Warner Bros. Green Lantern pulled in approximately $3.35 million from midnight screenings last night from just over 1,800 showings. The strong start is on par with Marvel’s Thor and Fox’s X-Men: First Class, but well short of the $7.5 million Iron Man 2 brought Paramount and Marvel Studios last year. Assuming a pickup due to Father’s Day draw, Green Lantern should wrap up its opening weekend north of $55 million.
The effects-heavy superhero film starring Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively has not sat well with critics despite its fast box office start. Through Friday morning it was scoring a pitiful 21% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, even lower than Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides which ended up at 33% once all the reviews were in.
As Pirates proved, critical assessment cannot always be used as a gauge for box office success or failure. On Stranger Tides has made more than $200 million at the domestic box office and north of $700 million internationally despite two-thirds of critics coming away feeling the franchise starring Johnny Depp was washed up. If history is willing to repeat itself, Warner Bros. will gladly take all the negative Green Lantern reviews critics are willing to dish out.
Look for our Green Lantern review to be published a little later today.
