"John Carter" movie

[Jan]

I've wanted the Barsoom books by Edgar Rice Burroughs to be movies for as long as I can remember...maybe only second to wanting to see Anne McCaffrey's Dragonrider books on the big screen.

What I've seen in previews has been encouraging but I've been concerned about the lack of mention of Mars or Barsoom or ERB. So when Bruce Boxleitner tweeted last night that he loved the premiere on Wednesday, I asked him about it:

Jan Schroeder@JanMSchroeder


@boxleitnerbruce Is "John Carter" fairly faithful to the book(s)? I'm so hoping it will be! Thanks.



Bruce Boxleitner@boxleitnerbruce


@JanMSchroeder Yes very much ! !



11:22 PM - 24 Feb 12via Twitter for iPhone À Details

So I'm looking forward to this even more, now.

Jan
(pretending it's not really cool to have Bruce Boxleitner answer her Tweet )

[Joe Nazzaro]

Jan, I agree, I've wanted to see a movie based on 'A Princess of Mars' as long as I can remember. From what I've seen so far, it looks like director Andrew Stanton has done a phenomenal job on what has to be a hugely complicated project. That being said, I also feel that Disney has really dropped the ball on the film, starting with the title change to John Carter of Mars followed by the even more inexplicable title change to John Carter. This is the kind of potential franchise film that really needs a group of marketing people that really understand the genre and the property and I really don't think they do. There is also the school of thought that a lot of Disney executives wouldn't mind if the film flops, because it's the last project left over from the previous regime, therefore they would be more than happy to see it fail. I hope that's not true, but nothing I've seen so far demonstrates the kind of careful marketing needed for a $200-plus film based on a once-popular book by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

And by the way Jan, just to follow up on your reference to Bruce Boxleitner, when we were both at Comic Con a few years back, he told me that he had actually lived in the same ranch once owned by Burroughs himself. I couldn't believe it when Bruce started to reel off a bunch of Burroughs' less commonly known works- it was like looking at someone you've known for years and suddenly you find out something about them that makes you seem them in a whole new light!

[frulad]

I'll be seeing a screening of it on Thursday, but the review for my own blog will be embargoed until the film opens on the 9th. However, I think I will be able to share with you the reaction of my friend who is a die-hard Burroughs/Barsoom fan and will be accompanying me to the screening.

[DGTWoodward]

I grew up on the TRAZAN and John Carter books as a boy and always thought that they were equally entertaining as each other.

Tarzan has had a terrific number of incarnations on both TV and the movies, but as far as I know, there was only the miserable single-made-for-TV-and-it-shoes-so-no-actual-money-and-no-real-names-crappy-naff-CG-fest SyFy debacle only, and that was that....

...Yes ASYLUM Pictures, I am looking at you!

Sadly, as much as it is possible to understand anything by way of what comes out of hollywood either written of filmed, JC is being badly handled and packed. Which is a shame if this is true, as this could have been a franchise to watch, and it had a whole string of successful novels to adapt from too.

[Jan]

All right, folks...I don't recommend things (well...non-B5 things) very often but this time I am and it's important if you want more movies done right. Go see JOHN CARTER. It *should* have been touted as being based on the Barsoom books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It *should* have been named JOHN CARTER OF MARS - and we do get both of those at the very end. The movie does it right. It's not the books, it's a movie of today based on a book written early last century but it does it all while keeping the spirit of the books. You've got the brave fighting man, the beautiful princess (and she's a scientist and warrior, to boot!), fierce aliens, intrigue, sword fights...in short, it's nothing like the trailers and previews you've seen. Please...go see this and make it a success because they did it *right* (did I mention that they did it right?).

Jan

[Wyrmling]

Every time I see a trailer for this movie it makes me want to see it more. I haven't even read the books but it looks like a fun one to watch. Glad to see a positive review. I might see it sometime this week.

[KoshN]

I've wanted the Barsoom books by Edgar Rice Burroughs to be movies for as long as I can remember...maybe only second to wanting to see Anne McCaffrey's Dragonrider books on the big screen.

What I've seen in previews has been encouraging but I've been concerned about the lack of mention of Mars or Barsoom or ERB. So when Bruce Boxleitner tweeted last night that he loved the premiere on Wednesday, I asked him about it:



So I'm looking forward to this even more, now.

Jan
(pretending it's not really cool to have Bruce Boxleitner answer her Tweet )

OT: If only that could have been said of "The Dresden Files" Sci-Fi Channel TV series.

[Joe Nazzaro]

Ah yes, The Dresden Files; a how-to lesson in what NOT to do when adapting a popular series of books. From Bob the skull (who was thrown out during the pilot) to the dopey hockey stick, there is much to dislike.

[KoshN]

Ah yes, The Dresden Files; a how-to lesson in what NOT to do when adapting a popular series of books. From Bob the skull (who was thrown out during the pilot) to the dopey hockey stick, there is much to dislike.

Still OT: However, it DID lead me to the books. I'm currenty on #11 "Turn Coat."

Demonn, if you're watching, yes I bought "Turn Coat" in April 2009, and I realize that you consume whole books in a day, but I got distracted from reading during "Small Favor" because of getting caught up on quite a few seasons of a few TV series on DVD (e.g. all of CSI, Burn Notice, The Mentalist, etc.), plus I'm watching a LOT of TV this season, plus I was (and still am) doing a lot of database work. [shrug] I just got away from reading for a looong time. Basically, I need clones.

[KoshN]

All right, folks...I don't recommend things (well...non-B5 things) very often but this time I am and it's important if you want more movies done right. Go see JOHN CARTER. It *should* have been touted as being based on the Barsoom books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It *should* have been named JOHN CARTER OF MARS - and we do get both of those at the very end. The movie does it right. It's not the books, it's a movie of today based on a book written early last century but it does it all while keeping the spirit of the books. You've got the brave fighting man, the beautiful princess (and she's a scientist and warrior, to boot!), fierce aliens, intrigue, sword fights...in short, it's nothing like the trailers and previews you've seen. Please...go see this and make it a success because they did it *right* (did I mention that they did it right?).

Jan

Did you see The Tonight Show with Jay Leno recently? The last couple of nights he's been making fun of JOHN CARTER and it's box office numbers. Sometimes, most times these days, I can't stand Leno. His jokes are exploring the depth of LAME and mean.

[Looney]

It is official

John Carter has made the list of all time biggest flops.

I personally liked the movie a lot more than I thought I would. It isn't perfect, but I still enjoyed it and it is a shame more people didn't give it a chance. On the other hand, I don't mind seeing Disney have a big flop.

[Jan]

According to IMDb, the budget was $250 million and it's made $238 million worldwide. It's also pretty hot on Amazon, showing at #18 in Movies and TV, #1 in Blu-Ray Science Fiction, #2 in Blu-Ray Action and Adventure and #2 in Blu-Ray Fantasy. Without even having a release date.

I don't give a flip that Disney, what I hate is that the lack of support by the studio practically guarantees there won't be more. And that's a shame.

Jan

[Jan]

"Flop" seems to be a relative term. The movie's made back it's budget even before the DVD release:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2012/04/02/john-carters-trip-to-mars-is-finally-profitable/

BoxOffice Mojo reports that John Carter has grossed $254.5 million, a $4.5 million over its budgetùcurrently not technically a profit, considering its advertising budget, but itÆs far better than the epic loss that many had feared.

Jan

[Jonas]

A lot of people seem to think that Disney wanted this to fail, possibly because the new leadership always needs to kill the projects of their predecessors.

[Delenn_of_Mir]

This may be a dumb question, but I am genuinely dumb.

because the new leadership always needs to kill the projects of their predecessors.

Why does the new leadership need to do this?