Rish Ross Resigns

[eyore]

Well, another top Disney name leaves the room.
Rich Ross the head of the movie studios has fallen on his sword after John Carter of Mars has become Disney's biggest flop of all time.
Having seen the film and having read the books as a youth, I'm not surprised. They tried to get far too much in and it ended up a very long-winded and pointless film and the re-writing of great chunks of the story didn't help. Good CG didn't save it with the plot stripped down and incomprehensible.
Maybe they should have gone the Tarzan route and made it an animated film in a lighter vein with songs.
Yet another childhood favourite ruined.

 

[Emcduck]

I found the advertising held nothing of interest for me. Even aboard the DCL Fantasy, where I could have seen it for free, I had no inclination to see it.

Strangely, it felt like it was being marketed to someone else, and now I know who the target audience was, it is a real shame that they failed to please those people, who might have brought the rest of us in...

 

[eyore]

I actually watched "Princess of Mars" which was released about the same time (quickly and cheaply made to cash in on what was supposed to be a blockbuster) and enjoyed it far more than Disney's version even if the Tharks lost a couple of arms and their tusks wobbled when they talked! :lol:

 

[Timekeeper]

:angry:
Well, It was marketed poorly and It's the former head of marketing's fault for not marketing it as a summer blockbuster! When it came to the discount movie theaters, I was very stimed and angry, mostly because this film, john carter, was really good! I'm so glad he got shown the door!


Timekeeper

 

[eyore]

That's true. They back-peddled on the Sci-Fi angle and really tried for the CGI rather than the plot (which, in the book, is fairly straight forward and it's not a large volume.). They also tried to update it too much (rather than use the simple form of the book). It's a shame because there are a LOT of books in the series which would have made good sequels. Updating an old book often isn't a good idea (imagine Peter Pan updated to 21st Century New York). Mind you, I still didn't think it was that good a film even if I hadn't been aware of the story. It could have been so much more.

 

[DexterRiley]

There was a great article about "John Carter of Mars" when the film came out pretty much asserting that even though it had originated most of the tropes we've come to know in Sci-fi films, they've been so widely used in the intervening years that they are now "owned" by other films even though those other films borrowed them from "John Carter". I would have rather seen an affectionate retro presentation ala "The Rocketeer" rather than something that tried to compete with current sci-fi sensibilities.