Every year there is a summer blockbuster that I look forward to seeing. I love the teaser trailer, I mark my calendar, and then the movie is cross-marketed to death. What scares me about the upcoming Green Lantern film (starring Ryan Reynolds) is that there are more tie-in commercials and spots for this movie than there is Green Lantern Corps members.
And that is usually a kiss of death.
Remember Congo? The movie about the sign-language speaking gorilla based on the Michael Crichton novel? Remember the ads for that thing? It was everywhere! I remember the Taco Bell promotions, but I don’t remember much about the movie. It was horrible.
Here’s another example of commercials and marketing promotions being a kiss of death: The Phantom Menace. Yeah, you remember that don’t you? I downloaded the trailer to the first Star Wars movie in 20 years, studied every frame, and had a countdown clock for the release date on my first website for that film. Now, remember the promotions? Holy cow! Lucasfilm left no stone unturned. There was an “interstellar” map, that you had to collect pogs (remember Pogs?) from 5 different fast food chains. The first one to collect them all got cars, trips, and sums of cash. And how was Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace? That’s right…wasn’t too good a movie was it?
And that’s why I am scared about Green Lantern. I think Ryan Reynolds will make an excellent Hal Jordan (I’d love to see him as Wally West, but oh well), and the entire cast of Green Lantern Corps members looks amazing. The voice actors sound exactly the way I read them. The ring constructs look exactly like I imaged they would once I saw what CGI could do, and I think there will be some great action sequences.
But, I’m scared that this movie will miss marks, have giant plot holes, and be a disaster. All because I see different Green Lantern drinks, Green Lantern meals at Subway, jerks zooming through space in Green Lantern constructs trying to sell me cell phones, and endless ads in my comics (I can forgive that, since comic readers are the prime target market) and on TV.
When I do a basic Google search for “Green Lantern movie promotions”, I get 9,210,000 results. Eleven major cities will be illuminated in green in honor of the movie. Doritos is having a Green Lantern promotion, Reeses is having a promotion…the list is endless.
Will I see the movie? Hells to the yes. I have been a Green Lantern reader for years. I can’t wait to see this imaginative book come to life on screen. It should be epic, and it should be everything I daydreamed about as a kid. I just hope that it can break the cursed cycle, and the marketing bonanza hasn’t given this movie the kiss of death. So like a true Green Lantern, I will over come fear, and using my will power, I will sit in the dark, and watch DC Comics’ latest superhero movie.
The crew covers the favorite stories in fandom this week starting with movie related shoes. The special Nikes from Back to the Future 2 and Kermit Edition Addidas. Then Craig tells us about the record sales numbers for EA’s Madden NFL, and prepares us for Gears 3. Then they review the deleted scenes on the upcoming Star Wars BluRays, and review the BluRay for X-Men: First Class. The Randis reminds us that we cannot share our future with someone without knowing our past. Pete reviews all the superman news including Action Comics #1, and the theft of Mike Myer’s Superman collection. Then the crew remembers where they were on 9/11.
