‘Green Lantern’ Wraps and Sequel is Already Being Scripted

At the tail end of last week Warner Bros. invited a group of movie bloggers to the set of Green Lantern in New Orleans for a bit of glad handing as the production wrapped Friday night with a Twitter post from DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns wrote, “GREEN LANTERN IS WRAPPED!!!! Finished the last shot today!!! Celebrating in New Orleans… As co-producer of the film, I am very, very proud of what we’ve got in store. Much more to come. Martin Campbell FTW.”

Green Lantern stars Ryan Reynolds as the title character, also known as Hal Jordan, a cocky test pilot who becomes a ring-wearing intergalactic superhero. Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) is directing with Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Tim Robbins, Temuera Morrison, Angela Bassett, Jon Tenney and Mark Strong so-starring. The film is set for a June 17, 2011 release date, and with the completion of one film imminent Warner Bros. is already making plans for a sequel.

Variety Michael Goldenberg (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) has been brought in to write the screenplay for the sequel working off a treatment developed by Greg Berlanti, Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim. That trio was responsible for writing the first film’s screenplay, of which Goldenberg performed a rewrite on before the film went into production.

Dave McNary at Variety also points out how this is one of the first DC Comics properties to move forward with a sequel at WB that isn’t Batman or Superman. Of course, both Batman and Superman aren’t being forgotten as both properties have new films expected on the horizon, including Christopher Nolan’s return to the Batman franchise with Batman 3 currently at the scripting stage with David Goyer and Jonah Nolan putting pen to paper for a planned July 20, 2012 release date.

I guess now the only question for Green Lantern is whether or not a lesser known comic book superhero can break out, a la Iron Man, and become a success. Early word on the budget was that it was upwards of $150 million as the production moved from Australia to New Orleans citing the rising Australian dollar as the reason. This isn’t a surprising number, of course, but when you factor in marketing costs we’re talking a $200+ million film. Does Reynolds have the juice to command such an audience? Does Martin Campbell’s name put asses in the seats? You have to assume something’s going right as plans for a sequel move forward. We’ll find out when it hits theaters on June 17.

You can get more information on Green Lantern including a much more detailed synopsis and a first look at four posters for the film right here.

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