Where is Green Lantern's Ad Campaign?

Regular readers know that I've been following Warner Brothers' Green Lantern film with unhealthy anticipation. However, the total absence of a marketing presence has made it increasingly difficult to stay excited about this movie. The only notable marketing we've seen for this movie has been a couple magazine covers and a lackluster trailer.

We're three months away from release and there's still nothing going on with Green Lantern. To put that into perspective, Marvel's Thor has had two full-length trailers and a Superbowl spot. Thanks to effective ad spots and a well-timed trailer, I've seen more of Captain America than Lantern, even though Captain America isn't due until late July.

By the 3-month mark, even the highly-secretive marketing for The Dark Knight had already given us two trailers, the IMAX bank robbery preview attached to I Am Legend, and a series of viral promo sites - including a slick Harvey Dent campaign poster.

I Am Legend: the pre-show trailers were far superior to the movie that succeeded it.

So where are my Green Lantern promos? Why wasn't there a Superbowl spot? Where is the giant cardboard diorama at my local movie theater? Why wasn't there a trailer attached to Warner's recent Yogi Bear? ...yes, I would've bought a ticket to that movie if they'd attached a new Lantern trailer.


This is Warner's biggest or second biggest blockbuster of the year, depending on how you rank Death Hallows: Part 2. It's importance to Warner Brothers cannot be understated; they're already planning a multi-film Lantern franchise, no doubt to compensate for the end of the Harry Potter and Batman films. So why has there been such a deliberate attempt to not get people excited about this movie? Are they really so confident that they can build an audience by promoting it the week before it came out?

The popular theory is that Warner Bros thinks they have a flop on their hands and doesn't want to burn any more cash by marketing it earlier than it absolutely has to; the poor trailer they put out last year would support this. I honestly don't think studios adopt this mentality. Sure, it's within their character to cut their losses early, but studios know the economics of stupid audience. You can make far more money on a critically-panned blockbuster than with an Oscar-winner - see Transformers 2.

They speak 'street' jive, have gold teeth, and can't read. Yep, it's as racist as it sounds.

Look, I'm not asking for action figures and a Burger King cross-promotion. I just want another trailer - and with it, some actual proof that this movie isn't going to suck. Do it for the children, dammit.

Seriously, this costume is a disaster. Somebody better fix this.