John Carter

John Carter
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Andrew Stanton
Produced by	Jim Morris Colin Wilson Lindsey Collins
Screenplay by	Andrew Stanton Mark Andrews Michael Chabon
Based on	A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Starring	Taylor Kitsch Lynn Collins Samantha Morton Mark Strong Ciarán Hinds Dominic West James Purefoy Willem Dafoe
Music by	Michael Giacchino
Cinematography	Daniel Mindel
Editing by	Eric Zumbrunnen
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s)	March 7, 2012 (France[1]) March 9, 2012(United States)
Running time	132 minutes[2]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$250 million[3]
Box office	$271,560,545[4]

 

John Carter is a 2012 American science fiction action film that tells the first interplanetary adventure of John Carter, the heroic protagonist of Edgar Rice Burroughs' 11-volume Barsoom series of novels (1912–43).^[5] The film marks the centennial of the character's first appearance.^[5][6]

The film is the live-action debut of director/writer Andrew Stanton; his previous work includes the Pixar animated films Finding Nemo (2003) andWALL-E (2008).^[7][8] Co-written by Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon, it is produced by Jim Morris, Colin Wilson, and Lindsey Collins, and scored by Michael Giacchino.^[9][7][10]

Walt Disney Pictures distributed the film and released it in the United States on March 9, 2012; the film was shown in regular 2D and in the Digital 3D and IMAX 3D formats.^[11][12][13] Filming began in November 2009 with principal photography underway in January 2010, wrapping seven months later in July 2010.^[14][15]

Upon release, John Carter received a mixed critical reception and performed poorly at the domestic box office, although it did show strength overseas, particularly in Russia where it set box office records.^[16] Disney attributed the losses made by their Studio Entertainment division in the quarter ending March 2012 "primarily" to the performance of John Carter and the associated cost write-down.^[17]

Contents   [hide]  1 Plot summary 2 Cast 3 History 3.1 Source material 3.2 Bob Clampett production 3.3 1980s Walt Disney development 3.4 Paramount production 4 Production 4.1 Development 4.2 Filming 4.3 Marketing 4.4 Title change 4.5 Post-production 5 Release 5.1 Critical reception 5.2 Box office 5.3 Home Media 6 Music 6.1 Soundtrack 6.2 Track listing 7 Sequel 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

Plot summary

After a brief introduction establishing that Mars is not a "dead planet", but rather a dying one inhabited by warring civilizations with great airships, the film begins in 1881 with news of the sudden death in Richmond, Virginia, of John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), a former Confederate Army cavalry officer, who has become an eccentric and wealthy scholar-adventurer. The arrival of his nephew Edgar "Ned" Rice Burroughs (Daryl Sabara) at "Uncle Jack's" funeral reveals that, in accordance with his own instructions, Carter's body has been put in a mausoleum, which can only be unlocked from the inside. The estate's attorney hands over Carter's personal journal for Ned to read, in the hope that he may discover the reason for Carter's strange behavior and death.

The film flashes back to 1868 and to the Arizona Territory, where Carter is prospecting for gold and having violent encounters with both the 7th Cavalryand the local Apache Indians. After fleeing from both, he shelters in a cave with Colonel Powell (Bryan Cranston), one of his pursuers, and discovers a large quantity of gold. A strange figure (later revealed to be a White Martian Thern) suddenly materializes; Carter kills him and, due to the stranger's medallion, is inadvertently teleported to Barsoom (Mars). There, due to his high bone density and the planet's low gravity, Carter is able to jump fantastically high and throw killer punches. He is soon captured, however, by the giant, four-armed Green Martian Tharks under the rule of Jeddak (King) Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe).

Elsewhere on Barsoom, the Red Martian (humanoid beings with reddish skin and blue blood) cities of Helium and Zodanga have been at war for a thousand years. Sab Than (Dominic West), Jeddak of Zodanga, is now armed with a special weapon (the "Ninth Ray") given to him by the Therns, and proposes a cease-fire and an end to the war by marrying the Princess of Helium Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). The defiant Princess escapes and is rescued by Carter. Carter, Dejah and Tarkas's secret daughter Sola (Samantha Morton) embark on a quest descending the sacred River Iss to find a way for Carter to return home. There they find information about the Ninth Ray, the medallion, and the process by which the Therns teleport ("telegraph") from planet to planet, but they are attacked by the Thern leader Matai Shang (Mark Strong) and his minions, the Green Martians of Warhoon. In a heroic frenzy, Carter slaughters scores of the enemy while experiencing flashbacks of the deaths of his Earth family years before. After the fight, Carter is captured by troops from Helium and taken back with Dejah, while Sola escapes. Dejah grudgingly agrees to marry Sab Than, then gives Carter his medallion and tells him to go back to "Jarsoom" (Earth). Carter, however, decides to stay and is now captured by the shape-shifting Shang, who tells him about the secret purposes of the god-like Therns and their age-old manipulations of the histories of civilizations on different planets. Carter is able to make yet another escape, and he and Sola go back to the Tharks and ask for their help. There they come to know that Tarkas has been overthrown as Jeddak by the vicious Tal Hajus (Thomas Haden Church). Tarkas, Carter, and Sola are subjected to a gladiatorial contest with two gigantic white Martian apes. After defeating them and killing Hajus, Carter is acclaimed leader of the Tharks. A vast Thark army, with Carter at its head, advances on Zodanga, then on Helium, and defeats the Zodangian army, killing Sab Than. Carter then marries Dejah himself and becomes Jeddak of Helium. That night, Carter decides to stay forever on Mars and throws away his medallion. Seizing this opportunity, Shang re-emerges from hiding and banishes him to Earth.

Resuming the original framing story, it is revealed that Carter has undertaken a ten year long quest, looking for clues of the Therns' presence on Earth and hoping to find another medallion. His sudden "death" and unusual funeral arrangements would seem to indicate that he has succeeded and returned to Barsoom, leaving his "Earth body" in a coma-like state. His presence on Mars was via a sort of virtual body, and the death of his Earth body would end his life on both planets. He has made Ned his protector, giving him clues about how to open the mausoleum. Ned now hastens to the mausoleum, opens it, but finds no body. He has been covertly stalked by Matai Shang, who was sneaking around on Earth. As Shang prepares to strike at Ned, Carter suddenly reappears and kills him. Carter discloses to Ned that he never found any medallion, but instead laid a clever trap for Matai Shang. Carter takes Shang's medallion, and bids farewell to Ned, his new protector. Carter seals himself away, and invokes the necessary incantation to be teleported back to Mars, hoping to resume his life on Barsoom.

Cast

• Taylor Kitsch as John Carter,^[18] former Confederate cavalryman and accidental traveler to Mars
• Lynn Collins as Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium^[19] and daughter of Tardos Mors
• Samantha Morton as Sola, daughter of Tars Tarkas^[20]
• Willem Dafoe as Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of the Tharks and sometime ally of John Carter^[21]
• Thomas Haden Church as Tal Hajus, a vicious Thark warrior^[22]
• Mark Strong as Matai Shang, leader of the Holy Therns^[22]
• Ciarán Hinds as Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium^[23]
• Dominic West as Sab Than, Jeddak of Zodanga^[23]
• James Purefoy as Kantos Kan, captain of the ship Xavarian^[22]
• Bryan Cranston as Colonel Powell, 7th Cavalry officer who falls afoul of Carter^[24]
• Polly Walker as Sarkoja, a merciless, tyrannical Thark^[23]
• Daryl Sabara as Edgar Rice Burroughs, nephew of John Carter^[23]
• Nicholas Woodeson as Dalton, Carter's attorney in New York
• Don Stark as Dix, storekeeper in Arizona
• David Schwimmer as Young Thark Warrior
• Oliver Boot as Matai Shang in Sab Than's bodyguard form
• Philip Arditti as Spotter #2
• Jon Favreau (cameo) as Thark bookie. Favreau was once attached to direct the film when it was still a Paramount production.^[25]
• Art Malik as Zodangan General
• Darwin Shaw as Matai Shang in Zodangan officer form
• Arnie Alpert as Council Member #1 ^[26]
• Ian Ray as Council Member #2 ^[26]
• Peggy Clements as Council Member #3 ^[26]
• Evelyn Dubuc as Council Member #4 ^[26]
• Jhil McEntyre as Council Member #5 ^[26]

History

Source material

The film is largely based on A Princess of Mars (1917), the first in a series of 11 novels to feature the interplanetary hero John Carter (and in later volumes the adventures of his children with Dejah Thoris). The story was originally serialized in six monthly installments (from February through July 1912) in the pulp magazine The All-Story; those chapters, originally titled "Under the Moons of Mars," were then collected in hardcover five years later from publisher A. C. McClurg. In both the novel and film John Carter is a former American Civil War Confederate Army officer who is mysteriously transported to Mars, which is known to its inhabitants as Barsoom.

Bob Clampett production

In 1931 Looney Tunes director Bob Clampett approached Edgar Rice Burroughs with the idea of adapting A Princess of Mars into a feature-length animated film. Burroughs responded enthusiastically, recognizing that a regular live-action feature would face various limitations to adapt accurately, so he advised Clampett to write an original animated adventure for John Carter.^[27]Working with Burroughs' son John Coleman Burroughs in 1935, Clampett used rotoscope and other hand-drawn techniques to capture the action, tracing over the motions of an athlete who performed John Carter's powerful movements in the reduced Martian gravity. Clampett designed Tharks, the Green, multi-armed Martians of Barsoom, giving them a believable appearance. He then produced footage of them riding their eight-legged Thoats at a gallop, which had all of their eight legs moving in coordinated motion; he also produced footage of a fleet of rocketships emerging from a Martian volcano. MGM was to release the cartoons, and the studio heads were enthusiastic about the series.^[28]

The test footage, produced by 1936,^[29] received negative reactions from film exhibitors across the U. S., especially in small towns; many gave their opinion that the concept of an Earthman on Mars was just too outlandish an idea for midwestern American audiences to accept. The series was not given the go-ahead, and Clampett was instead encouraged to produce an animated Tarzanseries, an offer which he later declined. Clampett recognized the irony in MGM's decision, as the Flash Gordon movie serial, released in the same year by Universal Studios, was highly successful. He speculated that MGM believed that serials were only played to children during Saturday matinees, whereas the John Carter tales were intended to be seen by adults during the evening. The footage that Clampett produced was believed lost for many years, until Burroughs' grandson, Danton Burroughs, in the early 1970s found some of the film tests in the Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. archives.^[28] Had A Princess of Mars been released, it may have preceded Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to become the first American feature-length animated film.^[30]

1980s Walt Disney development

During the late 1950s famed stop-motion animation effects director Ray Harryhausen expressed interest in filming the novels, but it was not until the 1980s that producers Mario Kassar andAndrew G. Vajna bought the rights for Walt Disney Pictures, with a view to creating a competitor to Star Wars and Conan the Barbarian. Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were hired to write, whileJohn McTiernan and Tom Cruise were approached to direct and star. The project collapsed because McTiernan realized that visual effects were not yet advanced enough to recreate Burroughs' vision of Barsoom. The project remained at Disney, and Jeffrey Katzenberg was a strong proponent of filming the novels, but the rights eventually returned to the Burroughs estate.^[30] 

Release

Although the original film release date was June 8, 2012, in January 2011 Disney moved the release date to March 9, 2012.^[11][18][56] A teaser trailer for the film premiered on July 14, 2011 and was shown in 3D and 2D with showings of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2; the official trailer premiered on November 30, 2011. On February 5, 2012 an extended commercial promoting the movie aired during the Super Bowl,^[57] and before the day of the game, Andrew Stanton, a Massachusetts native, held a special screening of the film for both the team members and families of the New England Patriots and New York Giants.^[58] 

Box office

John Carter has earned $70,960,545 in North America and $200,600,000 in other countries as of May 10, 2012, for a worldwide total of $271,560,545.^[78] It had a worldwide opening of $100.8 million.^[79] In North America, it opened in first place on Friday, March 9, 2012 with $9.81 million.^[80] However, by Sunday, it had grossed $30.2 million, falling to second place for the weekend, behind The Lorax.^[81] Outside North America, it topped the weekend chart, opening with $70.6 million.^[82] Its highest-grossing market was Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States(CIS), where it broke the all-time opening-day record ($6.5 million)^[83] and earned $16.5 million during the weekend.^[84] The film also scored the second-best opening weekend for a Disney film in China^[85] ($14.0 million).^[86] It remained in first place at the box office outside North America for two consecutive weekends.^[87]

In the week following the John Carter's domestic release, movie industry analysts predicted that Disney would lose $100-to-150 million on the picture.^[88] However, its box office strength outside North America led some analysts to speculate that the write-down would be significantly less than expected.^[88] On March 20, in the second week of release, Disney stated that the film would generate a loss of about $200 million during its second fiscal quarter, ending March 31, due to its weak North American performance compared to its high production and marketing costs.^[89] As a result, media reports began to refer to the film as a box office bomb.^[90][91][92]

On 8 May, 2012, the Walt Disney Company released a statement on its second quarter earnings which blamed the losses incurred by their Studio Entertainment division on the performance of John Carter.^[93]

The film's perceived failure led to the resignation of Rich Ross, the head of Walt Disney Studios, even though Ross had arrived there from his earlier success at the Disney Channel with John Carter already in development.^[94] Ross theoretically could have stopped production on John Carter as he did with a planned production of Captain Nemo: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, or minimize the budget as he did to the upcoming Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp from Disney's successful Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.^[95] Instead, Stanton was given the production budget requested for John Carter, backed with an estimated $100 million marketing campaign that is typical for a tentpole movie but without significant merchandising or other ancillary tie-ins.^[51]It was reported that Ross later sought to blame Pixar for John Carter, which prompted key Pixar executives to turn against Ross who already had alienated many within the studio.^[96]

The film rebounded at the domestic box office charts from No. 38 to No. 12 on the first weekend of May 2012 after drive-ins paired it with Disney's release of The Avengers.^[97]