John Carter (of Mars)

uncleoswald

Looked for a thread on this but couldn't find one. Andrew Stanton (WALL-E, Finding Nemo) directs a live-action adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burrough's 'John Carer of Mars' series of novels

Been looking forward to this one for awhile now, and I gotta say I'm disappointing by the trailer. I'm not familiar with the original Edgar Rice Burroughs source material (apart from it's inclusion in Alan Moore's tLoEG comics) but I liked the idea that they would remain faithful to it by keeping the sci-fi of it's time, so it's the future as imagined from a Victorian point of view. Not quite steam-punk but close enough. And the concept art looked gorgeous:





But then the trailer makes it look like a cross between Avatar and Prince of Persia, overly earnest and not all that epic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gKVquj9LgM

And when it's compared to the imagery of John Carter in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen it looks positively generic



Still I hope my initial optimism was right and it is a good old fashioned adventure yarn with stunning visuals and the trailer is just a bit lacklustre.

DirkVoodoo

Looks better than the brutal adaptation that was on the Syfy channel a while back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsawq3PBMms

If you are going to make something with porno production values and acting, at least make it a bloody porno!

Mickeroo

Pretty excited about this myself. It's PIXAR's first live action movie. I've not read the books but I've just ordered A Princess of Mars of amazon the other day and I'm familiar with League of Extraordinary Gentlemen books. Unfortunately there's a good chance that a lot of people are going to think this is ripping of Avatar I'd imagine.

The trailer looks ok, some of the landscape looks a bit too unmartian for my liking though. Still since it's PIXAR I'm expecting good things.

pixelburp

uncleoswald wrote: »

[...]

And when it's compared to the imagery of John Carter in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen it looks positively generic



Still I hope my initial optimism was right and it is a good old fashioned adventure yarn with stunning visuals and the trailer is just a bit lacklustre.

Ha! Funny, when I saw that trailer, the "League" novel was what first popped into my head too. Its scenes set on Mars, where Alan Moore mashed together the John Carter mythology with HG Wells' own Martian tripod creatures were positively epic.

The trailer itself seemed a little staid though, not particularly interesting or dramatic. Watching the Victorian scenes against those set on Mars reminded me a little of that awful adaptation of The Time Machine, which was also a bit drab.

uncleoswald

Mickeroo wrote: »

The trailer looks ok, some of the landscape looks a bit too unmartian for my liking though. Still since it's PIXAR I'm expecting good things.

Yeah, I'd expect things to be a bit more, um, red? The PIXAR connecting are definitely easing my concerns but is it actually a PIXAR film?

The Avatar comparisons will be inevitable but I don't think they are doing themselves any favours with that trailer.

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Looks better than the brutal adaptation that was on the Syfy channel a while back:

While that is probably even worse then it looks knowing Syfy, it does I think have a few visuals and creature design I'd hope to see more of in the Disney version, albeit with a tiny budget. Hopefully they are just been held back from the trailer and are still been designed in post-production.

If you are going to make something with porno production values and acting, at least make it a bloody porno!

Well it does Traci Lords in it.

Mickeroo

uncleoswald wrote: »

Yeah, I'd expect things to be a bit more, um, red? The PIXAR connecting are definitely easing my concerns but is it actually a PIXAR film?

Afaik it's being billed as a PIXAR movie, I could be very wrong though, might have got my wires crossed in that it's Andrew Stanton's first live action movie too.

Phony Scott

Hmmm...this keeps me optimistic that one day we will see an adaptation of two of my favourite sci-fi novels ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’ and ‘The Stars My Destination’.

TheIrishGrover

I liked the trailer. I read the books years and years ago and I'm interested to see what they do with it. Obviously there will have to be PC changes but not too many as, apart from some terminology, it was pretty forward thinking. I like the look of it actually. Bear in mind it's a teaser for those who think it looks a little bit dull. It's still a long way off and there still is a HUUUUUGE amount of effect work to do.(I mean we only got a brief glimpse of the Tharks and readers will know they pay a pretty main part. I mean it's going to be pretty much ALL effects.

It will be interesting to see how people take it. It's pretty much a turn of the century swashbuckler: Full of damsels in distress and derring-do and I'll be curious to see how they do his transport to Mars: Will they keep it as it? Will people accept it as is (I won't give any spoilers) Or will they update it for a more modern audience.

uncleoswald

From what I know the only big change they have made is they have gotten rid of the way characters could communicate telepathically, which makes sense from film point of view.

Mickeroo

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

It will be interesting to see how people take it. It's pretty much a turn of the century swashbuckler: Full of damsels in distress and derring-do and I'll be curious to see how they do his transport to Mars: Will they keep it as it? Will people accept it as is (I won't give any spoilers) Or will they update it for a more modern audience.

It is quite cool that they're keeping it set in the period of the book. I wonder will he still be a confederate vet? Could be seen to be a bit un PC!

JP Liz V1

Wow FNL's Taylor Kitsch first lead role

Jako8

"Our world is dying. Fate has brought you here John Carter."

That line really made me cringe.

I thought the trailer looked OK. It's hard to base an impression off one trailer, though.

seraphimvc

this!!!OMG i just watched the trailer!!! reminded me of the Stargate movie lol

cant wait for this!!!!

Zubeneschamali

uncleoswald wrote: »

From what I know the only big change they have made is they have gotten rid of the way characters could communicate telepathically, which makes sense from film point of view.

Just from that teaser: Everyone is wearing clothes. Dejah Thoris is white, not red, and there are lots of other white people running around. The vegetation is yellowy green, it should be red. The scenery is of rocky cliffs and mountains, it should be flat, with only low rolling hills. That green man looks to be only 7 feet tall, he should be twice that size. He has no tusks, and his ears are on the sides of his head.

Mickeroo

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Just from that teaser: Everyone is wearing clothes. Dejah Thoris is white, not red, and there are lots of other white people running around. The vegetation is yellowy green, it should be red. The scenery is of rocky cliffs and mountains, it should be flat, with only low rolling hills. That green man looks to be only 7 feet tall, he should be twice that size. He has no tusks, and his ears are on the sides of his head.

They're hardly going to have everyone bollock naked in a big budget hollywood sci-fi movie. I says in the article the aliens are shorter than in the books yeah. None of the FX shots are finished either yet remember.

Mickeroo

Some pictures have been released from this:





And WOOLA!



Woola looks more or less how I imagined so happy with that, the Thark doesn't look ferocious enough for my liking although still not far off what I imagined. Read the book recently, it was pretty enjoyable but I hope they add a bit more characterisation for the movie. Still looking forward to it big time.

Sad Professor

Is this going to flop? I like Stanton, but with a budget north of 200 million and some seriously dodgy marketing, things aren't looking good. Deadline reported a couple of days ago that some studio executives are predicting that this could be the biggest flop of all time. Of course, they said the same thing about Titanic and Avatar.

Mickeroo

Sad Professor wrote: »

Is this going to flop? I like Stanton, but with a budget north of 200 million and some seriously dodgy marketing, things aren't looking good. Deadline reported a couple of days ago that some studio executives are predicting that this could be the biggest flop of all time. Of course, they said the same thing about Titanic and Avatar.

I think the main problem is its going to be hard to sell it. Even though the books are pretty well known I don't think the general public would be that familiar with the source material that much and a lot of people might see this as an avatar rip off even though its more the other way around. I hope it doesn't flop but it very well could. Even if it does flop I still hope its a good movie. I've read a few reactions to advanced screenings and they've all been positive so fingers crossed. Will be hard to recoup 200million without much hype though.

Here's a sneak peek, i think it looks decent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xBaGv5bx0Q

mike65

This is going to be the biggest tent pole failure of the year. 200+ million adapting a secondary and largely forgotten pulp hero from the 30s.

Mickeroo

mike65 wrote: »

This is going to be the biggest tent pole failure of the year. 200+ million adapting a secondary and largely forgotten pulp hero from the 30s.

forgotten is a strong word, the books are cult classics, there's a decent fan base, but yeah the average joe probably won't know who the hell John Carter is.

Ant

I've read a fair bit of science fiction and fantasy but I wouldn't have come across John Carter were it not for his appearance in Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I was curious about the character so I later read the Princess of Mars (courtesy of Project Guthenburg) which I enjoyed - but didn't feel compelled to read any of the sequels. I'd wager that very few people would be aware of John Carter or the Barsoom series of stories.

After having seen the trailer, I personally wouldn't be rushing to see this in the cinema.

paddy kerins

Reaction to it so far has been positive

Mickeroo

paddy kerins wrote: »

Reaction to it so far has been positive

Yea heard that alright, hell I can handle it bombing if it still turns out to be a good movie!

It's a shame so many people are writing this off, every article written about the film over the past month has discussed the budget and how the film is set to be the biggest bomb of all time. They all ignore the fact that every review do far has been largely positive, the only negative has been that the action scenes aren't long enough or as plentiful as people would like.

Every article about the film bombing is going to convince more and more people to stay away as they assume the film is terrible. It happened with Waterworld, months of talk about how much of a failure it would be and after viewing it one of the major critics was surprised that "it didn't suck".

Kinski

Deleted User wrote: »

Every article about the film bombing is going to convince more and more people to stay away as they assume the film is terrible. It happened with Waterworld, months of talk about how much of a failure it would be and after viewing it one of the major critics was surprised that "it didn't suck".

Could work the other way too...people may turn out to see "the biggest bomb in movie history." I may go just to see that butt-faced monster.

Mickeroo

Kinski wrote: »

Could work the other way too...people may turn out to see "the biggest bomb in movie history." I may go just to see that butt-faced monster.

If they get the film right you won't refer to Woola in such a derogatory fashion again :P

Sad Professor

Deleted User wrote: »

Every article about the film bombing is going to convince more and more people to stay away as they assume the film is terrible. It happened with Waterworld, months of talk about how much of a failure it would be and after viewing it one of the major critics was surprised that "it didn't suck".

Well I think that was probably intended as faint praise, similar to the comments many Star Wars fans made after seeing TPM. Waterworld was not a good movie, although it's hard not to be nostalgic about it after sitting through such dreck as the latest Transformers.

Based on the recent clips, John Carter does indeed look good, but that won't necessarily stop it from flopping. Disney couldn't make the film look less interesting if they tried. The marketing is lousy and gives the impression that the film has no story. I think good reviews leading to good word of mouth is the only thing that's going to save it.

Sad Professor

Sad Professor wrote: »

Well I think that was probably intended as faint praise, similar to the comments many Star Wars fans made after seeing TPM. Waterworld was not a good movie, although it's hard not to be nostalgic about it after sitting through such dreck as the latest Transformers.

Based on the recent clips, John Carter does indeed look good, but that won't necessarily stop it from flopping. Disney couldn't make the film look less interesting if they tried. The marketing is lousy and gives the impression that the film has no story. I think good reviews leading to good word of mouth is the only thing that's going to save it.

Waterworld isn't half bad at all, rewatched it on Blu a few months back and found it a far more enjoyable experience than I anticipated. It's stupid as hell, with more plot holes than you can keep track off but the action is well staged and there's some truly breathtaking cinematography.

John Carter looks really good and should based on the reviews thus far and what we've seen of it be a success. Sadly as mentioned the marketing has been woeful, when my girlfriend saw the standee in the cinema a few weeks back she thought that it was another of those dreadful Not Another spoofs. An easy mistake to make considering how they dropped the recognizable "of Mars" and the ridiculous expression on his face.

Simian!

The entire trailer reminded me of the rubbish arena/coliseum scenes from Attack of the Clones.

Sad Professor

That poster really does make it look like a spoof. The marketing needs to be playing up the fact that this is classic source material and had a major influence on Star Wars, Avatar, Flash Gordon, you name it. The fact that people are coming away with the impression that this is some sort of rip-off of those other films rather than the other way around really doesn't bode well for the box office.

johnny_ultimate

Must admit I'm rarely convinced by live action films that are almost entirely occupied by CGI characters. Looks like the kind of film I'd rather see animated TBH!

Zubeneschamali

Sticky Romance wrote: »

The entire trailer reminded me of the rubbish arena/coliseum scenes from Attack of the Clones.

The entire rubbish arena scene in Attack of the Clones reminded me of John Carter.

quickbeam

I hope it does well. It looks good, and seems to be generating good buzz.

constitutionus

ive a feeling this'll bomb but not due to anything in the film.

it just doesnt seem to have gripped people.

ill be going along though as i like these kinda affairs. im not au fait with the lore behind john carter though i did hear of the name "john carter of mars" before.

kinda confused as to why they didnt go with the full title.

i mean its obscure enough as it is.

paddy kerins

constitutionus wrote: »

ive a feeling this'll bomb but not due to anything in the film.

it just doesnt seem to have gripped people.

ill be going along though as i like these kinda affairs. im not au fait with the lore behind john carter though i did hear of the name "john carter of mars" before.

kinda confused as to why they didnt go with the full title.

i mean its obscure enough as it is.

I think they thought it was a little too Sci-Fi for the general audience

Sad Professor

A lot of films about Mars or with Mars in the title have flopped. The Red Planet, Mission to Mars, Ghosts of Mars and more recently Mars Needs Moms. Of course, the reason for this probably had more to do with the fact that those films sucked, but this is Hollywood we're talking about. Mars is basically considered box office poison. If this flops as well then that's pretty much the end of films about Mars for the next 20-30 years.

Mickeroo

Must say the reviews are looking very positive for this so far. Maybe the curse of mars movies might be broken? Who knows, if this doesn't bomb someone might try make another Don Quixote movie :P

FlashD

That a terrible title for a film........ 'John Carter'.

Can't say myself I have ever heard of the character.

krudler

Sad Professor wrote: »

A lot of films about Mars or with Mars in the title have flopped. The Red Planet, Mission to Mars, Ghosts of Mars and more recently Mars Needs Moms. Of course, the reason for this probably had more to do with the fact that those films sucked, but this is Hollywood we're talking about. Mars is basically considered box office poison. If this flops as well then that's pretty much the end of films about Mars for the next 20-30 years.

All had Mars in the title, Total Recall: set on Mars, not in title, huge hit, you might be onto something...

Kinski

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Must admit I'm rarely convinced by live action films that are almost entirely occupied by CGI characters. Looks like the kind of film I'd rather see animated TBH!

I'd usually agree with you on that, but I think the CGI looks pretty good in this one.

Is this actually being billed as a Pixar movie? Any poster/trailer I've seen has it listed as just Disney, rather than Disney Pixar.

Mickeroo

Deleted User wrote: »

Is this actually being billed as a Pixar movie? Any poster/trailer I've seen has it listed as just Disney, rather than Disney Pixar.

Nah its not a pixar film, there's just a lot of pixar heads involved in it i think.

al28283

awesome movie with decent characters, not too different from the book. I recommend it

Mickeroo

al28283 wrote: »

awesome movie with decent characters, not too different from the book. I recommend it

How have you seen it already? Preview screening or what? Jealous.

al28283

Mickeroo wrote: »

How have you seen it already? Preview screening or what? Jealous.

it's a work thingy, I saw it a while ago before it was finished. Worth seeing in 3d

WatchWolf

It looks like ****e, but got a 5/5 from Movies.ie. Must check it out.

Sad Professor

I'm seeing a lot of lukewarm reviews.

faceman

I still don't get the attraction here. I'd never heard of John Carter until the trailer was released.

Zubeneschamali

faceman wrote: »

I still don't get the attraction here. I'd never heard of John Carter until the trailer was released.

How about Carson of Venus?

Pellucidar?

The Land That Time Forgot?

You've at least heard of Tarzan, right?

constitutionus

well from what i can see its....

.."tarzan innnn spaaaaaacccce ! "



TBH its the only thing piquing im interest this week and dont really expect much from it so ill be going along with that attitude.

probably means ill enjoy it immensly.

Zubeneschamali

constitutionus wrote: »

.."tarzan innnn spaaaaaacccce ! "

Other way around: Tarzan is John Carter in The Jungle Book.