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HBO’s New Sci-Fi Series Revives a Notorious Ryan Reynolds Flop

Sarah Parker August 25, 2026

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Key Takeaways

Recent Release: The new series Lanterns has sparked renewed interest in the Green Lantern franchise.
Streaming Success: The 2011 film <em>Green Lantern</em> has re-entered the streaming charts, ranking #8 on HBO Max.
Box Office Performance: Despite its low critical reception, Green Lantern managed to generate a modest profit at the box office.
Comparison: The recent film Supergirl performed even worse than Green Lantern, making it one of DC’s lowest-grossing films.

Before superhero movies became the cinematic juggernaut they are today, the genre frequently drew heavy criticism, with some rare exceptions. With the recent release of Lanterns, a new sci-fi superhero series on HBO Max, fans took the opportunity to go down memory lane between episode releases and rediscover one of DC’s previous attempts to bring this green-suited superhero to life. Now, this film has made a comeback in the streaming charts. Lanterns is the latest HBO Max series in James Gunn’s DCU reboot, starring Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre as John Stewart as they investigate an extraterrestrial case in Rushville, Nebraska. As of writing, the series has received high praise, and only the first two episodes have been released. But before Episode 2 dropped on HBO Max, DC fans tuned in to another Green Lantern project.

Over the weekend, the 2011 film Green Lantern returned to the streaming charts, landing at #8 on HBO Max’s Top 10 Movies worldwide, between The Pickup and A Private Life. Starring Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, the movie served as an origin story for Earth’s first member of the Green Lantern Corps and showed how he faced Parallax alongside the other Green Lanterns. Unlike the TV series, Green Lantern received low reviews from critics, earning a 25% score, and a mixed audience score of 45% on Rotten Tomatoes. Additionally, Green Lantern barely broke even at the box office, generating just over $37 million more than its reported $200 million budget.

There’s Another DC Film That Performed Worse Than ‘Green Lantern’

Since its release, Green Lantern has been seen as one of the worst superhero films of all time, to the point it was mocked during a post-credit scene in Deadpool 2, where Deadpool (also played by Reynolds) went back in time to kill Reynolds from accepting the Green Lantern script. But as more superhero movies hit the big screen, a new superhero movie performed worse than the 2011 DC feature.

Back in June 2026, DC Studios released Supergirl, a superhero film starring Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) as Kara Zor-El (aka Supergirl), and, like Lanterns, it’s part of DC’s Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters. Throughout its box office run, Supergirl generated $126.4 million worldwide, which is less than its reported $170-186 million budget, making it one of DC’s lowest-performing movies. Supergirl‘s box office performance was so low that it was unable to surpass 2022’s Morbius, a Sony superhero movie starring Jared Leto, with a box office gross of $167 million.

Green Lantern and Lanterns are available to stream on HBO Max. Follow Collider for more updates.