Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The CW Gives 'Green Arrow' A Shot

Good news for comics fans, according to the The Hollywood Reporter, The CW has given a pilot order for Arrow, based on DC's legendary archer Green Arrow.

The superhero was a featured mainstay on Smallville, which ended its ten year run last season and chronicled the younger pre-flights and tights years of Superman. Played by Justin Hartley for several years, reportedly the actor will not be a part of this version which probably dashes any hopes of this being a sequel series set in the same continuity. More likely Arrow will start from the ground up, going back to the original comics source material.

Although from seeing how Green Arrow was portrayed in the long running CW show, as a rich playboy using his vast resources to fight crime without any superpowers, he was an easy DC television substitute for Batman. I'm sure behind the curtain Warner Bros. wanted to keep any live action version of Batman solely on the big screen, and safely in the hands of director Christopher Nolan and star Christian Bale.    
Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim are set to executive produce. Their last superhero outing was 2011's big screen debut of Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds, which was viewed as a disappointment by fans and critics alike.

Justin Hartley as Smallville's Green Arrow
Following the poor receipts and receptions for both The Green Hornet and Green Lantern in multiplexes last year, The CW has wisely omitted the emerald association with their potential new show.

The costumed superhero translated to television is a tough game these days with intense fan and internet leak inspired scrutiny. NBC unsuccessfully tried to reboot Wonder Woman with an hour long pilot last season under the watch of producer David E. Kelley. Early looks of star Adrianne Palicki in full costume met with harsh immediate criticism across the web. NBC eventually passed on the reboot. Whether Arrow gets a series pick up is another thing altogether.

No comments:

Post a Comment