Rebooted Green Lantern franchise moving forward at Warner Bros. and DC
As Warner Bros. moves into the next phase of expansion of its DC Comics cinematic universe, the studio has tapped screenwriters David Goyer and Justin Rhodes to take a fresh crack at one of the most famous DC characters: Green Lantern.
Goyer and Rhodes will write the script for “Green Lantern Corps,” with a story that’s being described as an interstellar superhero spin on a buddy-cop movie, a la “Lethal Weapon,” centered on Hal Jordan and John Stewart, two of the best-known characters from the Green Lantern comic books.
Deadline first reported the news.
For Warner Bros., the project represents a kind of do-over. Jordan was played by actor Ryan Reynolds in 2011’s “Green Lantern,” which earned scathing reviews and grossed just $220 million worldwide.
With the studio looking to turn the page from that ill-fated project and Reynolds now successfully established in the “Deadpool” franchise, the actor seems unlikely to return to the character. (“I think it was fundamentally doomed from the start because there wasn’t really a functioning script or identity for it,” Reynolds said of “Green Lantern” in an interview with The Times last year.)
First introduced in 1971, Stewart was DC Comics’ first African American superhero, a Marine veteran who joins the ranks of power ring-wearing outer-space do-gooders.
Goyer, whose credits include “Batman Begins,” “Man of Steel” and “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” conceived the story with DC Entertainment President Geoff Johns, who oversees the DC film universe along with Jon Berg.
“Green Lantern Corps” has no release date yet, but a source confirms the studio is moving aggressively ahead with the project.
Twitter: @joshrottenberg
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