It was to be directed by Andrew Stanton, who had been associated with a string of successful Pixar Animation Studios films — starting with the 1995 hit Toy Story. The source material was a century-old sci-fi touchstone that had inspired filmmakers including George Lucas and James Cameron. The movie would fit perfectly into Disney Chairman and Chief Executive Robert A. Iger’s big-picture plan to produce movies that would spawn sequels, become theme park attractions and drive sales of John Carter merchandise.
Instead, with a weak opening this past weekend, Wall Street analysts expect the company to take a $165-million loss on a movie that has joined Heaven’s Gate, Ishtar and Howard the Duck in the constellation of Hollywood’s costliest flops.
What happened?
- The acclaimed director had never made a live-action movie before.
- The executives guiding and helping market his movie were new on the job and had limited experience running movie divisions.
- The marketing team switched midway through production.
- The source material, written over a century ago by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, had already been so picked over by its admirers that critics and audiences found the film hackneyed and stale.
- The action plays out on Mars, a planet that contemporary audiences know is barren and uninhabited.
- “You’re not able to sell that,” commented an industry insider on the challenge for the movie's marketers.
- Posters that at one point had been adorned with a mysterious figure under the letters “JC” were replaced by ads that featured a shirtless man fleeing giant white apes and left prospective moviegoers scratching their heads.
- Audiences have been confused. Marketing strategist Peter Sealey said: “What the hell is John Carter? What’s the film about? I don’t know who John Carter is. You’ve got to make that clear.”
Edited from popmatters.com: 14/3/12
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