Joshua Tyler | Published
In Disney’s long and celebratory history, the company has been extremely successful, including the history-making Marvel Cinematic Universe and the entire 90’s animation output. Recently, they suffer from a series of mistakes that have been ridden by critics and ignored by film fans. Still, Disney hasn’t put the 2012 box office dysfunction yet when the studio released a big-budget sci-fi adventure film John Carter.
At release, John Carter It held the questionable distinction that it was the least profitable Disney film ever made. While recent films like Snow White may soon challenge that record, John Carter was a pioneer in epic failure.
A swaying sci-fi adventure based on the classic Edgar Rice Burrows novel, John Carter It should have been a huge success, but there was no chance. This is why John Carter failed.
The World of Barsoom
John Carter It’s about a disillusioned civil war veteran who was mysteriously carried to Mars. Or, when the inhabitants of the planet call it, Barsoom.
In Barsoom, Carter discovers that he has superhuman agility and strength thanks to the reduced gravity of the planet and the thin atmosphere. He is soon caught up in conflicts between various Martian races, including the humanoid Red Martian, the wild green Martian, and the godlike turn.
Along the way, Carter meets Deja Tris, the princess of the city of Helium, and collapses. He works with her to save her people from their rivals. It’s just an easy, old-fashioned hero. Most of the time, the film pulls it apart.
John Carter was supposed to be the princess of Mars.
Whether the John Carter movie pulled it apart was not an issue in the end, as no one bought tickets to see it. John Carter From the moment the word “John Carter” was added to the film’s poster, it was destined to fail.
Originally, Disney was going to go with a much better, more descriptive title John Carter of Marshowever, they dropped “of Mars” early in the production process, using only the very common names of the film’s main character.
The film’s base on Edgar Rice Burrows novel was over 100 years old by the time John Carter was released.
Disney barely mentioned the origins of the story, and did not really unfold the fact that it was based on classics at all.
So when Disney began to promote their big budget hits, no one knew who John Carter was or what. And it’s hard to imagine a film title that’s more boring and less slipped than “John Carter.”
And that doesn’t seem to be the case with no other titles available.
The first book in the Burrows series is called Princess of Marsand it’s a kind of exciting and interesting title that will sell some tickets. Especially considering the connections of potential Disney princesses.
Instead, they went with the most common and common names imaginable and expected to intrigue people.
It may have been intentional to drop all possible connections to the book.
For John Carter’s film, Disney has made a clear effort to lower the book’s highly R-rated content and make it family friendly. They probably don’t want the original from their parents, and think their film version may not be for kids.
If you read a book written by Edgar Rice Burrows about John Carter in 1912, what you find is very different to the films made by Disney.
Burrows’ books are violent and sexy.
They’re more like the sci-fi version of Conan, the Wild Man, than what you would expect from a Pixar top director.
All you really need to know is that most of the time in the book, everyone is completely naked.
There’s a reason for this, and it’s actually a pivotal plot point, so it’s barely hidden.
The avatar is PG-13 John Carter
Avatar‘borrows’ most of that plot from John Carter Books of Edgar Rice Burrows, solved some of this nude problem, turning that slightly dressed warrior character into a blue CGI alien. For some reason, it’s more culturally acceptable, but in my advantage, the reason is not at all clear.
But since Disney hasn’t made such a film, instead of going to the middle ground of the hard PG-13 that Cameron found, they tried to narrow down to the soft PG-13 family-friendly format.
And that didn’t work. No one took the kids to see it. Ticket sales data facts revealed that most people who purchased tickets are over 25 years old.
Maybe they should have told people that John Carter was Andrew Stanton’s first live-action film, and the two before that. Wall-e and Find NEMOan Oscar winner and beloved instant classic.
But Disney did little about these achievements.
Disney wasn’t going to make the gritty, acclaimed film that the book authors might have wanted, so they weren’t planning on promoting Andrew Stanton, so they could have performed the other strengths of the script they had during the promotion instead. They didn’t do that either.
In both books and films, John Carter Yes, it’s an adventure story, but it’s built around the romance between a princess and a commoner. But Disney never bothered me to say that there might be a kiss to a potential audience.
More Reasons to Debate Avatars
Avatar It was a huge hit at this same time, and part of the reason Avatar Such success means it appealed to women more than it appealed to men. And again, the avatar stole a lot John CarterThere are many of the same beats as the plot of.
AvatarThe trailer for this was not shy about playing the romance angle. We created Cameron’s film as a story of forbidden love.
John CarterThe film behaves as if the film was built primarily to create good looking photos in a lunch box for little boys.
They have little romance, but even worse, most of Dejah Thoris, the film’s powerful, take-charging lead female character, is rare.
Dejah Thoris is a warrior scientist and undoubtedly the most important character in the film.
Young girls would do well to respect characters like Dejah Thoris, but because of the film’s marketing, those girls probably wouldn’t have realized that she was a key part of the story.
Mars’ confusion
John Carter It will be opened with a retool version of the Disney logo, bathing in red to honor the film’s Mars location.
That logo is the setting that looks like the last distant alien you’ll see in the film. This is because it is set in a barren desert that was as easy to make as it was in Utah.
That’s a problem because it’s hard to really feel the strange feeling that the film is trying to convey to some extent while watching the movie trailer and actually watching the movie.
The issue is carried over to the alien species that John Carter also encounters.
The Tharks looks completely alien and, as a result, is definitely the best part of the film.
But Deja Tris and her people described Edgar Rice Burrows as the “red” people on Mars, appearing primarily like humans wearing bundles of spray tongues, and then everything got a bad tattoo.
No matter how Disney sells it, or you see it in a small snippet, this is all too familiar to you.
Perhaps that’s why Disney’s marketing team insisted on wasting almost everything their marketing by avoiding putting on the front and center of Deja Triz, who looks like a very humble human, instead showing off a contextually minor battle between John Carter and the Giant, the White Apes of Balsaumians.
However, the film set on an alien planet should also look a bit more. It should feel exciting, like the new thing you have to go see. I want to explore like the place I want to be. The world of John Carterfor all its charm, you never feel exciting and new.
It may be possible to tell this story in a way that actually makes people see it, but the Disney team didn’t find it.
John Carter crashes
John Carter It was a massive Disney investment, costing over $260 million in 2012.
Over $100 million has been spent on the film’s horrifying marketing campaign.
John Carter Behind the animated film that opened in No. 2 and actually all succeeded Rolaxin the second week of release.
Things got worse from there.
Analysts estimate Disney lost up to $250 million in the film.
And it wasn’t a critic’s hit.
The reviews are slimy and Roger Evert, the world’s biggest Spawn Fans tried to find something positive in it. He, like most critics, gave him a mediocre mid-level star rating.
During the flop process, John Carter Tanked the career of actor Taylor Kitsch. Taylor Kitsch was considered hot-up and commer at the time.
John Carter It wasn’t the only science fiction disaster, and not the biggest.
A year ago, Cowboys and Aliens.
But that was the case John CarterA historic collapse that changed the trajectory of Hollywood science fiction films.
Over the next few years, we began to become darker and more rough sci-fi.
The days of throwing large budgets with experimental, bright adventure scripts are over, showing no signs of coming back.
But that doesn’t mean that John Carter isn’t worth your time. For all the flaws, Andrew Stanton’s films are so much fun, and Willem Dafoe’s work is so much fun, as Tar Tarcus is worth the admission fee.
And Burrows’ book is still groundbreaking and wonderful. They are part Conan of the Wild People And part Lost in space. Maybe one day a better company will find a way to do justice to them.
