Jump to content

John Carter (film): Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
No edit summary
Line 1: Line 1:
{{redirect|Adolf Hitler of Mars (film)|the 2009 film|John Carter of Mars (2009 film)}}
{{redirect|Jon Carter of Mars (film)|the 2009 film|John Carter of Mars (2009 film)}}
{{short description|2012 film directed by Andrew Stanton}}
{{short description|2012 film directed by Andrew Stanton}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2019}}

Revision as of 14:54, 2 October 2019

"Jon Carter of Mars (film)" redirects here. For the 2009 film, see John Carter of Mars (2009 film).

John Carter
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAndrew Stanton
Screenplay by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyDan Mindel
Edited byEric Zumbrunnen
Music byMichael Giacchino
Production
company
Distributed byWalt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures
Release dates
  • February 22, 2012 (2012-02-22) (Los Angeles)
  • March 9, 2012 (2012-03-09) (United States)
Running time
132 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget
  • $306.6 million (gross)[2]
  • $263.7 million (net)[2]
Box office$284.1 million[3]

John Carter is a 2012 American science fiction action film directed by Andrew Stanton from a screenplay written by Stanton, Mark Andrews, and Michael Chabon. The film was produced by Jim Morris, Colin Wilson, and Lindsey Collins, and is based on A Princess of Mars, the first book in the Barsoom series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. John Carter stars Taylor Kitsch in the title role, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy and Willem Dafoe. The film chronicles the first interplanetary adventure of John Carter and his attempts to mediate civil unrest amongst the warring kingdoms of Barsoom.

Several developments on a theatrical film adaptation of the Barsoom series emerged throughout the 20th century from various major studios and producers, with the earliest attempt dating back to the 1930s. Most of these efforts, however, ultimately stalled in development hell. In the late-2000s, Walt Disney Pictures began a concerted effort to develop a film adaptation of Burroughs' works, after a previously abandoned venture by the studio in the 1980s. The project was driven by Stanton, who had pressed Disney to renew the screen rights from the Burroughs estate. Stanton became director in 2009; this was his live-action debut, as his previous directorial work for Disney included the Pixar animated films, Finding Nemo (2003) and WALL-E (2008).[4][5] Filming began in November 2009, with principal photography underway in January 2010, wrapping seven months later in July 2010.[6][7] Michael Giacchino composed the film's musical score.[8]

John Carter was released in the United States on March 9, 2012, marking the centennial of the titular character's first appearance. The film was presented in Disney Digital 3-D, RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, and conventional formats.[9][10][11] Upon release, John Carter received a mixed critical reception, with praise for its visuals, Michael Giacchino's soundtrack, and the action sequences, but criticism toward the characterization and plot. The film flopped at the North American box office, but set an opening-day record in Russia.[12] It grossed $284 million at the worldwide box office, resulting in a $200 million writedown for Disney. With a total cost of $350 million, including an estimated production budget of $263 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made. Due to the film's poor box office performance, Disney cancelled plans for a sequel (titled John Carter: The Gods of Mars) and the trilogy Stanton had planned.

Plot

The film begins in 1881 after the sudden death of John Carter, a former American Civil War Confederate Army captain. His nephew, Edgar Rice Burroughs, attends the funeral. As per Carter's instructions, the body is put in a tomb that can be unlocked only from the inside. His attorney hands over Carter's personal journal for Burroughs to read, in the hope of finding clues explaining Carter's cause of death.

The anecdote moves back to 1868 in the Arizona Territory, where Union Colonel Powell arrests Carter. Powell, knowing about Carter's military background, seeks his help in fighting the Apache. Carter escapes his holding cell, but fails to get far with U.S. cavalry soldiers in close pursuit. After a run-in with a band of Apaches, Carter and a wounded Powell are chased until they take to hiding in a cave that turns out to be the object of Carter's earlier searching, the 'Spider Cave of Gold'. A Thern appears in the cave at that moment and, surprised by the two men, attacks them with a knife; Carter kills him but accidentally activates the Thern's powerful medallion, and is unwittingly transported to a ruined and dying planet, Barsoom. Because of his different bone density and the planet's low gravity, Carter is able to jump high and perform feats of incredible strength. He is captured by the Green Martian Tharks and their Jeddak Tars Tarkas.

Elsewhere on Barsoom, the Red Martian cities of Helium and Zodanga have been at war for a thousand years. Sab Than, Jeddak of Zodanga, armed with a special weapon obtained from the Thern leader Matai Shang, proposes a cease-fire and an end to the war by marrying the Princess of Helium, Dejah Thoris. The Princess escapes and is rescued by Carter. Carter, Dejah, and Tarkas' daughter Sola, embark on a quest to get to the end of a sacred river to find a way for Carter to get back home. They obtain information about the "ninth ray", a means of using infinite energy and also the key to understanding how the medallion works. But they are later attacked by Shang's minions, the Green Martians of Warhoon. After the attack, Carter is captured and taken back with Dejah while Sola is able to escape. The demoralized Dejah grudgingly agrees to marry Sab Than, then gives Carter his medallion and tells him to go back to Earth. Carter decides to stay and is captured by Shang, who explains to him the purpose of Therns and how they manipulate the civilizations of different worlds to their doom, feeding off the planet's resources in the process. Carter is able to make an escape as he and Sola go back to the Tharks requesting their help. There they discover Tarkas has been overthrown by a ruthless brute, Tal Hajus. Tarkas, Carter and Sola are put on trial in a colosseum battle with two enormous vicious creatures, the four-armed Great White-Apes. After defeating them and killing Hajus, Carter becomes the leader of the Tharks.

The Thark army charges on Helium and defeats the Zodangan army by killing Sab Than, while Shang is forced to escape and leave Mars for good. Carter becomes prince of Helium by marrying Dejah. On their first night, Carter decides to stay forever on Mars and throws away his medallion. Seizing this opportunity, Shang briefly reappears and sends him back to Earth. Carter then embarks in a long quest, looking for clues of the Therns' presence on Earth and hoping to find one of their medallions; after several years he appears to die suddenly and asks for unusual funeral arrangements—consistent with his having found a medallion, since his return to Mars would leave his Earth body in a coma-like state. He makes Burroughs his protector, giving him clues about how to open the tomb.

The story reverts to the present, where Burroughs runs back to Carter's tomb and opens it, only to find it empty. Shang, disguised as man with a bowler hat who has been observing Carter, suddenly appears, having followed Burroughs. But as he prepares to attack, Carter appears and kills Shang. Carter then tells Burroughs that he never found a medallion. Instead, he devised a scheme to lure a Thern into revealing himself. Carter takes Shang's medallion, whispers the code, and is then transported back to Barsoom.

Cast

Earthmen

Red Martians

Tharks

The Tharks are performed through a combination of voice-acting and motion-capture with stilts.

  • Willem Dafoe as Tars Tarkas, the Jeddak of the Tharks.
  • Samantha Morton as Sola, a Thark that works with John Carter.
  • Thomas Haden Church as the voice and motion-capture of Tal Hajus, a vicious Thark that dislikes John Carter and Tars Tarkas.
  • Polly Walker as Sarkoja, a merciless Thark who hates Sola.
  • David Schwimmer as a young Thark Warrior, a Thark who informs Tars Tarkas that eighteen of the Thark eggs didn't hatch.
  • Jon Favreau as the Thark bookmaker, a Thark who collects the bets on any conflict.

Therns

  • Mark Strong as Matai Shang, the Hekkador of the Therns. His disguises of a bodyguard, a chamber matron, an elderly woman, a Zodangan officer, a humble guard, and the Man in the Bowler are portrayed by Oliver Boot, Cate Fowler, Eileen Page, Darwin Shaw, Stephen Cree, and Figs Jackman.
  • Phil Cheadle as Thern in Cave, a Thern that is first encountered by John Carter.
  • Philip Philmar as Thern #1.
  • James Embree as Thern #2.

Development

Origins

See also: Barsoom

The film is largely based on A Princess of Mars (1917), the first in a series of 11 novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs to feature the interplanetary hero John Carter (and in later volumes the adventures of his children with Dejah Thoris). The story was originally serialized in six monthly installments (from February through to July 1912) in the pulp magazine The All-Story; those chapters, originally titled "Under the Moons of Mars," were then collected in hardcover five years later from publisher A. C. McClurg.

Bob Clampett involvement

Cover of the first edition of A Princess of Mars by Burroughs, McClurg.

In 1931, Looney Tunes director Bob Clampett approached Edgar Rice Burroughs with the idea of adapting A Princess of Mars into a feature-length animated film. Burroughs responded enthusiastically, recognizing that a regular live-action feature would face various limitations to adapt accurately, so he advised Clampett to write an original animated adventure for John Carter.[13] Working with Burroughs' son John Coleman Burroughs in 1935, Clampett used rotoscope and other hand-drawn techniques to capture the action, tracing the motions of an athlete who performed John Carter's powerful movements in the reduced Martian gravity, and designed the green-skinned, 4-armed Tharks to give them a believable appearance. He then produced footage of them riding their eight-legged Thoats at a gallop, which had all of their eight legs moving in coordinated motion; he also produced footage of a fleet of rocketships emerging from a Martian volcano. MGM was to release the cartoons, and the studio heads were enthusiastic about the series.[14]

The test footage, produced by 1936,[15] received negative reactions from film exhibitors across the U.S., especially in small towns; many gave their opinion that the concept of an Earthman on Mars was just too outlandish an idea for midwestern American audiences to accept. The series was not given the go-ahead, and Clampett was instead encouraged to produce an animated Tarzan series, an offer that he later declined. Clampett recognized the irony in MGM's decision, as the Flash Gordon movie serial, released in the same year by Universal Studios, was highly successful. He speculated that MGM believed that serials were played only to children during Saturday matinees, whereas the John Carter tales were intended to be seen by adults during the evening. The footage that Clampett produced was believed lost for many years, until Burroughs' grandson, Danton Burroughs, in the early 1970s found some of the film tests in the Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. archives.[14] Had A Princess of Mars been released, it might have preceded Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to become the first American feature-length animated film.[16]

Disney progression

During the late 1950s, famous stop-motion animation effects director Ray Harryhausen expressed interest in filming the novels, but it was not until the 1980s that producers Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna bought the rights for Walt Disney Studios, with a view to creating a competitor to Star Wars and Conan the Barbarian. Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were hired to write, while John McTiernan and Tom Cruise were approached to direct and star. The project collapsed because McTiernan realized that visual effects were not yet advanced enough to recreate Burroughs' vision of Barsoom. The project remained at Disney, and Jeffrey Katzenberg was a strong proponent of filming the novels, but the rights eventually returned to the Burroughs estate.[16]

Paramount effort

Producer James Jacks read Harry Knowles' autobiography, which lavishly praised the John Carter of Mars series. Having read the Burroughs' novels as a child, Jacks was moved to convince Paramount Pictures to acquire the film rights; a bidding war with Columbia Pictures followed. After Paramount and Jacks won the rights, Jacks contacted Knowles to become an adviser on the project and hired Mark Protosevich to write the screenplay. Robert Rodriguez signed on in 2004 to direct the film after his friend Knowles showed him the script. Recognizing that Knowles had been an adviser to many other filmmakers, Rodriguez asked him to be credited as a producer.[16]

Filming was set to begin in 2005, with Rodriguez planning to use the all-digital stages he was using for his production of Sin City, a film based on the graphic novel series by Frank Miller.[16] Rodriguez planned to hire Frank Frazetta, the popular Burroughs and fantasy illustrator, as a designer on the film.[17] Rodriguez had previously stirred-up film industry controversy owing to his decision to credit Sin City's artist/creator Miller as co-director on the film adaptation; as a result, Rodriguez decided to resign from the Directors Guild of America. In 2004, unable to employ a non-DGA filmmaker, Paramount assigned Kerry Conran to direct and Ehren Kruger to rewrite the John Carter script. The Australian Outback was scouted as a shooting location. Conran left the film for unknown reasons and was replaced in October 2005 by Jon Favreau.[16]

Favreau and screenwriter Mark Fergus wanted to make their script faithful to Burroughs' novels, retaining John Carter's links to the American Civil War and ensuring that the Barsoomian Tharks were 15 feet tall (previous scripts had made them human-sized). Favreau argued that a modern-day soldier would not know how to fence or ride a horse like Carter, who had been a Confederate officer. The first film he envisioned would have adapted the first three novels in the Barsoom series: A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, and The Warlord of Mars. Unlike Rodriguez and Conran, Favreau preferred using practical effects for his film and cited Planet of the Apes as his inspiration. He intended to use make-up, as well as CGI, to create the Tharks. In August 2006, Paramount chose not to renew the film rights, preferring instead to focus on its Star Trek franchise. Favreau and Fergus moved on to Marvel Studios' Iron Man.[16]

Return to Disney, Stanton involvement

Andrew Stanton, director of the Pixar Animation Studios hits Finding Nemo (2003) and WALL-E (2008), lobbied the Walt Disney Studios to reacquire the rights from Burroughs' estate. "Since I'd read the books as a kid, I wanted to see somebody put it on the screen," he explained.[18]

He then lobbied Disney heavily for the chance to direct the film, pitching it as "Indiana Jones on Mars". The studio was initially skeptical. Stanton had never directed a live-action film before, and wanted to make the film without any major stars whose names could guarantee an audience, at least on opening weekend. The screenplay was seen as confusing and difficult to follow. But since Stanton had overcome similar preproduction doubts to make WALL-E and Finding Nemo into hits, the studio approved him as director.[19] Stanton noted he was effectively being "loaned" to Walt Disney Pictures because Pixar is an all-ages brand and John Carter, in his words, was "not going to be an all-ages film".[20] By 2008 they completed the first draft for Part One of a John Carter film trilogy; the first film is based only on the first novel.[21] In April 2009 author Michael Chabon confirmed he had been hired to revise the script.[22][23][24]

Following the completion of WALL-E, Stanton visited the archives of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., in Tarzana, California, as part of his research.[16] Jim Morris, general manager of Pixar, said the film would have a unique look that is distinct from Frank Frazetta's illustrations, which they both found dated.[25] He also noted that although he had less time for pre-production than for any of his usual animated projects, the task was nevertheless relatively easy since he had read Burroughs' novels as a child and had already visualized many of their scenes.[26]

Production

Filming

On 'John Carter', Stanton was crafting a complicated, inter-planetary story with live action period elements and more than 2,000 visual-effects shots delivered by four companies. The director said he coaxed Disney to adopt some of Pixar's iterative style ...

—Columnists Dawn C. Chmielewski and Rebecca Keegan, writing in the Los Angeles Times[18]

Principal photography commenced at Longcross Studios, London, in January 2010 and ended in Kanab, Utah in July 2010.[7][27] Locations in Utah included Lake Powell and the counties of Grand, Wayne, and Kane.[28][29] A month-long reshoot took place in Playa Vista, Los Angeles.[30] The film was shot in the Panavision anamorphic format on Kodak 35mm film.[30] Stanton denied assertions that he had gone over budget and stated that he had been allowed a longer reshoot because he had stayed on budget and on time.[31] However, he did admit to reshooting much of the movie twice, far more than is usually common in live action filmmaking. He attributed that to his animation background.[19] "The thing I had to explain to Disney was, 'You're asking a guy who's only known how to do it this way to suddenly do it with one reshoot.'" he explained later. "I said, 'I'm not gonna get it right the first time, I'll tell you that right now.'"[18] Stanton often sought advice from people he had worked with at Pixar on animated films (known as the Braintrust) instead of those with live-action experience working with him.[32][33] Stanton also was quoted as saying, "I said to my producers, 'Is it just me, or do we actually know how to do this better than live-action crews do?'"[32] Rich Ross, Disney's chairman, successor to Dick Cook, who had originally approved the film for production, came from a television background and had no experience with feature films. The studio's new top marketing and production executives had little more.[19]

Marketing

The head of Walt Disney Studios Marketing during the production was M. T. Carney, an industry outsider who previously ran a marketing boutique in New York.[34] Stanton often rejected marketing ideas from the studio, according to those who worked on the film.[35] Stanton's ideas were used instead, and he ignored criticism that using Led Zeppelin's 1975 song "Kashmir" in the trailer would make it seem less current to the contemporary younger audiences the film sought. He also chose billboard imagery that failed to resonate with prospective audiences, and put together a preview reel that did not get a strong reception from a convention audience.[19] Stanton said, "My joy when I saw the first trailer for Star Wars is I saw a little bit of almost everything in the movie, and I had no idea how it connected, and I had to go see the movie. So the last thing I'm going to do is ruin that little kid's experience."[36] Following the death of Steve Jobs, Stanton dedicated the film in his memory.[37]

Although being based on the first book of the series, A Princess of Mars, the film was originally titled John Carter of Mars, but Stanton removed "of Mars" to make it more appealing to a broader audience, stating that the film is an "origin story. It's about a guy becoming John Carter of Mars."[38] Stanton planned to keep "Mars" in the title for future films in the series.[38] Kitsch said the title was changed to reflect the character's journey, as John Carter would become "of Mars" only in the last few minutes of the picture.[39] Former Disney marketing president Carney has also taken blame for suggesting the title change.[34] Another reported explanation for the name change was that Disney had suffered a significant loss in March 2011 with Mars Needs Moms; the studio reportedly conducted a study which noted recent movies with the word "Mars" in the title had not been commercially successful.[40] Earlier, two and a half years before the premiere of the film, on December 29, 2009, a low-budget film produced by the independent film company The Asylum, entitled Princess of Mars, was released direct-to-DVD in the United States. Stanton has referred to the competing film as a "crappy knock-off".[41]

Music and soundtrack

John Carter: Original Soundtrack
Film score by
Michael Giacchino
ReleasedMarch 6, 2012 (2012-03-06)
Recorded2011–12
Sony Scoring Stage (Culver City)
Length1:13:56
LabelWalt Disney
ProducerMichael Giacchino
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Examiner.com[42]
Film Music Magazine(A)[43]
Movie Music UK[44]
Tracksounds(8/10)[45]

In February 2010, Michael Giacchino revealed in an interview he would be scoring the film.[46][47] Walt Disney Records released the soundtrack on March 6, 2012, three days before the film's release.

No.TitleLength
1."A Thern for the Worse"7:38
2."Get Carter"4:25
3."Gravity of the Situation"1:20
4."Thark Side of Barsoom"2:55
5."Sab Than Pursues the Princess"5:33
6."The Temple of Issus"3:24
7."Zodanga Happened"4:01
8."The Blue Light Special"4:11
9."Carter They Come, Carter They Fall"3:55
10."A Change of Heart"3:04
11."A Thern Warning"4:04
12."The Second Biggest Apes I've Seen This Month"2:35
13."The Right of Challenge"2:22
14."The Prize Is Barsoom"4:29
15."The Fight for Helium"4:22
16."Not Quite Finished"2:06
17."Thernabout"1:18
18."Ten Bitter Years"3:12
19."John Carter of Mars"8:53
Total length:1:13:56

Release

Theatrical run

Although the original film release date was June 8, 2012, in January 2011 Disney moved the release date to March 9, 2012.[9][48][49] A teaser trailer for the film premiered on July 14, 2011 and was shown in 3D and 2D with showings of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2; the official trailer premiered on November 30, 2011. On February 5, 2012 an extended commercial promoting the movie aired during the Super Bowl,[50] and before the day of the game, Andrew Stanton, a Massachusetts native, held a special screening of the film for both the team members and families of the New England Patriots and New York Giants.[51]

Home media

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released John Carter on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download June 5, 2012. The home media release was made available in three different physical packages: a four-disc combo pack (1 disc Blu-ray 3D, 1-disc Blu-ray, 1 DVD, and 1-disc digital copy), a two-disc combo pack (1 disc Blu-ray, 1 disc DVD), and one-disc DVD. John Carter was also made available in 3D High Definition, High Definition, and Standard Definition Digital.[clarification needed] Additionally, the home media edition was available in an On-Demand format. The Blu-ray bonus features include Disney Second Screen functionality, "360 Degrees of John Carter", deleted scenes, and "Barsoom Bloopers". The DVD bonus features included "100 Years in the Making", and audio commentary with filmmakers. The High Definition Digital and Standard Definition Digital versions both include Disney Second Screen, "Barsoom Bloopers", and deleted scenes. The Digital 3D High Definition Digital copy does not include bonus features.[52] In mid-June, the movie topped sales on both the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart, which tracks overall disc sales, and Nielsen's dedicated Blu-ray Disc sales chart, with the DVD release selling 980,812 copies making $17,057,283 and Blu-ray and 3-D releases selling 965,275 copies making $19,295,847, with a combined total of $36,353,130 in its first week alone.[53][54]

Reception

Critical response

One week before the film's release, Disney removed an embargo on reviews of the film.[55] It holds a 52% rating at the film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes based on 229 reviews; its consensus reads: "While John Carter looks terrific and delivers its share of pulpy thrills, it also suffers from uneven pacing and occasionally incomprehensible plotting and characterization".[56] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average out of 100 to critics' reviews, the film holds a score of 51 based on 43 reviews, signifying "Mixed or average reviews".[57]

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Derivative but charming and fun enough, Disney's mammoth scifier is both spectacular and a bit cheesy".[58] Glenn Kenny of MSN Movies rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, saying, "By the end of the adventure, even the initially befuddling double-frame story pays off, in spades. For me, this is the first movie of its kind in a very long time that I'd willingly sit through a second or even third time".[59] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times rated the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, commenting that the movie "is intended to foster a franchise and will probably succeed. Does John Carter get the job done for the weekend action audience? Yes, I suppose it does".[60] Dan Jolin of Empire gave the film 3 stars out of 5, noting, "Stanton has built a fantastic world, but the action is unmemorable. Still, just about every sci-fi/fantasy/superhero adventure you ever loved is in here somewhere".[61] Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, calling the film "undeniably silly, sprawling and easy to make fun of, [but] also playful, genuinely epic and absolutely comfortable being what it is. In this genre, those are virtues as rare as a cave of gold".[62]

... the movie is more Western than science fiction. Even if we completely suspend our disbelief and accept the entire story at face value, isn't it underwhelming to spend so much time looking at hand-to-hand combat when there are so many neat toys and gadgets to play with?

—Roger Ebert, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times[60]

Conversely, Peter Debruge of Variety gave a negative review, saying, "To watch John Carter is to wonder where in this jumbled space opera one might find the intuitive sense of wonderment and awe Stanton brought to Finding Nemo and WALL-E".[63] Owen Glieberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a D rating, feeling, "Nothing in John Carter really works, since everything in the movie has been done so many times before, and so much better".[64] Christy Lemire of The Boston Globe wrote that, "Except for a strong cast, a few striking visuals and some unexpected flashes of humor, John Carter is just a dreary, convoluted trudge – a soulless sprawl of computer-generated blippery converted to 3-D".[65] Michael Philips of the Chicago Tribune rated the film 2 out of 4 stars, saying the film "isn't much – or rather, it's too much and not enough in weird, clumpy combinations – but it is a curious sort of blur".[66] Andrew O'Herir of Salon.com called it "a profoundly flawed film, and arguably a terrible one on various levels. But if you're willing to suspend not just disbelief but also all considerations of logic and intelligence and narrative coherence, it's also a rip-roaring, fun adventure, fatefully balanced between high camp and boyish seriousness at almost every second".[67] Mick LaSelle of San Francisco Chronicle rated the film 1 star out of 4, noting, "John Carter is a movie designed to be long, epic and in 3-D, but that's as far as the design goes. It's designed to be a product, and it's a flimsy one".[68] A.O. Scott of The New York Times said, "John Carter tries to evoke, to reanimate, a fondly recalled universe of B-movies, pulp novels and boys' adventure magazines. But it pursues this modest goal according to blockbuster logic, which buries the easy, scrappy pleasures of the old stuff in expensive excess. A bad movie should not look this good".[69]

In the UK, the film was savaged by Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian, gaining only 1 star out of 5 and described as a "giant, suffocating doughy feast of boredom".[70] The film garnered 2 out of 5 stars in The Daily Telegraph, described as "a technical marvel, but is also armrest-clawingly hammy and painfully dated".[71] BBC film critic Mark Kermode expressed his displeasure with the film commenting, "The story telling is incomprehensible, the characterisation is ludicrous, the story is two and a quarter hours long and it's a boring, boring, boring two and a quarter hours long".[72]

Box office

John Carter earned $73,078,100 in North America and $211,061,000 in other countries, for a worldwide total as of June 28, 2012 of $284,139,100.[3] It had a worldwide opening of $100.8 million.[73] In North America, it opened in first place on Friday, March 9, 2012 with $9.81 million.[74] For three days, it had grossed $30.2 million, falling to second place for the weekend, behind The Lorax.[75] Outside North America, it topped the weekend chart, opening with $70.6 million.[76] Its highest-grossing opening was in Russia and the CIS, where it broke the all-time opening-day record ($6.5 million)[77] and earned $16.5 million during the weekend.[78] The film also scored the second-best opening weekend for a Disney film in China[79] ($14.0 million).[80] It was in first place at the box office outside North America for two consecutive weekends.[81] Its highest-grossing areas after North America are China ($41.5 million),[82] Russia and the CIS ($33.4 million), and Mexico ($12.1 million).[83]

Although the film grossed nearly $300 million worldwide, it lost a considerable amount of money due to its cost. At the time of its release Disney claimed the film's production budget was $250 million, although tax returns released in 2014 revealed its exact budget was $263.7 million after taking tax credits into account.[2] Before the film opened analysts predicted the film would be a huge financial failure due to its exorbitant combined production and marketing costs of $350 million,[84] with Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com, noting "John Carter's bloated budget would have required it to generate worldwide tickets sales of more than $600 million to break even ... a height reached by only 63 films in the history of moviemaking".[85] On May 8, 2012, the Walt Disney Company released a statement on its earnings which attributed the $161 million deterioration in the operating income of their Studio Entertainment division to a loss of $84 million in the quarter ending March 2012 "primarily" to the performance of John Carter and the associated cost write-down.[86] The film resulted in a $200 million writedown for Disney, ranking it among the biggest box-office bombs of all-time.[84]

The film's failure led to the resignation of Rich Ross, the head of Walt Disney Studios, even though Ross had arrived there from his earlier success at the Disney Channel with John Carter already in development.[87] Ross theoretically could have stopped production on John Carter as he did with a planned remake of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, or minimized the budget as he did to The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp.[88] Instead, Stanton was given the production budget requested for John Carter, backed with an estimated $100 million marketing campaign that is typical for a tentpole movie but without significant merchandising or other ancillary tie-ins.[40] It was reported that Ross later sought to blame Pixar for John Carter, which prompted key Pixar executives to turn against Ross who already had alienated many within the studio.[89] The 2013 book John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood cites many factors in the film's commercial failure, but author Michael D. Sellers insists the film tested very well with audiences and failed more because of marketing problems (which included not mentioning "Mars", "Barsoom", or "Edgar Rice Burroughs" on promotional posters, which meant that many fans of the Burroughs books were completely unaware of the film and its subject matter until after it bombed) and changing management at the studio.[90]

In September 2014, studio president Alan Bergman was asked at a conference if Disney had been able to partially recoup its losses on The Lone Ranger and John Carter through subsequent release windows or other monetization methods, and he responded: "I'm going to answer that question honestly and tell you no, it didn't get that much better. We did lose that much money on those movies."[91]

Accolades

Organization Award category Nominee(s) Result
ASCAP Awards Top Box Office Films Michael Giacchino Won
Annie Awards[92] Best Animated Effects in a Live Action Production Sue Rowe, Simon Stanley-Clamp, Artemis Oikonomopoulou, Holger Voss, Nikki Makar and Catherine Elvidge Nominated
Nebula Awards Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon
Golden Trailer Awards[93] Golden Fleece Ignition Creative and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
International Film Music Critics Association Awards Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror Film Michael Giacchino Won
Film Music Composition of the Year – John Carter of Mars Nominated
Saturn Awards Best Special Effects Chris Corbould, Peter Chiang, Scott R. Fisher and Sue Rowe

Cancelled sequel

Prior to the film's release, the filmmakers reported that John Carter was intended to be the first film of a trilogy.[94] Producers Jim Morris and Lindsey Collins began work on a sequel based on Burroughs' second novel, The Gods of Mars.[95] However, the film's poor box office performance put plans for sequels into question.[96]

In June 2012 co-writer Mark Andrews said in an interview that he, Stanton, and Chabon are still interested in doing sequels: "As soon as somebody from Disney says, 'We want John Carter 2', we'd be right there."[97] Despite criticism and Disney's financial disappointment with the film, lead actors Taylor Kitsch and Willem Dafoe all showed strong support,[98][99][100] with Kitsch stating "I would do John Carter again tomorrow. I'm very proud of John Carter".[101]

However, in September 2012, Stanton announced that his next directorial effort would be Pixar's Finding Dory, and that the plan to film a John Carter sequel "went away" and has been cancelled.[102] Kitsch later stated he will not make another John Carter film unless Stanton returns as director.[103] In a May 2014 interview, he added "I still talk to Lynn Collins almost daily. Those relationships that were born won't be broken by people we never met. I miss the family. I miss Andrew Stanton. I know the second script was awesome. We had to plant a grounding, so we could really take off in the second one. The second one was even more emotionally taxing, which was awesome."[104] Stanton tweeted both titles and logos for the sequels that would have been made with the titles being Gods of Mars as the sequel, and Warlord of Mars as the third film.[105]

On October 20, 2014, it was confirmed that Disney had allowed the film rights to the Barsoom novels to revert to the Edgar Rice Burroughs Estate.[106] In November 2016, Stanton stated "I will always mourn the fact that I didn't get to make the other two films I planned for that series."[107]

See also

References

  1. ^ "John Carter". British Board of Film Classification. February 15, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c Sylt, Christian (October 22, 2014). "Revealed: The $307 Million Cost of Disney's John Carter". Forbes. Retrieved December 7, 2014. The tax payment to John Carter gave the picture a net budget of $263.7 million which is far more than estimates predicted.
  3. ^ a b "John Carter (2012)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
  4. ^ Lambie, Ryan (June 19, 2011). "What We Know About John Carter". Den of Geek. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
  5. ^ Sciretta, Peter (January 13, 2011). "John Carter of Mars to be Pixar's First Live Action Film, Bryan Cranston Joins Cast". SlashFilm. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
  6. ^ Blaber, Genevieve (June 12, 2009). "Utah is Beginning to Look Like Mars". Latino Review. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
  7. ^ a b "Disney wraps up Mars movie shooting in Utah". Standard-Examiner. August 2, 2010. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
  8. ^ Boucher, Geoff (June 16, 2011). "'John Carter': Andrew Stanton on Martian history, Comic-Con and ... Monty Python?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
  9. ^ a b Fleming, Mike (January 19, 2011). "Disney Moves John Carter of Mars to Same Date as Fox's Prometheus". Deadline. Archived from the original on December 9, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  10. ^ "First Teaser Poster for Disney's 'John Carter' is Dark But Not Thrilling". FirstShowing.net. June 15, 2011. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  11. ^ McClintock, Pamela (January 19, 2011). "'John Carter of Mars,' 'Frankenweenie' Release Dates Changed". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
  12. ^ "'John Carter' Earns Soft $500,000 in Midnight Runs Domestically But Scores Big in Russia". The Hollywood Reporter. March 9, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  13. ^ Korkis, Jim (June 2, 2003). "Lost Cartoons: The Animated "John Carter of Mars"". Jim Hill Media. Retrieved January 2, 2009.
  14. ^ a b Glut, Donald F. (2002). The Frankenstein archive: Essays on the Monster, the Myth, the Movies, and More. McFarland. pp. 105–6. ISBN 0-7864-1353-0.
  15. ^ "The John Carter Animation Project: Promotional Portfolio by John Coleman Burroughs". ERBzine (#2175). 2008. Retrieved December 9, 2009.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Hughes, David (2008). The Greatest Science Fiction Movies Never Made. Titan Books. pp. 311–22. ISBN 978-1-84576-755-6.
  17. ^ McWeeny, Drew (March 2, 2004). "Holy Crap!! Rodriguez Just Can't Stop!! First SIN CITY, And Now ... PRINCESS OF MARS!!!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  18. ^ a b c Dawn C. Chmielewski; Rebecca Keegan (March 6, 2012). "The planets may not be aligned for 'John Carter'". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
  19. ^ a b c d Barnes, Brooks (March 12, 2012). "'Ishtar' Lands on Mars". The New York Times. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
  20. ^ Topel, Fred (January 9, 2009). "WALL-E helmer Andrew Stanton talks John Carter of Mars". Sci Fi Wire. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009. Retrieved January 13, 2009.
  21. ^ Ditzian, Eric (January 13, 2009). "John Carter Of Mars To Be Perfect Definition Of Live-Action, CGI Hybrid". MTV Movies Blog. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
  22. ^ Connelly, Brendon (April 14, 2009). "Michael Chabon". SlashFilm. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  23. ^ "Chabon Revising John Carter of Mars Script". The Amazing Website of Kavalier & Clay. April 9, 2009. Archived from the original on April 18, 2009. Retrieved April 9, 2009.
  24. ^ Rappe, Elizabeth (April 15, 2009). "Michael Chabon Join's Pixar's John Carter of Mars". AOL Cinematical Blog. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  25. ^ Lee, Patrick (September 26, 2008). "New Look For Carter Of Mars?". Sci Fi Wire. Archived from the original on September 26, 2008. Retrieved September 27, 2008.
  26. ^ Tyler, Josh (September 28, 2008). "Pixar Talks John Carter of Mars". SlashFilm. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  27. ^ "News: John Carter of Mars Begins Principal Photography In London". Latino Review. January 15, 2010. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
  28. ^ Horiuchi, Vince (June 12, 2009). "Utah will be stage for Mars in new Disney Pixar film". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved June 15, 2009.
  29. ^ Forney, Matt (February 2, 2010). "Disney Plans tyo Film New Movie in Area". Lake Powell Chronicle. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  30. ^ a b Heuring, David (March 1, 2012). "War Lords". ICG Magazine. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  31. ^ Gilchrist, Todd (February 17, 2012). "Andrew Stanton Slams 'John Carter' Budget Overage Claims: "A Complete and Utter Lie"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  32. ^ a b Friend, Ted (October 17, 2011). "SECOND-ACT TWIST". The New Yorker. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  33. ^ Connelly, Brendon. "John Carter's Producers Talk Me Through Filmmaking: The Andrew Stanton Way". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  34. ^ a b Goldstein, Patrick (April 20, 2012). "Rich Ross ousted at Disney: What went wrong?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  35. ^ Brodesser-Akner, Claude. "The Inside Story of How John Carter Was Doomed by Its First Trailer". Vulture. New York Media LLC. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  36. ^ Vary, Adam (December 1, 2011). "'John Carter' trailer deep dive: Director Andrew Stanton on those green men, that frog dog, and why he HATES trailer spoilers". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 27, 2012.
  37. ^ "John Carter Dedicated to Steve Jobs". Vulture. April 8, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  38. ^ a b Brendon, Connelly (December 5, 2011). "Andrew Stanton Explains Why John Carter Of Mars Became Just John Carter". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
  39. ^ "7 John Carter Moments + Q&A With Star Taylor Kitsch". 7films. January 20, 2012. Archived from the original on July 4, 2012. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
  40. ^ a b Fernandez, Jay (February 24, 2012). "'John Carter': Disney Scrambles to Save its $250 Million Gamble". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  41. ^ "| Moviefone". News.moviefone.com. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  42. ^ "The music of Mars, John Carter soundtrack review". Clarity Media Group. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  43. ^ Schweiger, Daniel. "John Carter". Global Media Online, Inc. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
  44. ^ Broxton, Jonathan (March 30, 2012). "JOHN CARTER – Michael Giacchino". Movie Music UK. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
  45. ^ "John Carter by Michael Giacchino". Tracksounds: The Film Music Experience. Archived from the original on March 29, 2012. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
  46. ^ Tassi, Paul (March 11, 2010). "Michael Giacchino Scoring John Carter of Mars". JoBlo. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  47. ^ "2010 Oscar, Best Score Nominee – Michael Giacchino (Up) | KUSC Podcasts". Kusc.podbean.com. Archived from the original on March 11, 2010. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
  48. ^ Gallagher, Brian (January 19, 2011). "Frankenweenine and John Carter of Mars Change Release Dates". MovieWeb. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  49. ^ "Disney sets 'Frankenweenie,' 'John Carter of Mars' release dates". Heatvision.hollywoodreporter.com. August 9, 2010. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
  50. ^ Chitwood, Adam (February 5, 2012). "Super Bowl Movie Commercials: THE AVENGERS, BATTLESHIP, JOHN CARTER, THE LORAX, G.I. JOE 2, THE DICTATOR and More". Collider. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
  51. ^ "'John Carter' To Screen For The Giants and Patriots Before Super Bowl XLVI; Plus New Featurette | /Film". Slashfilm.com. February 3, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  52. ^ Wharton, David. "John Carter Conquers The Red Planet on Blu-Ray This June". Cinema Blend. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  53. ^ "John Carter (2012) – Financial Information". The-numbers.com. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  54. ^ "Blu-ray Sales: John Carter Acts Up". The Numbers. June 20, 2012. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  55. ^ "And the John Carter reviews are in, many of them positive". NerdReactor.com. March 2, 2012. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
  56. ^ "John Carter". RottenTomatoes.com. Fandango Media. March 4, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2012.
  57. ^ "John Carter". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 27, 2012.
  58. ^ McCarthy, Todd (March 6, 2012). "John Carter: Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  59. ^ Kenny, Glenn. "John Carter:Critics' Reviews". MSN Movies. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  60. ^ a b Ebert, Roger (March 8, 2012). "John Carter (PG-13)". Chicago Sun-Times via RogerEbert.com. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  61. ^ Jolin, Dan. "John Carter". Empire. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  62. ^ Neumaier, Joe (March 8, 2012). "'John Carter': Silly sci-fi fantasy isn't out of this world, but it can be playful and down-to-Earth". Daily News. New York City. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  63. ^ Debruge, Peter (March 6, 2012). "John Carter". Variety. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  64. ^ Owen Glieberman (March 7, 2012). "MOVIE REVIEW John Carter (2012)". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  65. ^ Lemire, Christy (March 7, 2012). "Review: Trip to Mars is no fun in 'John Carter'". Associated Press via The Boston Globe. Retrieved March 8, 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  66. ^ Philips, Michael (March 8, 2012). "There's fun to be had in 'John Carter,' but it's swamped by details ✭✭". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  67. ^ O'Herir, Andrew (March 8, 2012). "Will 'John Carter' rank among the all-time bombs?". Salon.com. Retrieved March 9, 2012.
  68. ^ LaSelle, Mick (March 8, 2012). "'John Carter' review: 1-dimensional plot in 3-D". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved March 9, 2012.
  69. ^ Scott, A.O. (March 8, 2012). "The Wild, Wild West of a Certain Red Planet". The New York Times. Retrieved March 9, 2012.
  70. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (March 8, 2012). "John Carter – review". The Guardian. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
  71. ^ Collin, Robbie (March 8, 2012). "John Carter, review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
  72. ^ "John Carter flop to cost Walt Disney $200m". BBC News. March 20, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
  73. ^ "Worldwide Openings". Boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  74. ^ Subers, Ray (March 10, 2012). "Friday Report: 'John Carter' Lands with a Thud". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
  75. ^ Subers, Ray (March 11, 2012). "Weekend Report: 'The Lorax' Defeats Disappointing 'John Carter'". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
  76. ^ Subers, Ray (March 11, 2012). "Around-the-World Roundup: 'John Carter' Shows Some Strength Overseas". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
  77. ^ McClintock, Pamela (March 9, 2012). "'John Carter' Earns Soft $500,000 in Midnight Runs Domestically But Scores Big in Russia". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on March 16, 2012. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
  78. ^ "Russia – CIS Box Office March 8–11, 2012". Box Office Mojo.com. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  79. ^ "'John Carter': China Box Office Surprisingly Strong". Huffington Post. March 29, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  80. ^ Xia, Yun (March 20, 2012). "China Weekly Box Office (03/12 – 03/18): John Carter was off to an excellent start". Box Office Follower. Archived from the original on April 13, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  81. ^ Subers, Ray (March 20, 2012). "Around-the-World Roundup: 'John Carter' Leads Again Overseas". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 9, 2012.
  82. ^ Xia, Yun (April 16, 2012). "China Weekly Box Office (04/09 – 04/15): Titanic has arrived, and oh my, what an entrance!". Box Office Follower. Archived from the original on May 25, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  83. ^ "John Carter (2012) – International Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  84. ^ a b Chmielewski, Dawn C. (March 20, 2012). "Disney expects $200-million loss on 'John Carter'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
  85. ^ "John Carter: Disney may set record for biggest box-office bomb | National Post". Arts.nationalpost.com. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  86. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 22, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  87. ^ "Disney film boss Rich Ross resigns after John Carter flop – BBC News". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  88. ^ Chmielewski, Dawn (March 13, 2012). "Why did Disney's 'John Carter' flop?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 25, 2012.
  89. ^ Chmielewski, Dawn (April 21, 2012). "Rich Ross' departure sends aftershocks at Disney". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  90. ^ "John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood," New York: Universal Media, 2013 ISBN 0615682316
  91. ^ Bergman, Alan (September 17, 2014). "Transcript: Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2014 Media and Entertainment Conference" (PDF). The Walt Disney Company. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  92. ^ "Annie Award". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
  93. ^ "Awards". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
  94. ^ Smith, Damon (March 12, 2012). "'John Carter film review' – start of a trilogy". Chichester Observer. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  95. ^ Ford, Rebecca (March 8, 2012). "'John Carter' Producers Reveal Sequel Plans and Why They Cast Taylor Kitsch (Video)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
  96. ^ Adam B. Vary (March 26, 2012). "Taylor Kitsch: 'I would do 'John Carter' again tomorrow'". CNN. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  97. ^ "Director Mark Andrews Talks Replacing Brenda Chapman On 'Brave,' The Future Of 'John Carter' & More". IndieWire. June 21, 2012. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  98. ^ "John Carter Sequel: Taylor Kitsch gives a shout out to "Best damn fans on Earth (and Mars)"". Thejohncarterfiles.com. April 13, 2012. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  99. ^ "Willem Dafoe disappointed that John Carter sequel scrapped". Coventry Telegraph. July 22, 2012. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
  100. ^ "Willem Dafoe still perplexed by "John Carter" reception". ICF. June 4, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
  101. ^ "Taylor Kitsch quotes". Brainy Quote. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  102. ^ Keegan, Rebecca (September 8, 2012). "Director Andrew Stanton looks back on 'John Carter's' rocky path". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  103. ^ "Taylor Kitsch Says He Won't Do 'John Carter 2′ Unless Andrew Stanton Directs". slashfilm.com. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  104. ^ Setoodah, Ramin (May 23, 2014). "Taylor Kitsch on 'The Normal Heart' and Wanting to Direct". Variety. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  105. ^ "Andrew stanton on Twitter: "Could have been cool. Had big plans ..." Twitter.com. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  106. ^ Dornbush, Jonathon (October 22, 2014). "Disney loses 'John Carter' rights: What's next for the franchise?". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  107. ^ "The Latest from Andrew Stanton". The John Carter Files. November 19, 2016. Retrieved November 20, 2016.

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Carter (film).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=John_Carter_(film)&oldid=919230157"