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David Mumpower: First of all, Daredevil got a spinoff, so that's not the best example here. Yes, Elektra was a disaster, but it did get made. With regards to Tim's comment, I do not believe this is a situation where a reboot would be preferred. This movie was made in anticipation of a second movie wherein Sinestro is the villain, presumably in a Sinestro Corps War. While the production team clearly misjudged this, the idea would be for this franchise to follow the Christopher Nolan playbook with an origin story for the first movie followed by the iconic villain in the sequel. I have every confidence that Warner Bros. and DC very much want to make that sequel. The question is whether there is enough justification.

Brett is absolutely correct when he notes the financial outlay here. Following the money clearly indicates a desire for a franchise and while this process worked nowhere near as well as the last such mega-marketing attempt, Despicable Me, the intention is still clear. I agree with Edwin's supposition that $300+ million is requisite to justify such an endeavor in theory. The one key here is that Green Lantern skews very, very, impossibly young. It reminds me of Speed Racer in this regard (and that's not a positive, I know). The movie is so childish in structure that the idea is clearly to engross kids in the Green Lantern mythology. Note that there is a perfect recent analog for this, the already mentioned Fantastic Four franchise. The first film featuring those comic book characters was not very good, but it still opened in roughly this range and it also had a character people liked in Chris Evans as Johnny Storm. If Ryan Reynolds is remembered fondly here and the movie's merchandising is solid, the box office becomes less of a requisite. If the same kids who saw Green Lantern on opening weekend make their parents buy them toys between now and Christmas, a disappointing $120 million box office finish (something I see as quite possible) still wouldn't be enough to derail plans for a sequel if Warner Bros. and DC want it bad enough.

Effectively, we have three key aspects of this to track. The first is post-opening weekend legs; the second is international box office (and it's off to a shaky start abroad); and the final one is whether Green Lantern becomes a strong merchandising license. I'm not exuberant about the odds of any of these. I am in wait and see mode. A 70% drop next weekend could put a quick and finite end to the possibility if Green Lantern ticket sales don't pick up overseas.

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