How Green Lantern Got Its Groove Back

Quick timeline: The first Green Lantern trailer arrives, which is light on the Green Lantern stuff and heavy on the banter, making it look like a mediocre Iron Man movie clone. Second trailer arrives, chock full of aliens and space and Abin Sur and Oa and science fiction superheroics and the Oath, which makes Green Lantern look both like Green Lantern and awesome. We all decide that WB made the first trailer for mass audiences, to get them into the movie via similarity to the mega-popular Iron Man, and the second trailer for nerds.

So how do we figure this?

This is the first GL TV spot, and you’ll notice it’s pretty much the same tone (and footage, although I saw a little bit of new stuff in there) as the second trailer, which is to say pretty fucking awesome. It’s like WB is actually marketing the GL movie to mass audiences with Green Lantern’s unique strengths, showing what makes Green Lantern different from other superhero flicks. I honestly don’t know if it’ll work — the Iron Man rip-off technique actually sounds like a surer bet — but I sure as hell appreciate it. Someone give the WB exec who made this decision a raise before the movie tanks and he gets fired. (Via First Showing)