I still don't quite get quite why everyone got so ass-blazingly upset about Green Lantern. There have been far worse movies that have come and gone from theaters without inspiring a hundredth of the ire that people seemed to relish directing at GL, but then I suppose those are the stakes you're playing at when you make a huge summer blockbuster. There's no mistaking the huge bomb the film is, though: despite earning over $200 million for the movie at the box office, WB only gets half of that, and they probably spent $300 million on the movie itself and all its marketing.
So, yeah: that's a lot of money to lose on a single film. We'll see how it affects WB's willingness to bankroll another big D.C. film that isn't a Batman or Superman title. They've stuck their hands in the fire, but will they do it again?
| 1. Horrible Bosses "This movie is not so horrible!" - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone. Actually, I'm lying; he didn't say that. But he might as well have. I'm not sure what any of what I'm typing means, but I know that I enjoyed Horrible Bosses, even if most of the best moments were in the trailer. | |
| 2. Green Lantern This actually made slightly less money domestically than Horrible Bosses, did, despite not being rated R. I still think the reaction to it was fairly vitriolic and out of proportion to its actual demerits (or, if you prefer, "it wasn't THAT bad"), but to each his/her own. | |
| 3. Zookeeper Fun fact: Up until 2011, no movie that Kevin James had been in (not including voice roles) had made less than $100 million in the U.S. Now he's had two in a year, between this and The Dilemma. Is our long national nightmare finally coming to a close? | |
| 4. The Tree of Life This is certainly one of the more unique films to come along in the past few years, eclipsing even the last couple of Terrence Malick films for sheer abstract weirdness. Still, entirely worth watching if you don't mind challenging filmmaking. | |
| 5. Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer Everything about this movie's marketing struck me as something that a particularly sheltered 40-year-old man would imagine tween girls would find appealing. I'm guessing that they didn't, considering that no one went to see it. | |
| 6. The Trip I hear good things about this one! One of the guys on the poster is laughing up a riot, and that usually means that good times are right around the corner! | |
| 7. Terri I think I'm done with awkward high school movies. Although I hear this is probably excellent. | |
| 8. Arena The majestic star power of Kellan Lutz leaps across the screen! Shield your eyes against the white-hot acting brilliance! | |
| 9. Beautiful Boy I may at some point do a Sidegrades on the two "hey our son killed a bunch of people in a school shooting" movies that are coming out this year (this and We Need To Talk About Kevin), but hey, probably not: that sounds fucking depressing. | |
| 10. Lucky The Colin Hanks-is-a-serial-killer-after-he-wins-the-lottery movie. Dark comedies are such a goddamn minefield, and everything I've seen of this one makes it seem...less than appealing. Maybe that starts with Colin Hanks, whom I don't think I've ever liked in anything. | |
| 11. Leap Year I think this movie's poster is pretty much the only reason it came to America at all. Imagine the marketer's train of thought: "Naked girl touching herself? Yeah, I can sell that." | |
| 12. Mr. Nice Scumbag Rhys Ifans: stars in a movie called Mr. Nice, gets arrested at Comic-Con for pushing a security lady around. | |
| 13. Bones In TV news, we have: Bones: Season Six, Aqua Unit Patrol Squad: Season One, Chuck: Season Four, Dr. Who: The David Tennant Years, Ghost Hunters: Season Six, Part Two, Jem And The Holograms: Complete Series. |

























