I wrote in a prior post that I didn’t expect “Green Lantern” to pull in any more than $40 million dollars in its Friday-Monday debut.  I underestimated its box office by almost $13 million dollars.  It’s better than my estimate, though still weak in comparison to other superhero films like “Thor” or “X-Men: First Class.”

Another problem is that “Green Lantern” appears to be tracking rather weakly overseas, bringing in only $17 million during the aforementioned period.

Earning $52 million domestically isn’t anything to sneeze at, though the really painful part is that it appears that DC Comics intended “Green Lantern” to be a tentpole film; but I expect significant box office fall-off as soon as some competition hits the big screen.

Films like “Bad Teacher,” and “Cars 2” are coming out June 24th, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” June 29th, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” July 15th, and “Captain America,” July  22nd.

“Bad Teacher,” an R-rated film, and “Cars 2,” rated G,  will act as a one-two punch to “Green Lantern’s” box office revenue, as adults go to see the raunchier “Bad Teacher” and their children make their way to “Cars 2” (though seeing that “Cars 2” is a Pixar film, I expect it to get more than its share of adult viewers, furthering the drain on “Green Lantern.”)

Making the problem worse is that, already reeling from “Bad Teacher” and “Cars 2,” “Green Lantern” will be blindsided by the box office powerhouse that is Transformers, which owns the market on super-powered beings–in this case robots–invading the earth, followed up by Harry Potter next month.

This is why Green Lantern must come strong in the coming five days, because if it makes it through the challenge of “Bad Teacher” and “Cars 2,” the true 900 lb. gorilla, Transformers, has yet to arrive.