'John Carter of Mars'

[Executioner]

They finally made a trailer that said Before there was Star Wars, and before there was Avatar, there was John Carter. Thank you Disney for starting to educate the public a bit (late in the game) about John Carter.

[Ezra]

I never made this connection, but our friend Cory Gross (Cory the Raven) points out that the old Disneyland tv show Mars and Beyond showcases the Barsoomian Dictionary from the John Carter stories.

Disney's Original John Carter

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Also, there's a 10 minute clip from an early ("Civil War") part of the movie online. There's also a nice Time Warner interview with Andrew Stanton

[Ezra]

I just saw the midnight showing (IMAX 3-D). WoW! This movie is amazing. The lackluster trailers don't do this film justice. It's completely unique.

The lackluster trailers don't do this film justice. I'm not sure if they were trying to be secretive about the movie, because it's really surprising; or if the marketers just didn't understand what they were selling. I feel that if they showed us just a little more of the steampunk-meets-Indiana-Jones asthetic in the trailers they would have sparked some more interest.

Don't expect this to be an overly high-brow affair, though. It's a popcorn movie. But it's a really good one.

But, no matter. Word of mouth is going to give this movie some long legs.

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I tell you though, the reviewers have sharpened their knives. They're using puns like "monsterous dissapointment" and "lifelessness on Mars". Don't believe it for a minute!

[Tom Morrow]

Disney expects $200M loss for ‘John Carter’ this quarter

Disney expects $200M loss for ‘John Carter’ Deadline Hollywood Disney just released this statement about John Carter: “In light of the theatrical performance of John Carter ($184 million global box office), we expect the film to generate an operating loss of approximately $200 million during our second fiscal quarter ending March 31. As a result, our current expectation is that the Studio segment will have an operating loss of between $80 and $120 million for the second quarter. As we look forward to the second half of the year, we are excited about the upcoming releases of The Avengers and Brave, which we believe have tremendous potential to drive value for the Studio and the rest of the company.” by Nikki Finke complete article

Submitted by Ezra

[Ezra]

Disney expects $200M loss for ‘John Carter’

I chose this piece over several others Tom Morrow offered because it was the briefest. Others said things like "John Carter is officially a flop". The quarter ends only three weeks into John Carter's run, so a quarterly write-down doesn't mean disaster. If word-of-mouth carries this film forward, the brunt of it's take will happen after the quarter ends.

[Tom Morrow]

Analysts unshaken by ‘John Carter’ write down

Disney analysts remain unshaken by ‘John Carter’ $200M write down Deadline New York The early responses show that Disney watchers are miffed by the studio unit’s debacle with John Carter, but not enough to change their overall opinion of the company as one of their darlings. Here are some of the initial reactions. After the analyst’s name and affiliation, I’ve noted the person’s stock recommendation, any change in his or her earnings-per-share forecast for the fiscal year that ends in September, and key comments: continue by David Lieberman complete article

Submitted by Ezra

[Ezra]

Michael Cavna posted a rant at The Washington Post linsting three things that went wrong with the marketing of John Carter. It's exactly what I've been saying...

The RANT: John Carter ’s massive fallout:
Who’s to blame for Disney’s ‘$200-million’ bomb?

[Ezra]

The media was so blatently biased against John Carter. They've been talking about the enormous write-down from the first weekend, and comparing it to Ishtar. Did they do that on other films? No. This is the first I've heard about Hugo taking a loss...

How Hugo's massive losses are straining producer's partnerships

...from the upcoming May 4th edition of Hollywood Reporter.

Why weren't we hearing about it before now? Because it was Martin Scorsese, that's why. But when it's an animator breaking into live-action, the long knives come out quick! I really think this is the same thing Walt Disney dealt with in his early career; the attiude that a lowly upstart cartoonist is daring to encroach on our sacred territory! Yes, the marketing was terrible, but the press was even worse. And I think the real motive is base snobbery.

[lpetiti]

Totally. No matter how many times an animated film gets nominated for Best Picture, no matter how advanced the industry gets, it's still looked on as a step-child of Hollywood. As someone hoping to enter the industry very soon, this kind of snobbery always makes me mad.

[Tom Morrow]

Andrew Stanton looks back on John Carter

Director Andrew Stanton looks back on John Carter's rocky path Ultimately, he's proud of John Carter. Los Angeles Times The Pixar veteran reflects on the tough journey to and from his Mars-themed film, which bombed in theaters, and says ultimately, he's proud of 'John Carter'. Now, as he processes the experience, he's still a bit bewildered by John Carter's "Ishtar"-like reception. He concedes he was taken aback by the creative and cultural leap between animation and live action. And rather than blame the studio, he says he's actually surprised by how much freedom he was granted. "I was left alone from Day One to the last day," he said in an interview last week, his first since the film's troubled release. His experience illustrates, among other things, the risks of making movies that are too big to fail, and how the fallout travels in many directions. Early on, he said he requested that multiple reshoots be built into the production schedule. Disney granted that request, but a perceptual difference emerged. In Emeryville, reshoots are synonymous with improvement; in Hollywood, they're synonymous with screw-ups. The film was beginning to generate scorn. "There was this weird air the summer before of schadenfreude, of doomed to fail," he recalled. "It isn't a nice atmosphere to be in, but what can you do about it?" "At Pixar, it's safe to fail," said Pirar's Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter. "No one's gonna judge you. We'll keep tweaking that story to the very end." Lasseter, who has a deep affection for Stanton, said he was flummoxed by the ill will the film seemed to engender. continue by Rebecca Keegan complete article

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Submitted by Ezra

[Executioner]

I actually liked this movie and thought it was entertaining. He did a good job at it. If he won't blame the studio, then I will. Disney flat out did nothing till the last second to try and promote this movie or even promote it the right way. Disney handed all this control over but didn't care enough to think about the marketing for it? That was a lot of money to invest in and loose on over junky marketing. Disney gets the blame.

[Ezra]

Mark Mayerson posted a great review of a new book John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood by Michael D. Sellers, which outlines why Disney was willing to take a dump on this movie just because there were a couple of executive shake-ups in the studio at the time.