[UPDATE: Scroll Down For A Hi-Res Banner of The Green Lantern Corps!]

As Warner Bros. ramps up the marketing campaign for Green Lantern, one of its biggest 2011 summer tentpole films, we've been seeing extended trailers, TV trailers, and posters hitting the Web almost daily.

Today brings two new Green Lantern character posters, this time spotlighting fan-favorites Sinestro and Kilowog. In addition to the posters, we have word that DC/WB is pouring more money into Green Lantern's budget, in order to refine and polish the film's many visual effects.

If you're a stranger to the Green Lantern comic book mythos, then you definitely need to be brought up to speed about who Sinestro (played by Mark Strong) and Kilowog (voiced by Michael Clarke Duncan) are. Sinestro was once known as "the greatest Green Lantern," for his unshakable willpower and many victories in battle - that is, until Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) becomes the first human member of the Green Lantern Corps. The ascension of Hal Jordan has a significant and transformative impact on Sinestro's destiny...and that's all I'll say for fear of spoilers.

Kilowog, on the other hand, is a hulking brute alien with a heart of gold, who serves as the drill sergeant of the Green Lantern Corps, primarily responsible for training all new recruits (including Hal Jordan). Kilowog  is best known for his bravery, his dedication to the Corps, and for affectionately referring to his new recruits as "Poozers." In many ways, he is the heart of the Corps.

Check out the character banners for Sinestro and Kilowog, courtesy of Yahoo Movies.

UPDATE: As a bonus, you can check out a MTV Exclusive hi-res version of a banner featuring some the main players from the Green Lantern Corps!

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CLICK FOR HI-RES VERSION

The Green Lantern Corps movie version

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Race to the Finish: Green Lantern's Visual Effects Dilemma

One of the most contested issues about this Green Lantern movie has no doubt been the visual effects. Unlike, say, Batman - or even Spider-Man - Green Lantern is a superhero whose story incorporates a lot of fantastical sci-fi elements, not the least of which are alien worlds, several galaxies' worth of alien species, alien technology, etc. Sure, Marvel's Thor is also attempting to tell the story of a hero from beyond our solar system, but at least the God (alien?) of Thunder is surrounded by a cast of primarily humanoid supporting characters. No such luck for Hal Jordan.

Green Lantern (Ryan Reynolds) Listening to Speech by Sinestro (Mark Strong)

When the first Green Lantern trailer was rushed online, fan reaction was severe: the general consensus was the extensive CGI being used to create the movie looked downright poor. Even the most loyal fans were left holding on to the small hope that the effects work was only in its preliminary phases, and would be given serious polish before the end product premiered in theaters. DC/WB reps quickly jumped ahead of the marketing crisis, promising fans that better effects were indeed on the way.

Since then we've seen better trailers and images for Green Lantern that certainly seem to evidence some improved effects work (though some gripes about Hal Jordan's CGI costume still remain). Variety is now reporting that despite the warmer reception, DC/WB is still scrambling to get Green Lantern's effects worked out in time for the movie's June 17th release date.

In fact, DC/WB has gone so far as to pump an additional $9 million into the film's already massive budget, which should even out at around $200 million (if not more) when all the post-production, marketing and promotion is done. In addition to mo' money, the studio has hired additional effects houses to aid the team from Sony Imageworks and Rising Sun Pictures, who are already working around the clock to meet the mid-June deadline.

So far, the grueling schedule seems to be paying off: buzz for Green Lantern is building exponentially, and the movie could conceivably end up garnering the biggest box office profits and fan adulation during the 2011 superhero movie summer showdown.

Thor X-Men First Class Green Lantern Captain America movie

SIDE NOTE: The Variety article is quick to point out that Green Lantern isn't the only blockbuster facing a strict crunch time. We already know that Marvel's Captain America, Fox's X-Men: First Class and Michael Bay's Transformers 3 are all racing to meet their release date deadlines.

Green Lantern will be in theaters on June 17th (come hell or high water, according to the studio), hopefully looking as pretty and epic as it should.

Sources: Yahoo Movies, Variety