"John Carter of Mars" Moving Ahead!

[Ptrope]

According to Sci-Fi Wire, Andrew Stanton is working on a new draft of his script for the proposed movie (possibly a trilogy!) from Disney, not Pixar (since it's live-action and most likely at least PG-13), and they're starting to talk about casting. It would be interesting if Pixar were to at least handle the VFX, a logical next step from their all-CGI films, which have digital effects as complex as anything ILM or other 'live action' digital effects houses have created.

I've never been all that confident in either a live-action or an all-CGI interpretation of the Barsoom universe, but with Stanton in there, hopefully as director as well as writer, I think this will finally happen, and they'll pull it off as a real ground-breaking film. Here's hoping!

 

[Misfit Toy]

^"Here's hoping" is right - I'd LOVE to see this get done!

 

[Guy Gardener]

John Carter Warlord of ER was good enough that I'm wonder in if Noah would reprise the part?

 

[btflash]

man, they have been talking about doing this film for years. i hope it really happens. the books were awesome!

 

[Jan]

The Mars series and the Pern series are the books I've most wanted to see realized on film for as long as I can remember. Hopefully by somebody who 'gets' them.

Jan

 

[RJDiogenes]

I hope this turns out well. I don't care if it's live action or all CGI, as long as they make it for adults.

 

[Orintho]

Disney? I hope they don't turn this into a child's movie.

 

[Obi Wana Jones]

The did Narnia right.

Here's hoping they don't screw it up by tossing in a couple cutesy droids and walking teddy bears.

No, wait, I'm confusing them with our buddy George Lucas . . .

 

[dragunzng]

Really looking forward to this.

Lasseter already stated that Pixar won't be handling the VFX, since they have no intention of becoming a VFX house and there are other studios that do that better. I agree personally, VFX is pretty different from animation.

 

[Orintho]

The did Narnia right.

Yeah, but Narnia was mainly a kid's book to begin with.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Great! I'm strongly in favor of live action and Ben Browder in the lead role. (He's from Tennessee, and that's close enough to play a Virginia gentleman.)

But the way things go, they'll probably cast Shia LeBoeuf.

 

[Red Ranger]

Great! I'm strongly in favor of live action and Ben Browder in the lead role. (He's from Tennessee, and that's close enough to play a Virginia gentleman.)

But the way things go, they'll probably cast Shia LeBoeuf.

Maybe. Or Matthew McConaghey!

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I suppose it's not a question that there will be liberties taken, the question is going to be if they will leave enough to still be decent.

 

[Ptrope]

Really looking forward to this.

Lasseter already stated that Pixar won't be handling the VFX, since they have no intention of becoming a VFX house and there are other studios that do that better. I agree personally, VFX is pretty different from animation.

I agree with that last statement, but even animated films separate "animation" from "visual effects" (basically, as stated in the excellent extras of Disney's Atlantis, "visual effects are everything that moves that isn't a character").

I suppose I could see Pixar not doing explosions and digital sets and scenes, but I hope someone at least of their caliber is responsible for Tars Tarkas, and the banths, and thoats, and white apes, and plant men ... there are a ton of non-human characters in the Barsoom novels. That's been my main concern with any live-action or CGI attempt - a totally CGI version would probably fall prey to the Uncanny Valley (which kinda sounds like one of the places on Barsoom! ) if they tried to do John Carter and the Red Men realistically - it doesn't need to look like Polar Express or Beowulf. OTOH, a live-action version could look like the LotR films - I wasn't impressed by Gollum or any of WETA's digital creatures (the lighting was never right, to my eyes; however, I do think they did a bang-up job on King Kong, the character). I've thought the best way to present John Carter and Barsoom was as a more traditional animated film, but using 3D and CGI as much as possible in creating depth and realism of movement to cel animation. I still do; I know I'm in a very tiny minority (maybe of 1 ), but Stanton's involvement says, to me, that someone who cares about both story and about visuals is in there where it counts, so I'm hopeful.

Of course, I'm sure the nudity is out, but after decades of book covers and paintings with tastefully-covered women, our collective vision of Barsoom can accept that particular change to the novels . As long as Dejah Thoris has those proportions that Frazetta gave her ...

 

[Misfit Toy]

I suppose it's not a question that there will be liberties taken, the question is going to be if they will leave enough to still be decent.

"Featuring Danny DeVito as Tars Tarkus"

 

[CaptJimboJones]

I'm just thrilled that the Sky Captain guy is no longer involved with this project. That was a truly horrible movie and a well-deserved flop.

 

[Mysterion]

I'm just thrilled that the Sky Captain guy is no longer involved with this project. That was a truly horrible movie and a well-deserved flop.

I give those folks credit for trying, though. It was a good effort that just fell a bit short, perhaps. Would like to see them try again.

 

[CaptJimboJones]

I'm just thrilled that the Sky Captain guy is no longer involved with this project. That was a truly horrible movie and a well-deserved flop.

I give those folks credit for trying, though. It was a good effort that just fell a bit short, perhaps. Would like to see them try again.

I agree with you that the concept was great, and visually some portions of the movie were breathtaking. But virtually everything else failed, IMO - the story was terrible, the pacing was awful, the acting was bizarrely wooden and strange.

They also greatly miscalculated the public's interest in seeing this type of retro-sci-fi style film. They thought it was going to be a huge blockbuster when in fact it's only real audience were hardcore sci-fi fans with an appreciation for early pulp stories from the 1930s and '40s. Which is why I doubt we'll see this style of movie again any time soon (which is a shame, because I would love to see this type of approach on a Lensman movie series.)

 

[RJDiogenes]

Sky Captain was visually beautiful, I thought, but would indeed only appeal to a niche demographic (me and a couple of other guys ). And it definitely suffered from a lackluster story and being badly badly badly cast.

 

[Ptrope]

Not to resurrect a dead thread, but to keep from duplicating it unnecessarily:

Reported by io9, Andrew Stanton's John Carter of Mars is ready to start filming in Utah.

Fresh from its supporting role as the planet Vulcan in Star Trek, the state of Utah is preparing for its role as Mars in Disney/Pixar's long-awaited live-action version of John Carter of Mars, which begins production there in November.

...

[W]hile Star Trek spent just four days shooting in the Beehive State, the Tribune reports that director Andrew Stanton's (WALL-E) production will spend at least seven months there, including 45 days of filming.