Ryan Reynolds’ 2011 Flop Just Pulled Off the Ultimate HBO Max Redemption Arc
The streaming charts can be a strange, unpredictable place, and this week they delivered one of the more surprising twists in recent memory for DC fans. What was once considered one of the genre’s most notorious box office disasters is suddenly finding new life more than a decade after its theatrical release. Nostalgia, curiosity, and one very buzzy new series have all collided to send an old franchise back into the cultural conversation.
That franchise is ‘Green Lantern,’ and the reason for its unlikely comeback traces directly back to HBO’s freshly launched detective drama ‘Lanterns.’ According to figures reported after its debut, the series drew 9.3 million viewers worldwide across HBO and HBO Max during its first three days, with 6.6 million of those viewers coming from the United States. That kind of launch places it among HBO Max’s five biggest series debuts ever, an achievement that has clearly sent longtime fans scrambling to revisit everything Green Lantern related.
A recently shared Top 10 Movies chart on HBO Max shows just how far that ripple effect has spread. Ryan Reynolds’ 2011 ‘Green Lantern’ film lands at the No. 8 spot, while the animated feature ‘Green Lantern: Beware My Power’ sits at No. 9. It is a genuinely unusual sight for a film that only earned $219.5 million worldwide against a $200 million production budget, a result that made it one of the more infamous financial disappointments of its era.
The connection between the old and the new is not a coincidence. Reynolds’ 2011 film recently became the fourth most-watched movie on HBO Max worldwide, and the surge has been directly tied to the timing of the ‘Lanterns’ premiere on August 16. Reports have even noted the movie briefly claiming the top spot on HBO Max’s charts in the United Kingdom, a remarkable turnaround for a film that carries a widely mocked reputation among comic book fans.
Part of what makes this moment interesting is how differently ‘Lanterns’ approaches the material compared to its cinematic predecessor. The new series follows Hal Jordan, played by Kyle Chandler, as he trains fresh recruit John Stewart, portrayed by Aaron Pierre, through a murder investigation with cosmic ties set in the American heartland. That grounded, mystery driven tone has resonated strongly with critics, with the show currently holding a 95 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 73 reviews and an 85 percent audience score.
Whether curious newcomers are watching the 2011 film out of nostalgia or simply to see how far the franchise has come, the numbers suggest DC has an accidental win on its hands. It is a rare case where a critically savaged blockbuster gets a second chance purely because of what a spinoff television series managed to build around it.
It says a lot about the power of a good show that a movie once treated as a punchline is suddenly must watch viewing again, so which version of Hal Jordan do you think deserves the bigger redemption story, Reynolds on the big screen or Chandler on the small one?
