I have to confess that I have more faith in the notion that DCE/WB will win the “Comic Book Movie Showdown” with Marvel Studios that’s going to be going on from now through at least the end of 2012. In my opinion, DCE/WB is simply making better choices – namely by choosing promising creative teams who know and respect the source material, and then, keeping those same people working on each new sequel. Just my opinion.
Green Lantern is due in theaters on June 17th, 2011. No idea on when Green Lantern 2 will be in theaters.
