'Green Lantern' Gets Director....And $150 Million

It seems that the upcoming Green Lantern feature film will be anything but a neglected project in regards to Warner. It is being reported that the studio will invest $150 million into the comic adaptation. That's the same amount they put into Watchmen. (Although, to be fair, $50 million of that went to digital effects for a "giant blue phallus," so...)

On board to direct, will be Martin Campbell, director of Casino Royale (the good one from 2006, not the campy Peter Sellers/David Niven thing.) While we still don't have a Green Lantern officially cast just yet, (although Chris Pine appears to be the front-runner), it seems that Warner must be extremely optimistic about the direction of this film. Hopefully for us, that optimism is justified.

Another aspect of note, is that the ubiquitous (but vague) issue of "the economy" has played a part in shaping this production. It appears that Green Lantern will be filmed in Sydney, Australia at Fox Studios, where the $150 million investment will not only garner a larger return for the dollar, but will yield a 15% location rebate, in addition to other incentives that the Australian Federal Government will provide. (Mail-In Rebates and odd discounts: It's kind of like buying a printer at CompUSA back in the day.)

On top of all that, the production will create approximately 500 jobs for digital effects artists and help stimulate their (also troubled) economy. With pre-production set to begin in July and filming to start in November, it seems that Green Lantern may do more for the Australian economy than all the Outback Steakhouses and Crocodile Dundee DVD's combined. (And I back that up with no statistics, facts, or even educated guesses whatsoever.)

Green Lantern is currently set to hit theaters on December 17, 2010.

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