John Carter
John Carter is based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet,
only thing i know about John Carter is from the start of League Of Extrodinary Vol 2
It's being released next year to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the first John Carter Of Mars story publication.
It's amazing to realize, after doing some research, that something as fantastic as this has never made it into movies or TV - while Tarzan, by the same author, has been remade many times over. There have been attempts as early as the 1930's, to do it as an animated project. It's been the past decade where - thanks to CGI tech - things have really intensified, with it almost being made by Robert Rodriguez and then Jon Favreau. I knew about it really just by reputation as a kid; Marvel did a comics series for a few years in the 1970's.
It has never been made before, but it's influence is everywhere in science fiction and fantasy, from writers like Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock to films like Avatar, which borrowed heavily from John Carter.
Andrew Stanton is an inspired choice to direct. If Robert Rodriguez had done it, it would have been a cheesy actionfest, done tongue in cheek. Looking at the trailer, I see the same filmmaker-poet who did WALL-E for PIXAR. 👆
Originally posted by Patient_Leech
I'm intrigued and am completely ignorant of this story. But is this sort of sci-fi/fantasy? Just wondering why it isn't in that forum.And yeah, the only thing that turns me off is Disney also. But it doesn't mean it can't be good. God, I hope it's better than Avatar.. *gags*
I don't know how the moderators think sometimes. If I started this thread, it would be in SciFi/Fantasy. But then I started a thread about The Thing (prequel) in the Horror forum once, only to find it got moved into the Movie Discussion one.
The only thing we can be assured about with Walt Disney distributing, is that it won't get rated any stronger than PG/PG-13 in North America. It's a still a brand name that stands for something. But that's fine with me. If you want bloody, gory swordplay watch the Conan movies, or something like Heavy Metal ('Den' is like John Carter for the 18 & up crowd.) This should be something to stir the minds of ten year old boys, like Star Wars.
Originally posted by Esau Cairn
Apparently John Carter broke Disney's budget to fund their Lone Ranger franchise that Depp was attached to.
The box office disappointment of Cowboys & Aliens this summer gave Disney pause, more than what was spent on John Carter. It reminded them that westerns have limited appeal both in North America and abroad; the most successful ones keep their budgets down. Adding genre elements (aliens, supernatural powers)can backfire and confuse audiences as well, bringing in neither the western crowd nor the genre fans. They also looked at how Johnny Depp and Jerry Bruckheimer have not been sure things the past decade, outside of the monster success of the four POTC films (Bruckheimer in particular has bombed a few times, trying to make that next film series.)
Add to that the past fights with director Gore Verbinski in regards to his overspending on POTC, and we had the budget standoff this summer.
(I personally think a Lone Ranger film should be like a Zorro film - swashbuckling adventure. Not super-sized like they propose, to include mythic monsters!)
John Carter may not have the star power, but it's genre translates much more easily around the world than westerns do.
New, longer trailer is out now. The film looks massive!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlvYKl1fjBI&list=FLveSbxJYRPq6V0xh7GuTRYg&feature=mh_lolz
Originally posted by Kazenji
Is that Mark Strong again playing another villain?......yep it is.
I'd feel sorry for the guy if it wasn't for his big paychecks. He's the Gary Oldman of this generation, getting one villain role after another. Just doesn't have a sympathetic face, I guess. Maybe he plays a nice guy in some small British film, somewhere...
Imagine a poster tagline like this:
From the creators of TARZAN and WALL-E...
Before AVATAR...
Before STAR WARS...
Before DUNE...
Before THE LORD OF THE RINGS...
Before SUPERMAN...
Before FLASH GORDON...
Before BUCK ROGERS...
There was JOHN CARTER - WARLORD.
I've always loved A Princes of Mars and Barsoom stuff, but I'm not sure what sort of place John Carter has in current pop culture or the minds of the average movie goer. Everything cool or unique about it was been aped by virtually every other sci-fi / fantasy property released in the last 100 years, and unfortunately for John Carter all those other properties have much higher name recognition. John Carter maybe the originator, but all the imposters beat it to the mark, as far as the average movie goer will know this movie will just be another copy of copy from a long list of copies. John Carter might have done it first, but that doesn't change the fact that by now we've seen it all before.
I'll be at the theater to see it, but I doubt I convince any of my friends to come with me. This movie is going to tank.