'Green Lantern' Trailer & Marketing Delayed Due to Massive Amount of Effects, Full Trailer Attached to 'Thor'

Ryan Reynolds' spin as Green Lantern hits theaters in a little over two months.  June 17.  Seriously, like 10 weeks from now.  And, in the wealth of trailers and promo material from this summer's other blockbuster films, I had completely forgotten about it. If it weren't for Warner Brothers' new President Jeff Robinov giving his State of the Comic Book Film Union to the LA Times this week in which he spoke candidly about Green Lantern, this release may have slipped my mind all together (okay, maybe not all together, but you get the point).

Can you blame me though?  Other than the lackluster teaser trailer we got back in November, we haven't seen anything for this film.  ANYTHING.  And, in his interview with the LA Times, Robinov addressed this claiming that we haven't seen any marketing material for Green Lantern because the intricate special effects scenes are taking longer to complete than originally anticipated.  Uh oh.  On the brightside though, the new studio head said we'll be getting a full trailer attached to the May 6 release of Marvel's Thor.

But, is it too late to salvage Green Lantern's release?

Here's what Robinov had to say specifically about the marketing/effects problems:

"We are on a learning curve in getting 3-D materials and marketing materials on the same schedule. [The advertising campaign] has been delayed strictly from production….We won’t be in this position again."

Sure, they won't be in this position again.  But, the damage caused by these delays could be detrimental to more than just the release of Green Lantern.  This is the first DC/Warner Bros. release that doesn't involve the big two of Superman or Batman, so the reception of this film (more specifically the box office numbers on opening weekend) will play a large role in what other DC characters we see on the big screen in the near future.  It's very similar to what was at stake with Iron Man's release in 2008. Thankfully, it was successful both critically and financially.  But if it hadn't been, I seriously doubt Marvel would have greenlit Captain America or Thor and The Avengers film would have certainly been out of the question.  So really, Robinov's plans for The Flash, Wonder Woman, and Justice League films hang in the balance of Hal Jordan's opening weekend.

The studio is also well aware that November's teaser trailer didn't pack the punch they were expecting.  President of Worldwide Marketing at Warners, Sue Kroll, had this to say:

"Part of the reason the response to the first trailer was lukewarm was that the big-scale sequences weren’t ready to show, and we suffered for it. We can’t afford to do that again."

No, you really can't.  I get that this film is super ambitious.  I get that a majority of it takes place off of Earth, requiring God knows how many hours of effects work.  But everyone involved that going in, and better planning should have taken place.  That's why these people make the big bucks.  Now, with the next trailer to premiere only a month before the film's release, and its awareness so low compared its competitors this summer, those two and a half minutes in front of Thor better be MIND-BLOWING.  Or a lot of people at Warners will be looking for new jobs.