"John Carter" Movie in trouble?

Residents Fan · 18/02/12 - 20:23

Just saw this at the Deadline website:

Hollywood is in a tizzy over the early tracking which just came online this morning for Walt Disney Studios‘ John Carter opening March 9th. “Not good. 2 unaided, 53 aware, 27 definitely interested, 3 first choice,” a senior exec at a rival studio emails me. Another writes me, ”It just came out. Women of all ages have flat out rejected the film. The tracking for John Carter is shocking for a film that cost over $250 million. This could be the biggest writeoff of all time.” I’m hearing figures in the neighborhood of $100 million. And the studio isn’t even trying to spin reports of the 3D pic’s bloated budget any more....

Problem is, John Carter (formerly titled John Carter Of Mars) only has a two-week window before Lionsgate’s hotly anticipated The Hunger Games opens March 23rd.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/02/john-carter-early-tracking-shockingly-soft-could-be-biggest-writeoff-of-all-time/

Is "John Carter" going to crash and burn at the box office?

rybev · 18/02/12 - 20:26

Looks a bit bland to me.
Can't say I'm that bothered about it.
The dropping of "Of Mars" won't help it IMO.

Residents Fan · 18/02/12 - 20:34

rybev wrote: »

Looks a bit bland to me.
Can't say I'm that bothered about it.
The dropping of "Of Mars" won't help it IMO.

As somebody on the ToplessRobot website pointed out:

Originally, they called it "A Princess of Mars", but marketing said "Princess" would turn off boys.

Then they called it "John Carter of Mars", but marketing said "Of Mars" would turn off girls.

Finally, they called it "John Carter" and succeeded in turning off everyone.

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2012/02/bad_news_for_john_carter_of_anywhere_else.php

Motthus · 18/02/12 - 21:01

Maybe we should wait untill a film is released before deciding it is a flop

This is just Internet rumour at the moment so we don't know if it is true or not.Just wait untill the film comes out then deciede then!

SilverCrown · 18/02/12 - 22:40

Hope it's not in trouble. I think the movie looks great, and can't wait to see it.

stvn758 · 18/02/12 - 22:47

I'm sure I just saw this on SyFy, Traci Lords was in it. This is the big screen version I take it, the TV one was not too bad, remember the bloke jumping a lot.

Residents Fan · 18/02/12 - 23:48

Motthus wrote: »

Maybe we should wait untill a film is released before deciding it is a flop

This is just Internet rumour at the moment so we don't know if it is true or not.Just wait untill the film comes out then deciede then!

I'm mainly interested in JC because Andrew Stanton,
the director of one of my favourites flicks (WALL-E)
is behind it.

I know about the John Carter character from the history
of sci-fi, but it's not like JC has the general public
recognition factor of Tarzan. It could be a great
movie for all we know, but the trailers haven't looked
very promising ( they don't seem to be pushing
the "FROM THE CREATOR OF TARZAN...
AND THE DIRECTOR OF WALL-E" angle).

pocatello · 19/02/12 - 01:02

Yea john carter seemed king of obscure, when I first heard the "from the creator of tarzan" bit I was like who? What?

pon farr · 19/02/12 - 01:04

Must admit I was surprised when someone decided this series would be strong enough to make a blockbuster movie and therefore would not be shocked if it fails.

Speak-Softly · 19/02/12 - 01:14

Saw the trailer and it looks good enough.
But the name is just so wrong, what were they thinking?

Mind you, now I've read here that it's by the director of WallE I might give it a miss.:p
Couldn't stand that film.

Jimmy_McNulty · 19/02/12 - 03:02

Wall-E is a masterpiece.

silentNate · 19/02/12 - 03:24

The advert shown during the Super Bowl looked good but I tend not to bother with anything by Disney.

Save my money for The Hunger Games

rybev · 19/02/12 - 04:40

Jimmy_McNulty wrote: »

Wall-E is a masterpiece.

For the first half maybe.

JCR · 19/02/12 - 06:44

It'd have to be going some to beat The Adventures of Pluto Nash- USA box office $4.41 million on an $100 million budget, or Cutthroat Island- US box office $10 million on a $98 million budget (caused Orion pictures collapse)

mike65 · 19/02/12 - 12:34

I always thought this a strange blockbuster, JC of M is hardly a staple of the fantasy genre to start with and the character has not been translated to screen in 100 years so that was probably a hint that there is no great appetite for a mega budget film now.

Residents Fan · 19/02/12 - 12:59

mike65 wrote: »

I always thought this a strange blockbuster, JC of M is hardly a staple of the fantasy genre to start with and the character has not been translated to screen in 100 years so that was probably a hint that there is no great appetite for a mega budget film now.

The ERB novel "A Princess of Mars" that the film is based
on was originally serialized in the pulp magazine
"All-Story Magazine" in 1912; this is why they wanted to release
the film to coinicide with the hundreth anniversary.

007Fusion · 19/02/12 - 13:40

I knew this was going to be the case once i found out about the film. John Carter doesn't have mass appeal and they have heavily relied upon CGI to create the Mars setting, when they could have easily filmed it in a rural place. If i'm honest, i don't know why they even decided to create the film, as the rating, cast and story (their augmented version) aren't appealing.

PhoenixRises · 19/02/12 - 14:43

Does it really matter if it is in trouble, it will be released anyway so we will more than likely get to see it if we fancy watching it. So if it is in trouble what problems will this cause?

mike65 · 19/02/12 - 16:07

Residents Fan wrote: »

The ERB novel "A Princess of Mars" that the film is based
on was originally serialized in the pulp magazine
"All-Story Magazine" in 1912; this is why they wanted to release
the film to coinicide with the hundreth anniversary.

I understand the timing but its something that should have been marked by a 40-50 million dollar flick (its a sign of how out of whack Hollywood is these days that it was only ever going to be a huge budget "tent pole" affair).

LudwigVonDrake · 19/02/12 - 17:57

PhoenixRises wrote: »

Does it really matter if it is in trouble, it will be released anyway so we will more than likely get to see it if we fancy watching it. So if it is in trouble what problems will this cause?

True. It'll probably mean the sequel will be shelved and probably cause the Stuido to have a cautious approach with other projects. They've already reigned in The Lone Ranger due to high costs, so they've already got that mindset in Burbank.

I'll be honest, I can't see Carter being a huge hit that spawns a franchise (cinema goers are far too fickle these days), but I would at least hope it does some reasonable numbers.

[Deleted User] · 19/02/12 - 18:23

I don't think it'll "bomb", but i think it will struggle, and I doubt that it'll recoup the $250 million production budget. Everytime i've seen the trailer at the cinema, the people i'm with are always uninterested in it. One of my female friends actually turned to me and said "that looks shit", while most of my male friends think that it looks like a poor Star Wars clone (some of it does look fairly reminiscent of the arena fight scenes in Attack of the Clones, so i get the comparison). While i love sci-fi, i'm still not interested in the film based on the poor trailers. If it gets glowing reviews/positive word of mouth then i'll obviously go and see it, but at the moment it's barely even on my radar. I think the studio is right to be worried. That said, i'd love the film to surprise everyone and be a hit as it would potentially mean more sci-fi type movies.

welwynrose · 19/02/12 - 19:46

I've been looking forward to this for ages

Residents Fan · 19/02/12 - 20:14

CJClarke wrote: »

I don't think it'll "bomb", but i think it will struggle, and I doubt that it'll recoup the $250 million production budget. Everytime i've seen the trailer at the cinema, the people i'm with are always uninterested in it. One of my female friends actually turned to me and said "that looks shit", while most of my male friends think that it looks like a poor Star Wars clone (some of it does look fairly reminiscent of the arena fight scenes in Attack of the Clones, so i get the comparison). While i love sci-fi, i'm still not interested in the film based on the poor trailers. If it gets glowing reviews/positive word of mouth then i'll obviously go and see it, but at the moment it's barely even on my radar. I think the studio is right to be worried. That said, i'd love the film to surprise everyone and be a hit as it would potentially mean more sci-fi type movies.

The trailers don't seem to have pointed out to the
general public "Who is John Carter, and why should
we be interested in seeing his adventures?"

The film has some excellent actors in it-
Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church, Bryan
Cranston, Samantha Morton-but while most
film folk would be delighted to obtain to
obtain the services of such thespians, the trailers
haven't mentioned them either.

Residents Fan · 22/02/12 - 13:24

The Daily Beast website has a long piece on the John Carter film here:

While Stanton stands as one of the animated-movie industry’s undisputed rainmakers—his Wall-E and Finding Nemo both won Best Animated Feature Oscars and combined to gross nearly $1.4 billion—the choice to hire him for John Carter stunned many in Hollywood. “[Disney] said, ‘We’ve got a director here who made us billions of dollars over the years, fine, let him have a vanity project,'” surmised an executive at another studio, who, like just about everyone interviewed for this story, requested anonymity for fear of burning bridges. “But you minimize your risk as much as possible. To make something on this big a budget with no stars? Unless you’re Peter Jackson or Jim Cameron, it’s unheard of.”....

After seeing several John Carter trailers, a rival studio executive agreed. “You don’t know what it is,” the source said. “The geek generation isn’t responding. It’s too weird for the family audience. Then it has the Disney brand and PG-13? I’m not sure who it’s for.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/02/21/john-carter-disney-s-quarter-billion-dollar-movie-fiasco.html

Noiseboy · 22/02/12 - 13:53

Of course, everyone said Titanic would flop until someone actually saw it...

I hope it's a success cos I really rate Andrew Stanton, he focuses on story and character. Disney have a review embargo on it, which Andrew has complained bitterly about on Twitter - he says that the feedback is terrific when people watch it (though it could be argued he would say that, wouldn't he?) Must admit I wasn't blown away by the trailer, but did think the kids might like it...

EDIT - here are some actual early reviews (none from the print media yet) that seem very positive. Harry Knowles at aicn raves about it, he's pretty influential (again, was the first to come out in favour of Titanic)

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/Wolvie09/news/?a=54900

Hope it makes its budget back at least!

EDIT 2 - yikes, it's PG-13 and it's heavily Disney branded. That doesn't seem like a good combination to me.

Residents Fan · 22/02/12 - 14:01

Noiseboy wrote: »

Of course, everyone said Titanic would flop until someone actually saw it...

You have a point there-many Hollywood insiders initially
thought "Titantic" would crash and burn at the box office.

I hope it's a success cos I really rate Andrew Stanton, he focuses on story and character. Disney have a review embargo on it, which Andrew has complained bitterly about on Twitter - he says that the feedback is terrific when people watch it (though it could be argued he would say that, wouldn't he?) Must admit I wasn't blown away by the trailer, but did think the kids might like it...

EDIT - here are some actual early reviews (none from the print media yet) that seem very positive. Harry Knowles at aicn raves about it, he's pretty influential (again, was the first to come out in favour of Titanic)

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/Wolvie09/news/?a=54900

Hope it makes its budget back at least!

If JC gets lots of good word of mouth after being released,
that might help its chances. The downside is (as I
mentioned) it's going to be released near "The Hunger Games", another anticipated blockbuster.

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