Are ‘Green Hornet’ and ‘Jonah Hex’ in Trouble?
IESB is among the several sites reporting that after years in development, the now shooting Green Hornet film has been underwhelming the suits at Sony. The phrase “displeased with the results” was used. Another was quoted as saying the “tone is too campy, they’re not happy with the work from director Michel Gondry and Seth Rogen does not look the part. At all. In fact, the feeling at Sony is the movie is a disaster.”
Sony of course declared the reports “complete garbage” and went on to say the executives have screened one third of the movie and find the results “outstanding… remarkable”. We’ll get a clearer idea based on what the studio cares to show fans at Comic-Con International in July.
Speaking of films in trouble, the lack of presentations at WonderCon and this weekend’s C2E2 does not bode well for Jonah Hex, the June 18 release based on the DC western anti-hero. After a splashy presentation in San Diego last summer complete with teaser footage and poster, there has been nary a bit of promotion for the Josh Brolin-led production.
Warner Bros. website offers up a synopsis and a link to a Yahoo site showing off the teaser poster from last July. In January it was confirmed that 10 days of reshoots would occur involving Brolin and costars John Malkovich, Megan Fox and Michael Fassbender. Additionally, The Hollywood Reporter noted “Although no test screenings have taken place, the studio has decided to work on story and action during the shoots, working in 12 pages of additional script mixed in with some reshoots.”
Joining director Jimmy Hayward for the reshoots was Constantine director Francis Lawrence, listed as a consultant.
THR’s Heat Vision blog said, “Some insiders said the new infusion of scenes and money was designed to fix certain problems with the movie; others have said it’s being done to beef up the moderately budgeted pic so that it can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the big-budget tentpole crowd.”
Since then, there remains no obvious marketing campaign to make audiences aware of the movie which was moved from the relatively safe August 6 into the more competitive June 18 slot. That normally shows a sign of confidence in the finished product but temper that with the lack of appealing to the fan masses as convention season continues.
While Hex does not have direct comic book-based competition, it does follow remakes of The A-Team and The Karate Kid by a week and will open the same day as Toy Story 3 and is followed less than two weeks later by The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
Rumors continue to point to disappointment with Hex which may have cooled the studio’s ardor for adapting Lobo. Guy Ritchie had been on board to direct the film but he dropped out to shoot a sequel to Sherlock Holmes. Producer Akiva Goldmsman has yet to land a replacement and Warners doesn’t appear to be in a rush.
I had no idea there were even Green Hornet or Jonah Hex movies in the works.I'd go see a Jonah Hex movie, but Seth Rogan as The Green Hornet? Who's idea was that? That alone makes me leery of touching the film with a ten-foot pole.
There was a Lobo movie floating around? I have a hard time picturing Lobo carrying a story for ninety+ minutes.
Or more than two competently-written panels.
Wait-a Lobo movie? Bastich Lobo or some heretofore Western DC hero named Lobo that we are not familiar with?
Bastich Lobo. It can be done, see this fan film.
I've seen the fan film. It's the main reason I wasn't more critical than I was. The fan film makes me think the character can work for short bursts.For an entire movie? Lobo is essentially a parody of a certain kind of extremely violent character that was massively popular a few decades ago. He's grown beyond that parody, but not by much. He works well when he's bouncing off of other DCU characters, but I don't really think I want to see a big, movie length story about him.It'd be like trying to give the Comedian from Watchmen his own spin off, but worse.