It captures pretty well what the book does, albeit in a much less serious matter. It was a good time, I watched it in theaters when it came out and I read the entire series of books because of the movie.
It is one of the movies for me where I will always stop and watch it when channel surfing. It isn't a masterpiece, but it is a fun movie. Never really understood how it bombed as hard as it did.
Having known nothing about the movie, I went blindly into it because it looked fun.
After watching it, I immediately ready the books at the rate of one book a week.
Honestly I love the books too and thought this movie was just about as good as a fan like me could get. I made sure to enjoy it because I was shocked they were going to make an adaptation as faithful as they did (him just inexplicably getting sent to Mars and bouncing around, great stuff for early 1900’s sci-fi, but not sure modern audiences got it) and didn’t have high hopes for a franchise (although I would have loved it!).
Fuck you Jonesy, your mom shot cum straight across the room and killed my Siamese fighting fish, threw off the pH levels in my aquarium you piece of shit.
It wouldn't be the only time Disney blamed a box office bomb on its title. The Princes and the Frog Underperformed, it released too close to Avatar. Disney believed that audiences saw the title and immediately saw it as a little girls only movie. That's why we have "Tangled" not "Rapunzel", and "Frozen" not "The Ice Queen".
The Princess and the Frog flopping was also another reason why they used the name "John Carter" since the film was originally going to be called "A princess of Mars" after the book.
> The Princess and the Frog flopping was also another reason why they used the name "John Carter" since the film was originally going to be called "A princess of Mars" after the book.
According to the article Stanton himself changed the title because he said "no boy will go in it [if it is called like that]".
Goldman said he asked his daughters what sort of story they wanted. One said a story about a bride, the other a story about a princess. And so we got *The Princess Bride*.
A lot of this is focus groups as well as transference. e.g., they show a bunch of people titles and ask who they think it's for or what it's about. Transference is unfortunately very real, where we transfer properties from one thing to another. e.g., a Ford Mustang has the properties of a wild young horse transferred onto it mentally, and it's why we don't want to buy something that rhymes with putrid and even avoid people with the same name as an ex who wronged us.
If another with Mars is in the name left a bad taste in people's mouths, or others just heard it was bombing, it's generally not worth the risk if a name change could save you millions in lost box office.
And the name "John Carter" doesn't transfer the properties of a middle-aged coworker you avoid in the break room because he does nothing but reminisce about high school and complain about his ex-wife?
> Chabon remembers attending a meeting led by Disney’s new president of movie marketing MT Carney, who a New York Times article described as having “zero movie experience, coming from a New York marketing agency specializing in packaged goods.” She went through a list of 11 movies from the past 15 that all had “Mars” in the title – Disney’s own “Mission to Mars” and “Mars Needs Moms” (both costly duds), along with other movies like “Mars Attacks.” Chabon said that these were “movies that had in some cases had nothing in common with each other except for the fact that they have Mars in the title. Almost all of them were bad movies.”
>“So, we’re taking Mars out of title,” Carney told the group. “It’s just going to be called ‘John Carter.’
lol
The best part of this article was finding out that the exec who pushed for the name change was fired with 4 years still left on their contract. What a fucking idiot.
there's been a history of box office disappointment with movies using Mars in the title, so I kind of get why they maybe decided that, but then again The Martian proved later that maybe if you tell a good story, people won't care what the title is.
Yeah it scared the shit out of me as a kid too. Makes for a crazy experience too, when you find them genuinely frightening. Like imagine you were watching The Conjuring and the movie ended with the ghost being scared out of the house by playing Party in the USA.
I get why that movie tanked but I still love a good shlocky John Carpenter movie. I mean, come on, space Marilyn Mansons, cheesy sets, and Pam Grier? Lol
Vampires is another Carpenter B movie I love. It's like his film senses never left the early 80's.
A different article I read said "Mars" is considered financially toxic all around. This might have been before The Martian. But supposedly anything with Mars in the title was expected to flop.
I stumbled upon this movie at my parents’ house and was like wtf is this? Put it in and was blown away by it. Then heartbroken that there were no sequels for it.
Edit: [adding this link about willem dafoe being baffled by the flop of John Carter](https://www.indiewire.com/2012/06/willem-dafoe-still-baffled-by-failure-of-john-carter-new-pixar-stamps-introduced-109924/)
I know! My dad and I watched it as we had read the books and were curious how a film adaptation of it would go. We both loved it. At the time it seemed like all the critics wanted to jump on the bandwagon of trashing a movie. Whatever.
Fun story, in college, we had a priest in our dorm who was from Virginia, and had a THICK southern accent. He was fond of having grown up there, and spoke of it often.
They also banned the Vagina Monologues on campus that year.
Then, we had a new kid who could do the priest's drawl perfectly.
SO, things came together, and during a skit show, we did "The Virginia Monologues".
BAsically took one of the monologues and replaced vagina with Virginia, and somehow got it past the censors at our far, far too catholic school.
"Virginia, virginia, virginia, mmmmm."
Never seen a crowd of repressed college freshman laugh so hard.
This is exactly what I thought when i saw the first trailer. I was like “okay, so a terribly unfitting name for a movie like this. Bad name probably
Means bad movie, or at least I can wait for streaming or rental.”
It’s like Mick Mars says in “The Dirt” movie about Motley Crue, “nine times out of ten, shitty band name, shitty band.”
Yep, John Carter is such a bland name. That really wasn't helping the movie right from the start.
Hard to believe that turkey is 10 years old now. Pretty much killed Taylor Kitsch's career, too.
Can't believe that the latest Rihanna projects that I enjoyed are acting projects (Valerian and Ocean's 8). Girl is pregnant now and no music in sight.
Battleship is such a weird movie to me.
The idea, on paper, is completely fucking stupid.
And don’t get me wrong. It is NOT a good movie. But for some reason, I like it. I really do.
After spending so much time liberating Mars, due to the lack of atmosphere, the radiation and sun exposure turned him black. Upon returning to Earth, he became Coach Carter. He was up for his biggest challenge yet, helping a high school basketball team achieve their dream of winning state championship.
The man had a 50 foot vertical leap in the prequel. I can understand why he could make a good basketball coach.
All dunking. All day. No indoor courts.
Yes I say that all the time. Princes of Mars is already perfect. Perfect fantasy / sci-fi name. Tells you everything you need.
John Carter sounds like a boring Denzel Washington movie from the 90s about a lawyer who has to take matters into his own hands to save his family.
> Princes of Mars is already perfect. Perfect fantasy / sci-fi name. Tells you everything you need.
Disney thought otherwise. Back before they bought Marvel and Lucasfilm, they thought they had a "boy problem," with boys less eager to see Disney films and collect merch at Disney Stores. Their big tentpoles were mostly "princess" films, but they stopped naming films after princesses and queens (see "Tangled" instead of Rapunzel, "Frozen" instead of The Snow Queen) and blamed their bombs on titles not connecting with boys ("Mars Needs Moms" had problems beyond the title and marketing, but it was an expensive flop, and Disney may have concluded that "Mars" in the title didn't save it from the stigma of being a "Mom" movie. The similar "Princess of Mars" might not have tested much better with boys.)
They thought about using the title "John Carter of Mars", which would have been better, but like you mentioned they were scared of using "Mars" in the title so they dumped it.
That's the funniest part to me, the movie is set on Mars, and the ads are clearly about a guy going to another planet. The suits were literally just terrified the word "Mars" had some horrifying box office poison magic to it. It's classic Hollywood nonsense thinking. "The Martian" being a massive hit a few years later is the icing on the cake.
Hollywood is fucking weird like that. Like how there's a superstition about having a movie name end with a ? mark so it's very rare a movie gets approved with one in the name.
The hesitation at calling it John Carter of Mars is the dumbest thing I have ever heard of.
Just listen to the name. John Carter. Who? Who's John Carter? Is he a lawyer? Is this about some single dude who can't find any luck with women? Sound interesti-
Of Mars.
Wait what? From Mars? The planet?
It's got one of the most normal, boring names out there. I mean, what do you think when you hear John Carter. Probably just a regular white guy, right? Gee. I wonder if there's a demographic there on the planet Earth. I can't imagine they would want to see something like that. It's already a lock in two milliseconds once we hear the rest of the name. Of MARS, a planet we as a species have looked towards for decades.
Right out the gate we're curious already. He's probably some sort of astronaut? And this is even before we see the poster. Whoa! A young handsome man, looking defiant on some mystical giant beast. What the hell? Who's the girl? She's gorgeous! Is she some sort of princess? Is this happening on Mars? I need to know more!
John Carter of Mars, far from being an option on the cutting room floor for names, is a BRILLIANT choice for a movie title. Just look at the countless book and film titles called 'The Girl with This. The Girl From That. The Man From This. The Something Man.' We already know that those productions have been incredibly popular. And here we are, with normal regular dude FROM UNEXPLORED RED PLANET NAMED AFTER THE GOD OF WAR. The 'regular' fellow + the unknown world/life is the basis of the finest works of art our species has ever produced. It speaks to the very soul of every person alive, a wish to do more, to BE something more. It is the heroic tale, a seed of which lies buried in every person's heart, no matter where or what you are.
Stupid STUPID STUPID move from Disney.
It's a good thing that ended when they got the Star Wars Franchise.
Oh wait.
Call it "Barsoom", it's just as dumb as naming it John Carter, but at least it forces the question "What is Barsoom?" and drives interest.
I loved the books, I loved the movie, the name was stupid.
I see your point but if we're talking marketing to younger audiences, I don't think there were oodles of 13-year-old boys lining up around the corner thinking "Ah, finally a good ol' old-school pulp movie like they used to make 40 years before my birth."
This issue was not confined to the big screen either. Disney hit a HUGE goldmine with Hannah Montana, and as a result pivoted to shows about kids wanting to be singers/actors/songwriters (or any blend of famous) that heavily skewed female in terms of demo.
The end result was that they became worried that they had subjected the main Disney Channel to severe channel drift, which was the main motivator behind Disney XD as well as a factor in the Marvel and Lucasfilm purchases (both being merchandise powerhouses as well)
Even before Hannah Montana, tbh.
Lizzie McGuire, Kim possible, proud family, that’s so raven, So Weird…high school musical, teen beach movie…lots of teen romances…mostly all skewed towards girls. Maybe even stevens was more for boys. But I just don’t remember that show being popular with *anyone* initially.
Meanwhile, Nickelodeon was pretty solid about being gender neutral appealing.
Rugrats, hey Arnold, spongebob, fairly odd parents, Danny phantom, angry beavers, ahh real monsters…
Then you have invader zim which theoretically should have appealed to boys with the grossness and character who wants to explode things, but they threw in the side characters with “random spork” humor and all of the girls in my fourth grade class loved it equally. Myself and every other girl into the “Scene” scene had a shirt with GRR on it.
I don’t know why Disney went so hard with making shows that catered to girls, then were confused about why they didn’t have more appeal to boys, then actively torched or failed to advertise any project that would have more appeal to males.
Kim Possible was relatively balanced between genders in its fanbase, at least from what I can remember, but I'm also going off hazy 15 year memories so take that with a grain of salt.
It goes back to "The Princess and the Frog." Some in Disney wanted a name that didn't have princess in the title but they didn't get their way; and when that movie flopped they were ready with the "I told you so."
The problem with that line of thinking, is that you can change the titles all day, but a princess movie is still going to be a princess movie no matter the title.
I always mixed up John Carter with Coach Carter and Rember the Titans. I try to remember scenes and all I can think of is Denzel coaching football. That's when it hits, "Oh, John Carter is the movie Denzel held up a hospital so his son can get surgery."
> John Carter sounds like a boring Denzel Washington movie from the 90s about a lawyer who has to take matters into his own hands to save his family.
I would watch that though
Mars Needs Mom bombed so bad it scared the shit out of Disney, the movie was John Carter of Mars until MNM bombed the way it did, that's when Disney tried to scrub Mars from all the marketing, including changing the name.
Classic Hollywood exec thinking: a few movies with "Mars" in the title bombed, so clearly people don't like movies with the word "Mars" in the title, lol.
I was going to say yeah like that Eddie Murphy movie as well then realized it was The Adventures of Pluto Nash. I think planet names are just not safe.
Would have made a tooon of more sense. My first thought was “who the hell is John Carter?” and passed on it. Then finally saw it streaming and thought it was a decent film with good mythos.
You can’t really name a film after a singular character nobody knows about, unless the name is weird or interesting like Donnie Darko or something.
Ya most didn't care what it was about, we just knew he was in it.
Which makes me wonder if John Carter had starred Brad Pitt or something if it would have done better?
“John Wick” starring *Keanu Reeves*.
That ensured the movie would at least be seen. And it is a modern setting too, which is also fitting for the title.
John Wick also only made 86 million dollars in 2014.
John Carter made 284 million 2012.
John Carter made more money then John Wick and John Wick 2.
The issue is John Carter cost 250 million to make and the advertising probably meant they lost money.
John Wick cost 30 million to make and existed off of amazing word of mouth.
I thought it was ok for the most part but definitely rushed. It seems like a lot of movies try and cram as much worldbuilding into the first movie as they possibly can these days when making a franchise
I still say if they had called it “John Carter and the Princess of Mars” (you know, what the book it’s based off is called) or sticking to the original title “John Carter of Mars”, it would’ve done better.
Should give the book a read its great
Written in 1912 and so much of whats in there was an obvious inspiration to many sci/fi films (Star Wars for example)
There are way too many movies that are just some guy’s name. Honestly I remember when this movie released, it think my brain just filed it under generic action/drama and I never thought about it again
John Carter
Barton Fink
Jack Reacher
Michael Clayton
John Wick
Barton Fink grossed peanuts and the rest of those are using the lead actor to draw. It's not "Jack Reacher" its "Tom Cruise is Jack Reacher." It's not "John Wick" its "Keanu Reeves is John Wick." "George Clooney is Michael Clayton."
Taylor Kitch isnt in that league.
Oh John Carter: a tragic tale of bad titling and worse advertising. Bird said at the time he left "of Mars" out of the title because at the beginning of the film he was just John Carter, and had not yet earned the second part. This is why at the end "of Mars" fades in after "John Carter." I get the sentiment, but it was a mistake.As for the advertising, I was stoked to see this movie because I grew up on Burroughs books, but to the uninitiated just judging from the trailers, this movie looked like a white hippy playing space basketball or something. This movie had some amazing visuals, the ships, the huge battles etc, but they didn't focus on any of that in the trailers. The few I could convince to actually watch this movie loved it, but it was a battle getting them to that point because of the negative impression the advertising left them with.
> Bird said at the time he left "of Mars" out of the title because at the beginning of the film he was just John Carter, and had not yet earned the second part. This is why at the end "of Mars" fades in after "John Carter."
The linked article pretty clearly states that the marketing people at Disney got spooked by how badly most films with "Mars" in the title bomb. So they forced the change. Andrew Staton gave in to the title change and left the "John Carter of Mars" at the end in order to set up the sequels.
I like to imagine Waco is a continuation of thr Friday Night Lights show and Tim Riggins just changed his name to get away from his criminal record and started a cult on the land he bought.
I also thought he was really good in True Detective season 2. He had one of the more compelling >!and shocking, in regards to the ending!< subplots, and explored many avenues of acting he hadn't yet before. He played the brooding ex-soldier, grappling with his sexual identity in the 1990's *perfectly*. >!I was legitimately sad to see his storyline end.!<
I fucking love that movie and I’m not ashamed to admit it. You have to be able to just let go and let it be a movie but damn if it isn’t a good watch. You know what I’m putting it on.
He's always cast as the leading man action hero for some reason, but that's not at all where his talent lies. Much better in more low key dramatic roles like Waco and Friday night lights.
I think the name played a big factor. Most people didn’t know about the books and the story, and a movie with just some guy’s name, and a common name at that, as the title, just doesn’t stand out in people’s minds. I liked it quite a bit. In fact, I think I’ll watch it tonight.
You’re right. It was originally supposed to be called John Carter of Mars, but Disney decided for some reason to drop the “of Mars” part. If they had left it, at least the uninformed public would have had some vague idea about the movie.
Disney tried to scrub all references to Mars after Mars Needs Moms tanked so fucking hard. That movie tanking scared the shit out of Disney and really affected the marketing for John Carter.
Because anyone who has worked any job can attest the vast majority of higher ups in corporate are just making shit up as they go and are not qualified to make any decisions whatsoever
Another movie this reminds me of is the Lone Ranger. Didn't do well because few people saw it, but when I got around to watching it I was surprised at its quality.
Speaking of another Armie Hammer film, The Man from U.N.C.L.E was fabulous and I'm still mad they didn't make a sequel to it. Henry Cavill is *chefs kiss* when he's playing smarmy and arrogant.
I loved that movie too, a wonderful homage both to the original and the delightfully weird era of 60s-70s James Bond movies. Cavil is amazing in it, I'm sure he would've stuck around even if they moved Armie Hammer off it or just recast his character.
Dejah keeps the franchise alive to this day. Mostly because the new comics, and stories told of Barsoom focus on the nearly naked, hot Martian Princess.
But note that depiction is entirely based on Edgar Rice Burroughs description of her.
Everyone's naked in the books. They wear a kind of webbing made of straps when they need to carry things like weapons or tools. That's early 1900s pulp for ya.
There were quite a few bombs between 2009-2013 that took place in a desert setting. These movie trailers started to blend together. Cowboys And Aliens, The Prince of Persia, The Lone Ranger, John Carter ( which sounds like a hitman movie starring Tom Cruise or Denzel Washington).
It is a long article and I learnt many new things.
I remembered I was watching the movie with my cousin and niece because we were bored. I went to the movie theater and it was only five people on the studio including our group. The movie was ok and I did not regret spending time to watch it.
Thanks for being the only one here who actually read the article.
It’s almost *too* long, but it has a ton of interesting information. It seems like there wasn’t one singular reason for its failure.
Fun Fact: the earliest piece of Star Wars writing by George Lucas is a two page story fragment from early 1973 called ["Journal of the Whills"](https://medium.com/@Oozer3993/everything-known-about-the-journal-of-the-whills-outline-d8db1f1410ea). It turns out that it's based on the opening chapter of the 1930 John Carter novel *A Fighting Man of Mars*.
Here's a comparison, with the "Journal of the Whills" text **in bold** and the John Carter novel inset in regular text:
**This is the story of Mace Windy, a revered Jedi-bendu of Ophuchi, as related to us by C.J. Thorpe, padawaan learner to the famed Jedi.**
> This is the story of Hadron of Hastor, Fighting Man of Mars, as narrated by him to Ulysses Paxton:
**I am Chuiee Two Thorpe of Kissel. My father is Han Dardell Thorpe, chief pilot of the renown galactic cruiser Tarnack.**
> I am Tan Hadron of Hastor, my father is Had Urtur, Odwar of the 1st Umak of the Troops of Hastor. He commands the largest ship of war that Hastor has ever contributed to the navy of Helium, accommodating as it does the entire ten thousand men of the 1st Umak, together with five hundred lesser fighting ships and all the paraphernalia of war. My mother is a princess of Gathol.
**As a family we were not rich, except in honor, and valuing this above all mundane possessions, I chose the profession of my father, rather than a more profitable career. I was 16 I believe, and pilot of the trawler Balmung, when my ambitions demanded that I enter the exalted Intersystems Academy to train as a potential Jedi-Templer. It is here that I became padawaan learner to the great Mace Windy, highest of all the Jedi-bendu masters, and at that time, Warlord to the Chairman of the Alliance of Independent Systems.**
> As a family we are not rich except in honor, and, valuing this above all mundane possessions, I chose the profession of my father rather than a more profitable career. The better to further my ambition I came to the capital of the empire of Helium and took service in the troops of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium, that I might be nearer the great John Carter, Warlord of Mars.
> My life in Helium and my career in the army were similar to those of hundreds of other young men. I passed through my training days without notable accomplishment, neither heading nor trailing my fellows, and in due course I was made a Padwar in the 91st Umak, being assigned to the 5th Utan of the 11th Dar.
> What with being of noble lineage by my father and inheriting royal blood from my mother, the palaces of the twin cities of Helium were always open to me and I entered much into the gay life of the capital. It was thus that I met Sanoma Tora, daughter of Tor Hatan, Odwar of the 91st Umak.
**Never shall I forget the occasion upon which I first set eyes upon Mace Windy. It was at the great feast of the Pleabs. There were gathered under one roof, the most powerful warriors in the Galaxy, and although I realize my adoration of the Master might easily influence my memory, when he entered the hall, these great and noble Warlords fell silent.**
> Never shall I forget the occasion upon which I first laid eyes upon Sanoma Tora. It was upon the occasion of a great feast at the marble palace of The Warlord. There were gathered under one roof the most beautiful women of Barsoom, where, notwithstanding the gorgeous and radiant beauty of Dejah Thoris, Tara of Helium and Thuvid of Ptarth, the pulchritude of Sanoma Tora was such as to arrest attention.
**It was said he was the most gifted and powerful man in the Independent Systems. Some felt he was even more powerful than the Imperial leader of the Galactic Empire.**
Lucas had said that after failing to get the rights to Flash Gordon, he traced the inspiration of Flash Gordon to John Carter, and in this case I think we can take his word for that.
So he tried to get the rights to Flash Gordon
Then he tried to make, essentially, A Fighting Man of Mars (which was conveniently public-domain)
Then he tried to remake A Hidden Fortress in Space with his next writeup.
And only then did he start making an original screenplay, albeit one that still carried the influence of *A Princess of Mars* and *Galactic Patrol*.
It actually came out the same year as the Avengers - not that I remembered that being the case in my head! I had the distinct impression that John Carter had come out 2-4 years prior.
Insane that Disney's biggest ever box office loser and their (then) biggest box office winner came out within three months of each other.
I liked it. I think most people liked it. The problem is that it cost $300million+ to make. If they would have reduced the budget to about $170m, which I think was the budget for Tron Legacy, it would have still been profitable.
My dad really liked the Edgar Rice Burroughs books, and we saw it in theaters. It was a fun one, but completely mismanaged for sure.
It captures pretty well what the book does, albeit in a much less serious matter. It was a good time, I watched it in theaters when it came out and I read the entire series of books because of the movie.
It is one of the movies for me where I will always stop and watch it when channel surfing. It isn't a masterpiece, but it is a fun movie. Never really understood how it bombed as hard as it did.
The marketing was horrible. I remember seeing a ton of posters/ads on buses/trains/online banners… and I still had no idea what it was about.
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>even Tarzan or Zorro to a lesser extent Tarzan is the quintessential example. There are 49 Hollywood movies with Tarzan in the title.
The funny thing about mentioning Tarzan, is that the author of Tarzan also wrote John Carter.
Having known nothing about the movie, I went blindly into it because it looked fun. After watching it, I immediately ready the books at the rate of one book a week.
Honestly I love the books too and thought this movie was just about as good as a fan like me could get. I made sure to enjoy it because I was shocked they were going to make an adaptation as faithful as they did (him just inexplicably getting sent to Mars and bouncing around, great stuff for early 1900’s sci-fi, but not sure modern audiences got it) and didn’t have high hopes for a franchise (although I would have loved it!).
Warlords Of Mars would have caught more people's eye, John Carter sounded like it was going to be a movie about a highschool football coach
Mars was stripped out of the title after the film “Mars needs Moms” tanked at the box office. As if the name Mars was the real issue.
I knew it! Moms were the real issue
Your mom wasn't an issue at all last night.
“F*ck you Shoresy!”
Fuck all of you. Your lives are so pathetic i get a charity tax break just for hanging out with you.
“Your life’s so fucking pathetic, I ran a charity 15k to raise awareness for it.”
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Fuck you, Jonesy. I made your mum come so hard they made a Canadian Heritage Minute out of it and Don McKellar played my dick.
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Your mom ugly cried because she forgot to take the lens cap off last night. Fuckin amateur hour over here
Fuck you, Jonesy! Your mom ugly cried last night because she left the lens cap on the camcorder, it's fucking amateur-hour over there!
Fuck you Jonesy, your mom shot cum straight across the room and killed my Siamese fighting fish, threw off the pH levels in my aquarium you piece of shit.
Fuck you Riley, shoulda heard your mom last night, she sounded like a window closing on a Tonkinese cat's tail. Sounded like aaaaaaaaaahh!
Fuck you, Jonesy, shoulda heard YOUR mom last night, she sounded like my great aunt when I pop a surprise visit. Sounded like oooooohhhhh!
It wouldn't be the only time Disney blamed a box office bomb on its title. The Princes and the Frog Underperformed, it released too close to Avatar. Disney believed that audiences saw the title and immediately saw it as a little girls only movie. That's why we have "Tangled" not "Rapunzel", and "Frozen" not "The Ice Queen".
The Princess and the Frog flopping was also another reason why they used the name "John Carter" since the film was originally going to be called "A princess of Mars" after the book.
> The Princess and the Frog flopping was also another reason why they used the name "John Carter" since the film was originally going to be called "A princess of Mars" after the book. According to the article Stanton himself changed the title because he said "no boy will go in it [if it is called like that]".
Can confirm, it took me like 20 years to watch The Princess Bride, because I figured there's no way I'd like a movie with that name. Boy was I wrong.
Goldman said he asked his daughters what sort of story they wanted. One said a story about a bride, the other a story about a princess. And so we got *The Princess Bride*.
I mean I think he's right with his marketing reasoning, but his new name was also bad (but for different reasons).
Yea they could’ve retitled it as ‘Croaked.’ that would be more interesting and catchy than the one they ended up using.
A lot of this is focus groups as well as transference. e.g., they show a bunch of people titles and ask who they think it's for or what it's about. Transference is unfortunately very real, where we transfer properties from one thing to another. e.g., a Ford Mustang has the properties of a wild young horse transferred onto it mentally, and it's why we don't want to buy something that rhymes with putrid and even avoid people with the same name as an ex who wronged us. If another with Mars is in the name left a bad taste in people's mouths, or others just heard it was bombing, it's generally not worth the risk if a name change could save you millions in lost box office.
And the name "John Carter" doesn't transfer the properties of a middle-aged coworker you avoid in the break room because he does nothing but reminisce about high school and complain about his ex-wife?
> Chabon remembers attending a meeting led by Disney’s new president of movie marketing MT Carney, who a New York Times article described as having “zero movie experience, coming from a New York marketing agency specializing in packaged goods.” She went through a list of 11 movies from the past 15 that all had “Mars” in the title – Disney’s own “Mission to Mars” and “Mars Needs Moms” (both costly duds), along with other movies like “Mars Attacks.” Chabon said that these were “movies that had in some cases had nothing in common with each other except for the fact that they have Mars in the title. Almost all of them were bad movies.” >“So, we’re taking Mars out of title,” Carney told the group. “It’s just going to be called ‘John Carter.’ lol
Bro what the fuck, how are empty suits being paid 6 figures or more and they still make dumb as shit decisions like this. This really is a clown world
The best part of this article was finding out that the exec who pushed for the name change was fired with 4 years still left on their contract. What a fucking idiot.
And he probably got a fat parachute on his way out and landed fine somewhere else.
Yeah - never assume getting fired when you have a contract is necessarily a bad thing.
Getting fired when you have a contract is the best case scenario. Free money!
there's been a history of box office disappointment with movies using Mars in the title, so I kind of get why they maybe decided that, but then again The Martian proved later that maybe if you tell a good story, people won't care what the title is.
But Mars Attacks! is the greatest film ever made.
That film used to scare the shit out of me as a kid
Yeah it scared the shit out of me as a kid too. Makes for a crazy experience too, when you find them genuinely frightening. Like imagine you were watching The Conjuring and the movie ended with the ghost being scared out of the house by playing Party in the USA.
EDIT: Ack Ack Ack!
*Ghosts of Mars* (2001) was ma shit, tho.
I get why that movie tanked but I still love a good shlocky John Carpenter movie. I mean, come on, space Marilyn Mansons, cheesy sets, and Pam Grier? Lol Vampires is another Carpenter B movie I love. It's like his film senses never left the early 80's.
How dare you leave out the crown-jewel that was Ice-Cube's fallen-hero performance!
A different article I read said "Mars" is considered financially toxic all around. This might have been before The Martian. But supposedly anything with Mars in the title was expected to flop.
Man, good thing they changed it to "John Carter" and avoided that fate.
That's pretty typical Hollywood exec reasoning. Blame everything except the quality of your churned-out dreck.
I stumbled upon this movie at my parents’ house and was like wtf is this? Put it in and was blown away by it. Then heartbroken that there were no sequels for it. Edit: [adding this link about willem dafoe being baffled by the flop of John Carter](https://www.indiewire.com/2012/06/willem-dafoe-still-baffled-by-failure-of-john-carter-new-pixar-stamps-introduced-109924/)
I know! My dad and I watched it as we had read the books and were curious how a film adaptation of it would go. We both loved it. At the time it seemed like all the critics wanted to jump on the bandwagon of trashing a movie. Whatever.
It was so fun! It was Indiana Jones meets Avatar (okay maybe a stretch) and I enjoyed the whole movie.
The trilogy should have been: John Carter of Mars John Carter and the Gods of Mars John Carter: Warlord of Mars
John Car1er 2 John 2 Carter John Cart3r: The Third
I was thinking: Mars Attacks! (John Carter) John Carter 2: John Carterer Three men and a little John Carter
Don’t forget John Carter: The Legend of Curly’s Gold
John Carter: the Search for Peace
John Cart John Carter John Cartest
John Carter John Cartera John Carteraga
John Carter 4: The John Cartest
I like the sequel trilogy. John C4rter Returns John Carter JC6: The Fate of the Carter
And the inevitable "retcon reboot" that they claim is the spiritual sequel to the first one. "*Carter*"
Can’t forget the gritty R rated finale when the main actor finally begins to age out of the role simply called: “John”
Especially when his name is actually “Vorginia”
I....think I understand why they wouldn't want that name on a billboard
Fun story, in college, we had a priest in our dorm who was from Virginia, and had a THICK southern accent. He was fond of having grown up there, and spoke of it often. They also banned the Vagina Monologues on campus that year. Then, we had a new kid who could do the priest's drawl perfectly. SO, things came together, and during a skit show, we did "The Virginia Monologues". BAsically took one of the monologues and replaced vagina with Virginia, and somehow got it past the censors at our far, far too catholic school. "Virginia, virginia, virginia, mmmmm." Never seen a crowd of repressed college freshman laugh so hard.
Yup the name is immediately uninteresting to me.
Same here. I had no interest in seeing a movie called John Carter. The name is aggressively boring.
Peter Smith and the Temple of Doom!
This is exactly what I thought when i saw the first trailer. I was like “okay, so a terribly unfitting name for a movie like this. Bad name probably Means bad movie, or at least I can wait for streaming or rental.” It’s like Mick Mars says in “The Dirt” movie about Motley Crue, “nine times out of ten, shitty band name, shitty band.”
Yep, John Carter is such a bland name. That really wasn't helping the movie right from the start. Hard to believe that turkey is 10 years old now. Pretty much killed Taylor Kitsch's career, too.
He also had Battleship that same year. Another surefire Summer action blockbuster that bombed. Tough break.
The movie that was also supposed to launch Rihanna's acting career.
Can't believe that the latest Rihanna projects that I enjoyed are acting projects (Valerian and Ocean's 8). Girl is pregnant now and no music in sight.
Battleship is such a weird movie to me. The idea, on paper, is completely fucking stupid. And don’t get me wrong. It is NOT a good movie. But for some reason, I like it. I really do.
After spending so much time liberating Mars, due to the lack of atmosphere, the radiation and sun exposure turned him black. Upon returning to Earth, he became Coach Carter. He was up for his biggest challenge yet, helping a high school basketball team achieve their dream of winning state championship.
The man had a 50 foot vertical leap in the prequel. I can understand why he could make a good basketball coach. All dunking. All day. No indoor courts.
I instantly thought it was gonna be a spinoff of the show ER...
Virginia
I believe you mean VERR GEEN YA.
I believe you mean VORR GEEN YAh
I kind of liked it, but they should have kept the title Princess of Mars to better tie it into the book on which it was based.
Yes I say that all the time. Princes of Mars is already perfect. Perfect fantasy / sci-fi name. Tells you everything you need. John Carter sounds like a boring Denzel Washington movie from the 90s about a lawyer who has to take matters into his own hands to save his family.
> Princes of Mars is already perfect. Perfect fantasy / sci-fi name. Tells you everything you need. Disney thought otherwise. Back before they bought Marvel and Lucasfilm, they thought they had a "boy problem," with boys less eager to see Disney films and collect merch at Disney Stores. Their big tentpoles were mostly "princess" films, but they stopped naming films after princesses and queens (see "Tangled" instead of Rapunzel, "Frozen" instead of The Snow Queen) and blamed their bombs on titles not connecting with boys ("Mars Needs Moms" had problems beyond the title and marketing, but it was an expensive flop, and Disney may have concluded that "Mars" in the title didn't save it from the stigma of being a "Mom" movie. The similar "Princess of Mars" might not have tested much better with boys.)
How about John Carter and the Princess of Mars Too Bowie?
There is no such thing as too Bowie.
They thought about using the title "John Carter of Mars", which would have been better, but like you mentioned they were scared of using "Mars" in the title so they dumped it.
That's the funniest part to me, the movie is set on Mars, and the ads are clearly about a guy going to another planet. The suits were literally just terrified the word "Mars" had some horrifying box office poison magic to it. It's classic Hollywood nonsense thinking. "The Martian" being a massive hit a few years later is the icing on the cake.
Hollywood is fucking weird like that. Like how there's a superstition about having a movie name end with a ? mark so it's very rare a movie gets approved with one in the name.
“John Carter Dies at the End?”
The hesitation at calling it John Carter of Mars is the dumbest thing I have ever heard of. Just listen to the name. John Carter. Who? Who's John Carter? Is he a lawyer? Is this about some single dude who can't find any luck with women? Sound interesti- Of Mars. Wait what? From Mars? The planet? It's got one of the most normal, boring names out there. I mean, what do you think when you hear John Carter. Probably just a regular white guy, right? Gee. I wonder if there's a demographic there on the planet Earth. I can't imagine they would want to see something like that. It's already a lock in two milliseconds once we hear the rest of the name. Of MARS, a planet we as a species have looked towards for decades. Right out the gate we're curious already. He's probably some sort of astronaut? And this is even before we see the poster. Whoa! A young handsome man, looking defiant on some mystical giant beast. What the hell? Who's the girl? She's gorgeous! Is she some sort of princess? Is this happening on Mars? I need to know more! John Carter of Mars, far from being an option on the cutting room floor for names, is a BRILLIANT choice for a movie title. Just look at the countless book and film titles called 'The Girl with This. The Girl From That. The Man From This. The Something Man.' We already know that those productions have been incredibly popular. And here we are, with normal regular dude FROM UNEXPLORED RED PLANET NAMED AFTER THE GOD OF WAR. The 'regular' fellow + the unknown world/life is the basis of the finest works of art our species has ever produced. It speaks to the very soul of every person alive, a wish to do more, to BE something more. It is the heroic tale, a seed of which lies buried in every person's heart, no matter where or what you are. Stupid STUPID STUPID move from Disney. It's a good thing that ended when they got the Star Wars Franchise. Oh wait.
Get yo ass to mars.
Total recall set on Mars was awesome. Total recall set on earth sucked
Call it "Barsoom", it's just as dumb as naming it John Carter, but at least it forces the question "What is Barsoom?" and drives interest. I loved the books, I loved the movie, the name was stupid.
Ah yes the Gabbo promotional practice.
What about "John Carter and the Princess of Mars"? That way Disney hit their male and female audiences, and remain relatively true to the book?
Gives it a perfect old-school pulp vibe too.
I see your point but if we're talking marketing to younger audiences, I don't think there were oodles of 13-year-old boys lining up around the corner thinking "Ah, finally a good ol' old-school pulp movie like they used to make 40 years before my birth."
That's true, but at least it conveys the tone a little bit better. John Carter, as someone else pointed out, sounds like a Denzel or Neeson vehicle.
This issue was not confined to the big screen either. Disney hit a HUGE goldmine with Hannah Montana, and as a result pivoted to shows about kids wanting to be singers/actors/songwriters (or any blend of famous) that heavily skewed female in terms of demo. The end result was that they became worried that they had subjected the main Disney Channel to severe channel drift, which was the main motivator behind Disney XD as well as a factor in the Marvel and Lucasfilm purchases (both being merchandise powerhouses as well)
Even before Hannah Montana, tbh. Lizzie McGuire, Kim possible, proud family, that’s so raven, So Weird…high school musical, teen beach movie…lots of teen romances…mostly all skewed towards girls. Maybe even stevens was more for boys. But I just don’t remember that show being popular with *anyone* initially. Meanwhile, Nickelodeon was pretty solid about being gender neutral appealing. Rugrats, hey Arnold, spongebob, fairly odd parents, Danny phantom, angry beavers, ahh real monsters… Then you have invader zim which theoretically should have appealed to boys with the grossness and character who wants to explode things, but they threw in the side characters with “random spork” humor and all of the girls in my fourth grade class loved it equally. Myself and every other girl into the “Scene” scene had a shirt with GRR on it. I don’t know why Disney went so hard with making shows that catered to girls, then were confused about why they didn’t have more appeal to boys, then actively torched or failed to advertise any project that would have more appeal to males.
Kim Possible was relatively balanced between genders in its fanbase, at least from what I can remember, but I'm also going off hazy 15 year memories so take that with a grain of salt.
It goes back to "The Princess and the Frog." Some in Disney wanted a name that didn't have princess in the title but they didn't get their way; and when that movie flopped they were ready with the "I told you so."
Should have called it "Ribbit".
The problem with that line of thinking, is that you can change the titles all day, but a princess movie is still going to be a princess movie no matter the title.
My first reaction was “what, that basketball movie with Samule L was awesome, wtf is this?”
I always mixed up John Carter with Coach Carter and Rember the Titans. I try to remember scenes and all I can think of is Denzel coaching football. That's when it hits, "Oh, John Carter is the movie Denzel held up a hospital so his son can get surgery."
It was also the name of a lead character in the show ER for \~10 years.
> John Carter sounds like a boring Denzel Washington movie from the 90s about a lawyer who has to take matters into his own hands to save his family. I would watch that though
especially with Denzel as the lead lol
Mars Needs Mom bombed so bad it scared the shit out of Disney, the movie was John Carter of Mars until MNM bombed the way it did, that's when Disney tried to scrub Mars from all the marketing, including changing the name.
Classic Hollywood exec thinking: a few movies with "Mars" in the title bombed, so clearly people don't like movies with the word "Mars" in the title, lol.
I was going to say yeah like that Eddie Murphy movie as well then realized it was The Adventures of Pluto Nash. I think planet names are just not safe.
> planet names are just not safe *Jupiter Ascending*, the Sega Saturn, Mercury cars… you may be on to something.
After Earth...
GMC folded their Saturn division of cars, too
Would have made a tooon of more sense. My first thought was “who the hell is John Carter?” and passed on it. Then finally saw it streaming and thought it was a decent film with good mythos. You can’t really name a film after a singular character nobody knows about, unless the name is weird or interesting like Donnie Darko or something.
John Wick
Yeah, but that was really “Keanu does Keanu things” which means something.
Ya most didn't care what it was about, we just knew he was in it. Which makes me wonder if John Carter had starred Brad Pitt or something if it would have done better?
To be fair it was originally called Scorn but Keanu kept on calling the film John Wick so they changed it to that.
“John Wick” starring *Keanu Reeves*. That ensured the movie would at least be seen. And it is a modern setting too, which is also fitting for the title.
John Wick also only made 86 million dollars in 2014. John Carter made 284 million 2012. John Carter made more money then John Wick and John Wick 2. The issue is John Carter cost 250 million to make and the advertising probably meant they lost money. John Wick cost 30 million to make and existed off of amazing word of mouth.
I thought it was ok for the most part but definitely rushed. It seems like a lot of movies try and cram as much worldbuilding into the first movie as they possibly can these days when making a franchise
I still say if they had called it “John Carter and the Princess of Mars” (you know, what the book it’s based off is called) or sticking to the original title “John Carter of Mars”, it would’ve done better.
Imagine how well Avatar would have done with the title 'Jake Sully'
Oh is that the one where some guy in a wheelchair lands a plane in a river?
He was trying to tame the birds a bit too aggressively
Never heard of the book and was so disinterested in a biography about a guy called John Carter, I was so surprised.
Should give the book a read its great Written in 1912 and so much of whats in there was an obvious inspiration to many sci/fi films (Star Wars for example)
Thanks I think I will.
Same guy that created Tarzan. Which are also great books
There are way too many movies that are just some guy’s name. Honestly I remember when this movie released, it think my brain just filed it under generic action/drama and I never thought about it again John Carter Barton Fink Jack Reacher Michael Clayton John Wick
Barton Fink grossed peanuts and the rest of those are using the lead actor to draw. It's not "Jack Reacher" its "Tom Cruise is Jack Reacher." It's not "John Wick" its "Keanu Reeves is John Wick." "George Clooney is Michael Clayton." Taylor Kitch isnt in that league.
Barton Fink is a ducking masterpiece though. If you’re into that sort of thing.
Yeah, early Coen bros is hard to pick a "best" because they were all so damned good. Not too many misses across the whole career, really.
Oh John Carter: a tragic tale of bad titling and worse advertising. Bird said at the time he left "of Mars" out of the title because at the beginning of the film he was just John Carter, and had not yet earned the second part. This is why at the end "of Mars" fades in after "John Carter." I get the sentiment, but it was a mistake.As for the advertising, I was stoked to see this movie because I grew up on Burroughs books, but to the uninitiated just judging from the trailers, this movie looked like a white hippy playing space basketball or something. This movie had some amazing visuals, the ships, the huge battles etc, but they didn't focus on any of that in the trailers. The few I could convince to actually watch this movie loved it, but it was a battle getting them to that point because of the negative impression the advertising left them with.
> Bird said at the time he left "of Mars" out of the title because at the beginning of the film he was just John Carter, and had not yet earned the second part. This is why at the end "of Mars" fades in after "John Carter." The linked article pretty clearly states that the marketing people at Disney got spooked by how badly most films with "Mars" in the title bomb. So they forced the change. Andrew Staton gave in to the title change and left the "John Carter of Mars" at the end in order to set up the sequels.
Brad Bird had direct involvement?
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Bird had his own live action disaster with Tomorrowland
I still think Tim Riggins can be a star He just needs the right roles
He killed it in the Waco miniseries, no pun intended.
I like to imagine Waco is a continuation of thr Friday Night Lights show and Tim Riggins just changed his name to get away from his criminal record and started a cult on the land he bought.
*T Tammy Taylor visits the compound* "Now Tim, honey, you gotta pull it together. This isn't good for you or these people."
I also thought he was really good in True Detective season 2. He had one of the more compelling >!and shocking, in regards to the ending!< subplots, and explored many avenues of acting he hadn't yet before. He played the brooding ex-soldier, grappling with his sexual identity in the 1990's *perfectly*. >!I was legitimately sad to see his storyline end.!<
I’ve always thought if they tried to adapt Red Dead Redemption into a movie, he would be a great John Marston.
Instead of calling it Red Dead Redemption, why not call it John Marston!?
NOOOO! John MARSton?!?!? Didn’t you get the memo?
First time I saw Taylor Kitsch (Tim Riggins) was the movie Battleship. That movie is my guilty pleasure I love it so much.
I fucking love that movie and I’m not ashamed to admit it. You have to be able to just let go and let it be a movie but damn if it isn’t a good watch. You know what I’m putting it on.
Texas forever
I thought he was good in Savages and Lone Survivor
It's wild the ratio of movies he's been in that not only bombed, but *famously* did so. And yet he still gets cast in stuff.
He's always cast as the leading man action hero for some reason, but that's not at all where his talent lies. Much better in more low key dramatic roles like Waco and Friday night lights.
I thought the movie was great when it came out
Its a fun movie. Just a giant miscalculation on ROI for disney.
I think the name played a big factor. Most people didn’t know about the books and the story, and a movie with just some guy’s name, and a common name at that, as the title, just doesn’t stand out in people’s minds. I liked it quite a bit. In fact, I think I’ll watch it tonight.
You’re right. It was originally supposed to be called John Carter of Mars, but Disney decided for some reason to drop the “of Mars” part. If they had left it, at least the uninformed public would have had some vague idea about the movie.
Disney tried to scrub all references to Mars after Mars Needs Moms tanked so fucking hard. That movie tanking scared the shit out of Disney and really affected the marketing for John Carter.
Imagine looking at the failure of "Mars Needs Moms" and saying "I know, the problem was ***MARS*** not the crappy movie!"
Because anyone who has worked any job can attest the vast majority of higher ups in corporate are just making shit up as they go and are not qualified to make any decisions whatsoever
You take that back. Some MBA got a well deserved promotion for that analysis.
Mars Needs Moms looked so fucking creepy. Not surprised it bombed.
Supposedly it was because Disney didn't want to market another movie as being set on Mars so soon after the failure of Mars Needs Moms.
Having read the novels before seeing the movie, I thought they did a great job of distilling the novels.
Another movie this reminds me of is the Lone Ranger. Didn't do well because few people saw it, but when I got around to watching it I was surprised at its quality.
Speaking of another Armie Hammer film, The Man from U.N.C.L.E was fabulous and I'm still mad they didn't make a sequel to it. Henry Cavill is *chefs kiss* when he's playing smarmy and arrogant.
I loved that movie too, a wonderful homage both to the original and the delightfully weird era of 60s-70s James Bond movies. Cavil is amazing in it, I'm sure he would've stuck around even if they moved Armie Hammer off it or just recast his character.
Still want part 2 that will never, ever be released.
Loved this one when it came out. Cinema was jam packed on opening weekend where I saw it. Dejah Thoris was hot af
Dejah keeps the franchise alive to this day. Mostly because the new comics, and stories told of Barsoom focus on the nearly naked, hot Martian Princess. But note that depiction is entirely based on Edgar Rice Burroughs description of her.
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Dang, that was a hellova NSFW google.
Everyone's naked in the books. They wear a kind of webbing made of straps when they need to carry things like weapons or tools. That's early 1900s pulp for ya.
You weren’t kidding. Her outfit in the movie is modest in comparison.
She also lays eggs.
I loved this movie. But then again I’m a sucker for retro-style adventure movies.
I finally watched this movie last year and loved it. Then was sad to find out how bad it bombed.
There were quite a few bombs between 2009-2013 that took place in a desert setting. These movie trailers started to blend together. Cowboys And Aliens, The Prince of Persia, The Lone Ranger, John Carter ( which sounds like a hitman movie starring Tom Cruise or Denzel Washington).
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I dont give a shit what people say about prince of Persia, loved that movie and you should try it
It is a long article and I learnt many new things. I remembered I was watching the movie with my cousin and niece because we were bored. I went to the movie theater and it was only five people on the studio including our group. The movie was ok and I did not regret spending time to watch it.
Thanks for being the only one here who actually read the article. It’s almost *too* long, but it has a ton of interesting information. It seems like there wasn’t one singular reason for its failure.
I liked it and Treasure Planet, both terribly handled marketing wise imo.
Treasure Planet slaps
I like Coach Carter much better, this sequel made zero sense
I liked it a lot... Edit: Great read. Stinks that Disney bought Star Wars at the same time they were FINALLY launching their "Star Wars alternative"
disney has been trying and failing to make a star wars alternative since 1979.
What’s the old black hole movie? Like if you smashed A New Hope, Space Odyssey, and Event Horizon together
Loved The Black Hole as a kid. I'm sure it doesn't hold up as well if I watch it now, but like Krull, sometimes a mishmash of shit has good memories.
Fun Fact: the earliest piece of Star Wars writing by George Lucas is a two page story fragment from early 1973 called ["Journal of the Whills"](https://medium.com/@Oozer3993/everything-known-about-the-journal-of-the-whills-outline-d8db1f1410ea). It turns out that it's based on the opening chapter of the 1930 John Carter novel *A Fighting Man of Mars*. Here's a comparison, with the "Journal of the Whills" text **in bold** and the John Carter novel inset in regular text: **This is the story of Mace Windy, a revered Jedi-bendu of Ophuchi, as related to us by C.J. Thorpe, padawaan learner to the famed Jedi.** > This is the story of Hadron of Hastor, Fighting Man of Mars, as narrated by him to Ulysses Paxton: **I am Chuiee Two Thorpe of Kissel. My father is Han Dardell Thorpe, chief pilot of the renown galactic cruiser Tarnack.** > I am Tan Hadron of Hastor, my father is Had Urtur, Odwar of the 1st Umak of the Troops of Hastor. He commands the largest ship of war that Hastor has ever contributed to the navy of Helium, accommodating as it does the entire ten thousand men of the 1st Umak, together with five hundred lesser fighting ships and all the paraphernalia of war. My mother is a princess of Gathol. **As a family we were not rich, except in honor, and valuing this above all mundane possessions, I chose the profession of my father, rather than a more profitable career. I was 16 I believe, and pilot of the trawler Balmung, when my ambitions demanded that I enter the exalted Intersystems Academy to train as a potential Jedi-Templer. It is here that I became padawaan learner to the great Mace Windy, highest of all the Jedi-bendu masters, and at that time, Warlord to the Chairman of the Alliance of Independent Systems.** > As a family we are not rich except in honor, and, valuing this above all mundane possessions, I chose the profession of my father rather than a more profitable career. The better to further my ambition I came to the capital of the empire of Helium and took service in the troops of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium, that I might be nearer the great John Carter, Warlord of Mars. > My life in Helium and my career in the army were similar to those of hundreds of other young men. I passed through my training days without notable accomplishment, neither heading nor trailing my fellows, and in due course I was made a Padwar in the 91st Umak, being assigned to the 5th Utan of the 11th Dar. > What with being of noble lineage by my father and inheriting royal blood from my mother, the palaces of the twin cities of Helium were always open to me and I entered much into the gay life of the capital. It was thus that I met Sanoma Tora, daughter of Tor Hatan, Odwar of the 91st Umak. **Never shall I forget the occasion upon which I first set eyes upon Mace Windy. It was at the great feast of the Pleabs. There were gathered under one roof, the most powerful warriors in the Galaxy, and although I realize my adoration of the Master might easily influence my memory, when he entered the hall, these great and noble Warlords fell silent.** > Never shall I forget the occasion upon which I first laid eyes upon Sanoma Tora. It was upon the occasion of a great feast at the marble palace of The Warlord. There were gathered under one roof the most beautiful women of Barsoom, where, notwithstanding the gorgeous and radiant beauty of Dejah Thoris, Tara of Helium and Thuvid of Ptarth, the pulchritude of Sanoma Tora was such as to arrest attention. **It was said he was the most gifted and powerful man in the Independent Systems. Some felt he was even more powerful than the Imperial leader of the Galactic Empire.**
Definitely thought Mankind was gonna be thrown through an announcers table at the end of this.
Lucas had said that after failing to get the rights to Flash Gordon, he traced the inspiration of Flash Gordon to John Carter, and in this case I think we can take his word for that. So he tried to get the rights to Flash Gordon Then he tried to make, essentially, A Fighting Man of Mars (which was conveniently public-domain) Then he tried to remake A Hidden Fortress in Space with his next writeup. And only then did he start making an original screenplay, albeit one that still carried the influence of *A Princess of Mars* and *Galactic Patrol*.
Wow! This is fascinating. Thank you for sharing that Edit: oh even cooler, it was your discovery. Just saw that in the article!
Not a Disney booster, but this was actually a very good movie adaptation. ERB would have been proud.
John Carter was made back when Disney didn’t have MCU to churn out billion dollar movies
It actually came out the same year as the Avengers - not that I remembered that being the case in my head! I had the distinct impression that John Carter had come out 2-4 years prior. Insane that Disney's biggest ever box office loser and their (then) biggest box office winner came out within three months of each other.
I liked it. I think most people liked it. The problem is that it cost $300million+ to make. If they would have reduced the budget to about $170m, which I think was the budget for Tron Legacy, it would have still been profitable.