"How could Warner Bros. do this?" In the living room of a Malibu mansion, Jada Smith paced back and forth, enraged. "How could they cut Green Lantern from the Justice League universe?"
Her short legs were in constant motion. "It contradicts the comics! Fans will despise it!"
Will Smith sat on the couch, his face expressionless. The downfall of Green Lantern was painful even for him to witness.
From early May to the end of the month, the film's theaters dropped from over 4,100 to fewer than 500. Its North American box office totaled $68.67 million, and combined global earnings reached $114.51 million. It wasn't even close to covering costs—Warner Bros. would barely make back the distribution expenses, including the production of copies and shipping them worldwide. As for the immense production and marketing costs, the best they could hope for was recouping some of it from merchandise revenue.
The film's creators suffered greatly. Director Martin Campbell recently announced his retirement, and as for Will Smith, he faced harsh criticism from fans and the media alike.
Will glanced at a newspaper on the coffee table. Even after all this time, the media continued to use cutting language to mock him.
If he weren't Black, he suspected the attacks might have been even harsher.
"Once again, the facts prove that this is no longer Will Smith's era. Since reaching his career peak with The Pursuit of Happyness, his career has been in decline. Green Lantern's flop only highlights it—Will Smith is outdated!"
This failure had serious consequences, and although many were yet to come, Will understood the gravity of the situation.
"Will!" Jada's loud voice cut through the room again. "Aren't we going to do something?"
"Do what?" Will asked in return.
"We have to talk to Warner Bros. The Justice League universe cannot leave out Green Lantern! They can't leave you out!"
Will shook his head. "How are we supposed to negotiate? None of Warner Bros.' executives will meet with me or my agent. They don't answer our calls, and when I go to them, I'm just met with excuses and delays."
He sighed. "Right now, Warner Bros.' entire focus with Justice League is on persuading Matthew Horner to play Superman. We…"
Although he hated to admit it, Will said, "We're… old news."
"No! Absolutely not!" Jada suddenly thought of the fate of forgotten stars—shunned by the industry, left to live frugally. She shouted, "We're not outdated! We're Black! Will, we're Black! As long as we protest, make noise, we'll have a chance!"
Her short legs moved even faster across the living room, her tone growing louder as she went. "Our skin color is our greatest weapon! Warner Bros. and DC are excluding Green Lantern from Justice League because they're discriminating against Black people!"
Like someone clutching at a lifeline, she said, "Exactly! That's it! They're racist!"
How many years had it been since she'd used that card? Probably not since Spike Lee's heyday.
"It's useless," Will said, shaking his head slowly. "The character Warner Bros. is using to replace Green Lantern is Cyborg, a bona fide Black superhero."
Jada was momentarily speechless. Although she often thought in simplistic terms, like many others, she had enough sense to realize that Warner Bros. had likely anticipated a race-related backlash.
At that moment, the living room door opened, and a Black man wearing glasses stepped inside.
Seeing their agent, William, Jada quickly walked over, anxious to ask, "William, did you meet anyone?"
"No." William shook his head, taking the glass of water Will handed him and drinking most of it in one gulp. He spoke seriously. "Warner Bros. and DC Comics' executives refuse to meet with me. The calls only reach their assistants or secretaries."
This was obvious enough: Will Smith was now blacklisted by Warner Bros., and they wanted no further cooperation with him.
Sitting on the sofa, William turned to Will and said, "I overheard your conversation earlier. From what I've gathered, Cyborg replacing Green Lantern was Matthew Horner's doing."
"What?" Jada sprang up from the sofa. "Him again!"
Will, still relatively calm, asked, "What's going on?"
William explained briefly, "Warner Bros. wants Matthew Horner to play Superman, but he refused. Instead, he suggested that DC Comics organize the Justice League timeline and universe and establish a main movie universe to unify the films. Cyborg replacing Green Lantern was part of his proposal."
"Matthew Horner, that petty scoundrel!" Jada cursed.
Will glanced at his fuming wife but didn't interrupt her. Instead, he asked, "Anything else?"
"Though Horner declined to play Superman, he still offered Warner Bros. some constructive advice, given Green Lantern's failure." William coughed, glancing at Will before continuing. "He suggested Warner cut back its investments, follow Marvel's approach of building up momentum through a series of films, and limit its interference in production."
Will remained silent, but during Green Lantern's production, he'd felt Warner Bros. was eager to compete with Marvel, whose successes were building towards The Avengers. DC and Warner couldn't contain their impatience.
Consequently, various executives constantly voiced their opinions during production.
Looking back, Will realized that the haphazard involvement of all these Warner and DC executives may have contributed to the film's failure.
He immediately recalled things he'd overlooked during shooting and post-production.
In addition to director Martin Campbell and producer Charles Roven, too many people had inserted themselves into the process. Many of these people held the power to intervene in filming and production.
DC's co-producer Geoff Johns wielded authority, and it was said that Warner executives like Jeff Robinov, Greg Silverman, and Lynn Harris also had significant influence, especially during post-production editing.
With so many voices and conflicting input, Green Lantern ended up being a muddled mess, leading to its failure.
Naturally, Will looked for reasons outside himself. Even for someone as astute as him, it was human nature to deflect blame.
What terrible luck!
Will shook his head. Ultimately, he lacked the power to control the situation. Matthew Horner, on the other hand, had worked with Warner on multiple projects, and Warner had never strongly interfered with his films.
William added, "Will, we're done with Warner Bros. Our collaboration is over."
Will nodded slightly; he'd been prepared for this since the box office results for Green Lantern's opening weekend came in.
"And," William continued, "Sony Columbia Pictures has decided to delay Men in Black 3."
"What?" Jada's voice rose again. "They can't do that!"
Will's expression finally changed. "But they've already started early planning, haven't they?" Then it hit him. "Is it because of Green Lantern's failure?"
William nodded, explaining, "Yes. Sony Columbia feels your drawing power has waned significantly. Now that Tommy Lee Jones is aging, they… think investing hundreds of millions in the project is too risky."
Will forced himself to contain his frustration and asked, "How long is the delay?"
William hesitated, then said, "Indefinitely."
Will clenched his fists, his arms trembling slightly from the strain. With Green Lantern's flop and Men in Black 3 indefinitely postponed, how could he hold onto his A-list status?
Jada seemed ready to launch into another rant, but Will grabbed her arm and looked at William. "What should I do now?"
"Lower your expectations a bit," William suggested sincerely. "It's unlikely a major production will hire you right now. We should aim for mid-tier projects, which, if successful, could set you up for a comeback."
"No way!" Jada finally broke free of Will's grip. "How can Will settle for roles that only pay a few million?"
William glanced at her, choosing not to argue. Will was a great client—too bad he'd married an airhead.
"Enough, Jada!" Will scolded her. Compared to his wife, he had a much clearer understanding of their current predicament. "We don't have a better choice right now!"
No one wants to step down from A-list status to B-list, but Hollywood wasn't a place where one could stay on top by sheer will alone.
Stepping down to smaller roles meant he could still be the lead actor. Maybe, one day, he could make it back to the top. Refusing to adapt would mean no one would take the risk of casting him as a lead—even Sony Columbia had postponed a highly promising sequel.
Will felt a pang of sorrow as he realized that the superstar status he'd once aspired to was slipping further away, perhaps now forever out of reach.
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