"John Carter of Mars" Moving Ahead!

[Daneel]

Well, the early numbers are in, and as expected, they're rather disappointing. John Carter took in an estimated $9.8 million at the box office on Friday. That puts it on track for around $28 million over the course of the weekend. There is a good chance, however, that it will fare much better in foreign markets (apparently, the film has already broken box office records in Russia).

Regardless, I'm still looking forward to seeing it next week.

 

[Psion]

I liked it. My chief criticism was that Carter won the loyalty and friendship of Kantos and Tars a little too easily.

A couple ideas improved on the original material: the means by which Carter arrived on Barsoom, and the intrigue of the Therns. In the film, the Therns are much more capable adversaries than those from the books, requiring more than mere muscle to overcome.

Even at an hour and fifty-eight minutes, the movie felt a little rushed here and there. I've already mentioned his friendship with Tars and Kantos, but other characters, like Sarkoja barely get the attention they deserve. Throughout A Princess of Mars Sarkoja had my blood boiling with her spiteful back-stabbing and vile manipulations. These are alluded to in the film, yet there's very little reason shown why Carter and Sola hate her so much.

I doubt this movie will recover what was spent, and while it's entertaining and I'm genuinely intrigued about this film's version of the Therns and therefore the nature of Issus, I'm actually glad to see that wicked marauder of culture and corrupter of copyright Disney Studios take a hit on it. The Mouse and his goons have their fingers in a lot of congressional corruption and have bought legislation to their advantage from CTEA to SOPA, and thus I make an effort to keep Disney's influence out of my household -- a difficult battle to win when there's a youngster in the house.

 

[timothy]

well I give it a B+ considering the changes the main story arc which I wont go into detail till we have more people seeing or a review thread up. I love how well the tharks and woola loook and act. but over all not bad way better than a princess of mars which was put out by sy fy channel.

 

[Warped9]

I liked it. My chief criticism was that Carter won the loyalty and friendship of Kantos and Tars a little too easily.

A couple ideas improved on the original material: the means by which Carter arrived on Barsoom, and the intrigue of the Therns. In the film, the Therns are much more capable adversaries than those from the books, requiring more than mere muscle to overcome.

Even at an hour and fifty-eight minutes, the movie felt a little rushed here and there. I've already mentioned his friendship with Tars and Kantos, but other characters, like Sarkoja barely get the attention they deserve. Throughout A Princess of Mars Sarkoja had my blood boiling with her spiteful back-stabbing and vile manipulations. These are alluded to in the film, yet there's very little reason shown why Carter and Sola hate her so much.

Yep, this is much as I saw it. I just got back from seeing it and I can say I enjoyed quite a lot even with its missteps.

If not by the letter, but in spirit this is faithful to the original source materiel and then goes on to do it one better in terms of fleshing out details as opposed to the many broad strokes ERB used to tell his story in print. Things make more sense here.

There's no real effort to explain the science seen here. Just like Star Wars and many other sci-fi the "science" is quite dodgy, but firmly acceptable for this genre. The main point of this is planetary adventure where this film is firmly planted. I liked how it evoked its origins while fleshing them out, and yet that could also hurt the film in some eyes because much might seem already familiar because of all the books and films that have been influenced by ERB's Mars stories. It's something of a regrettable vicious circle. In that regard this movie can't be a game changer for the genre like Star Wars was in 1977.

It has a nice touch of humour in the right places. Along with the few tips-of-the-hat to other sources it's handled deftly and in the right measure. It had me laughing at points with the film rather than at it.

The characters aren't deep in this film, but this type of materiel isn't know for fleshed out characters. The characters are mostly a means to tell a story. That said the characters are generally better acted than what Star Wars ever gave us. And they're more rounded out and more credible than how ERB originally painted them.

I certainly never found it slow in some places or bogged down at times with too much exposition as some critics have said. And nowhere did I think you were left lost by not knowing the story's origins or backstory. It was quite easy to follow. If anything some in the audience might not know who Edgar Rice Burroughs really was and his connection to this story.

Sure, it's not a deep or thought provoking film, but it was a lot a fun offered up with just the right sensibilities.

On an ending note I just loved Woola, John Carter's adopted Barsoomian dog. He made me think of the Road Runner in how fast he could move.

I also have to say shame on Disney for not making a better effort to market this. It deserves better.

 

[DWF]

I greatly enjoyed the movie, it's a shame they brought it out now instead of the summer where I think it'd make more money, it's an excellent familly movie. And Lynn Collins is quite beautiful thougout the movie. I loved the humor excluding Carter's leaping attempts and Tars' Jethro Gibbs styled head slap of Carter upon entering the empty Helium.

 

[Warped9]

The film did impress me as something aimed at more than just kids. I see it as multilayered with broad appeal. I also liked some of the quieter moments rather than focusing on one hyper-active scene after another. In a way it also reminded me of last year's Captain America in that the hero and the characters were more than contemporary cynics with one sarcastic comment after another.

As I see it the real fail here is the failure in having faith in the materiel and failure to market the film properly. It's almost as if they went out of their way to put a bad spin on what is otherwise a decent work.

And for the record I enjoyed this far more than Avatar. And I also bought the Tharks much more than Cameron's blue Indians.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

And even a lot of the positive reviews still seem to take issue with how messy and convoluted the story is.

Eh, I'm sure many mainstream critics said the same thing about the original Star Wars way back when.

Actually, no. Star Wars was recognized as a very simple adventure story immediately, and no one missed the fact that it borrowed heavily from kid-oriented movie serials and Saturday matinee fare of an earlier generation.

 

[JD]

I saw it this morning and I loved every moment of it. Sure it might not have been the deepest thing ever, but it was a fun sci-fi adventure movie and that was all I wanted out of it. I'll admit at the moment I only have a passing familiarity with the source material, but as a relative laymen I had no trouble whatsoever understanding it. I think for me the thing I liked about it the most was the fact that it seemed pretty content just being a fairly light fun adventure, and since those are my favorite kinds of movies I would have no problem including in a list of favorite movies. I know alot of people have been complaining about how it's like alot of other stuff, but given the story's origin I think that's understandable, and honestly I think it did what it did better than alot of the stuff that did it before.

 

[Warped9]

I saw it this morning and I loved every moment of it. Sure it might not have been the deepest thing ever, but it was a fun sci-fi adventure movie and that was all I wanted out of it. I'll admit at the moment I only have a passing familiarity with the source material, but as a relative laymen I had no trouble whatsoever understanding it. I think for me the thing I liked about it the most was the fact that it seemed pretty content just being a fairly light fun adventure, and since those are my favorite kinds of movies I would have no problem including in a list of favorite movies. I know alot of people have been complaining about how it's like alot of other stuff, but given the story's origin I think that's understandable, and honestly I think it did what it did better than alot of the stuff that did it before.

Well said.

 

[JD]

I think one of the best examples of what I was talking about in the end was the arena battle Now, I'm one of the few people who actually like the Star Wars prequels, but even I'll admit the arena battle they've used in the promotional material (which is actually is very tiny, minor part of the movie despite what the trailers might make you think) is way better than the one in AotC.

 

[Warped9]

I hope there are deleted scenes added to the DVD/BluRay releases because there are parts of this film I'd like to have seen fleshed out a bit more. We should have seen more of the development of some of the character relationships. I want more Tars Tarkas and more Sola and how they began to bond with carter. More of Carter's trials in the arena would also have been nice.

 

[JD]

Spinoff Online has an interview with one of the producers where he discusses "pulp Shakespeare", the oxygen plants, Micheal Chabon and Burroughs' estate's involvement with the story.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Spinoff Online has an interview with one of the producers where he discusses "pulp Shakespeare", the oxygen plants, Micheal Chabon and Burroughs' estate's involvement with the story.

“It’s kind of a big, almost old-fashioned un-cynical Hollywood film. It’s not tongue in cheek about things, and it doesn’t come from a cynical point of view It’s a straight-on redemption story.”

That bit from near the end of the article was a particularly strong point of the film for me. Something else that struck me about the image of John Carter in the film was his backstory somewhat mirror's Josey Wales. His scene in the trading post is right out of TOJW, so is his Earth family and entering the war (presumably. and like Josey he finds redemption by learning to care about his newly adopted family.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Well, everything I'm hearing leaves me still cautiously optimistic. And I love that phrase "Pulp Shakespeare." I always get a kick out of people prefacing their remarks about something by saying, 'Well, it's not Shakespeare," when frequently that's exactly what it is. Shakespeare was the equivalent of a Pulp writer of his day.

 

[Mach5]

Well, the early numbers are in, and as expected, they're rather disappointing. John Carter took in an estimated $9.8 million at the box office on Friday. That puts it on track for around $28 million over the course of the weekend. There is a good chance, however, that it will fare much better in foreign markets (apparently, the film has already broken box office records in Russia).

That's really really bad, considering how much it supposedly cost ($250 mil).

It's only about half of what Tron: Legacy made on its opening day, and Disney is still reluctant to greenlight the sequel.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Well, the early numbers are in, and as expected, they're rather disappointing. John Carter took in an estimated $9.8 million at the box office on Friday. That puts it on track for around $28 million over the course of the weekend. There is a good chance, however, that it will fare much better in foreign markets (apparently, the film has already broken box office records in Russia).

That's really really bad, considering how much it supposedly cost ($250 mil).

It's only about half of what Tron: Legacy made on its opening day, and Disney is still reluctant to greenlight the sequel.

I think that has less to do with Disney and more to do with the people involed in making Tron: Legacy (namely the writers and director) being tied up with other projects. Actual filming may not begin until 2014, IIRC.

 

[AvBaur]

The most recent projections say it made around $30.6 million. (see http://www.imdb.com/chart/) I read something about good international numbers, but they'd have to be really exceptional to warrant a sequel. (It's not unheard of, though. See Tintin)

Which is a shame - I would have loved to see at least one sequel.

 

[Daneel]

^
Yes, the foreign estimates for the weekend have the film pulling in $70.6 million, for a worldwide total of $101.2 (of course, these figures may change slightly by tomorrow).

$30.6 million domestic is actually a bit higher than what most predicted after the Friday estimates came in; it seems there was a bit of an increase in ticket sales on Saturday, which can perhaps be attributed to good word-of-mouth. The film's CinemaScore (the average audience grade) is a solid B+, which might help give John Carter some legs at the box office.

 

[Mach5]

I think that has less to do with Disney and more to do with the people involed in making Tron: Legacy (namely the writers and director) being tied up with other projects. Actual filming may not begin until 2014, IIRC.

Bummer. I enjoyed this 2-hour music video more than I ever thought I would. I'd really like to see a sequel.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I disagree about it being a music video. The shots were held a lot longer than in most movies these days. It gets a little jumpy in some of the action scenes, but not too much.

It was much more earnest than most modern movies of its type. There's no winking, no snark. It plays it straight, but still remembers that it's supposed to be fun. Don't get me wrong, I can enjoy a winky, snarky movie, but that approach has gotten so common that it seems like the norm.

I went in with zero expectations and wound up surprised at how much I liked it. It felt like an older movie in many ways.

I hope it does well enough to not only warrant a sequel, but to encourage Hollywood to go in the right direction when choosing material.