John Carter (film)

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

John Carter
A man walks in front of an alien population with a silhouetted celestial body shaped in the sky: all bathed in a red-orange hue
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAndrew Stanton
Screenplay by
Based onA Princess of Mars
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyDan Mindel
Edited byEric Zumbrunnen
Music byMichael Giacchino
Production
company
Distributed byWalt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures[2]
Release dates
  • February 22, 2012 (2012-02-22) (Los Angeles)
  • March 9, 2012 (2012-03-09) (United States)
Running time
132 minutes[3]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget
  • $306.6 million (gross)
  • $263.7 million (net)
Box office$284.1 million

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

Several attempts to adapt the Barsoom series had been made since the 1930s by various major studios and producers. Most of these efforts ultimately stalled in development hell. In the late-2000s, Walt Disney Pictures began a concerted effort to adapt Burroughs' works to film, after an abandoned venture in the 1980s. The project was driven by Stanton, who had pressed Disney to renew the screen rights from the Burroughs estate. Stanton became the new film's director in 2009. It was his live-action debut, after his directorial work for Disney on the Pixar animated films Finding Nemo and WALL-E.[4][5] Filming began in November 2009, with principal photography underway in January 2010, wrapping seven months later in July.[6][7] Michael Giacchino, who scored many Pixar films, composed the music.[8] Like Pixar's Brave that same year, the film is dedicated to the memory of Steve Jobs.[9]

It was released in the United States by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures on March 9, 2012, marking the centennial of the titular character's first appearance. It was presented in Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D and IMAX 3D formats.[10][11][12] John Carter received mixed reviews, with praise for its visuals, Giacchino's score, and the action sequences, but criticism of the characterization and plot. It failed at the North American box office, but set an opening-day record in Russia.[13] It grossed $284 million at the worldwide box office, resulting in a $200 million writedown for Disney, becoming one of the biggest box office bombs in history and also becoming the film with the largest estimated box-office loss adjusted for inflation ever, losing $149–265 million. 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 its box office performance, Disney cancelled plans for Gods of Mars and Warlord of Mars, the rest of the trilogy Stanton had planned.[14][15] Much of the film's failure has been attributed to its promotion, which has been called "one of the worst marketing campaigns in movie history".[16][17][18]

  1. ^ "John Carter". American Film Institute. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference VarReview was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "John Carter". British Board of Film Classification. February 15, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 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. ^ "Disney wraps up Mars movie shooting in Utah". Standard-Examiner. August 2, 2010. Archived from the original on April 2, 2012. 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. ^ Buchanan, Kyle (February 28, 2012). "John Carter Dedicated to Steve Jobs". New York. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Deadline was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "First Teaser Poster for Disney's 'John Carter' is Dark But Not Thrilling". FirstShowing.net. June 15, 2011. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  12. ^ McClintock, Pamela (January 19, 2011). "'John Carter of Mars,' 'Frankenweenie' Release Dates Changed". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
  13. ^ "'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.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference gods was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference warlord was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Güimil, Eva (March 11, 2022). "A decade on, Disney's 'John Carter' is still remembered for one of the worst marketing campaigns in movie history". El País. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  17. ^ Brodesser–Akner, Claude (March 12, 2012). "The Inside Story of How John Carter Was Doomed by Its First Trailer". Vulture.com. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
  18. ^ Cavna, Michael (March 19, 2012). "The Rant: 'John Carter's' Massive Fallout: Who's to blame for Disney's '$200-million' bomb?". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 20, 2022. 'John Carter' may go down as one of Hollywood's biggest movie flops ever. But it should rightly go down as one of the town's biggest marketing flops ever.