John Carter (Post-release)

[Solo4114]

Re: John Carter

I think I saw the superbowl spot. Frankly, the mere fact that the IP was optioned from the old book doesn't necessarily mean anything. The Conan film was optioned from old IP, and while it was mildly entertaining, it wasn't worth more than a Netflix rental. I don't trust most marketing hacks to be able to do much better with this film.

 

[Kit Rae]

Re: John Carter

I am a big fan of the books. Read a lot of them when i was a kid. I have been watching over the years as this property was optioned, productions started, productions cancelled...Seemed like it would never get made. I got exited when I heard it was greenlit..then found out it was Disney. Prince of Persia is the first thing that came to mind. From what I have read and seen, I am not that exited.

I'm not crazy about the look of the various characters and creatures in the trailer. Too cartoony. I guess I have the old book cover images in mind of what that stuff is supposed to look like. I always hoped it would have an edgier look to it, but I kind of see generic CGI Disney fantasy world when I look at the trailer.

It a shame they are not promoting who Burroughs is more in the ads. They are explaining who Burroughs is in the legacy trailer.
John Carter: Legacy - YouTube


As it is, I'll wait for the BR, unless the thing just gets fantastic reviews.

 

[Kit Rae]

Re: John Carter

the director is trying to explain who Carter is in the AMC ads too.
John Carter: AMC Theatres - Andrew Stanton Exclusive - YouTube

 

[Goonie]

Re: John Carter

the director is trying to explain who Carter is in the AMC ads too.
John Carter: AMC Theatres - Andrew Stanton Exclusive - YouTube

Thought the movie was called:

John Carter of County General

 

[SG-RB]

Re: John Carter

For the record, Robert E. Howard created Conan. Edgar Rice Burroughs is best know for creating Tarzan and John Carter. I'm looking forward to seeing the film. I read the books over 35 years ago and may have to dust them off and read them again.

Randy in San Diego

 

[Solo4114]

Re: John Carter

I am a big fan of the books. Read a lot of them when i was a kid. I have been watching over the years as this property was optioned, productions started, productions cancelled...Seemed like it would never get made. I got exited when I heard it was greenlit..then found out it was Disney. Prince of Persia is the first thing that came to mind. From what I have read and seen, I am not that exited.

I'm not crazy about the look of the various characters and creatures in the trailer. Too cartoony. I guess I have the old book cover images in mind of what that stuff is supposed to look like. I always hoped it would have an edgier look to it, but I kind of see generic CGI Disney fantasy world when I look at the trailer.

It a shame they are not promoting who Burroughs is more in the ads. All they have to say is "from Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Conan the Barbarian and legendary author of the John Carter of Mars books". That would spark enough interest for people to look up who the guy was, and I think would garner more interest in the film. They are explaining who Burroughs is in the legacy trailer.
John Carter: Legacy - YouTube


As it is, I'll wait for the BR, unless the thing just gets fantastic reviews.

Two things:

1.) The Prince of Persia angle. I think this is likely deliberate as a means of selling the film. The implication being "If you liked Prince of Persia, you'll like this too." I think the goal here is to make it seem familiar and therefore accessible. Unfortunately, this also means that it'll look more generic and be advertised in a more generic way. Look, we're talking about an industry that tried to advertise Bridge to Terabithia as the next Harry Potter, regardless of the content of the film.

2.) Advertising Burroughs' name. I really doubt that would count for much. If anything, it might even count against it. See, if you associate the film with, say, Tarzan, I think plenty of people would think "I don't want to waste my time/money seeing some old timey movie that Grandpa would've gone to see. That stuff's lame." Or worse yet, they associate it with a Disney cartoon with Phil Collins on the soundtrack. Remember, the target audience here is pretty much teenagers and early 20-somethings. If you say "From Edgar Rice Burroughs..." it doesn't help your cause either, since most folks in that demographic have ZERO idea who he is. It'd be like saying "From Phil Whoosit, creator of Flarn and Florth." They'd more likely just say "Who the hell is that? Whatever. Let's go see Robots & Explosions instead."

 

[robn1]

Re: John Carter

...From Phil Whoosit, creator of Flarn and Florth...

I'm still waiting for this to be made into a movie.

 

[Kit Rae]

Re: John Carter

The story actually has a lot in common with the Persia film story, so it makes sense for Disney to promote that angle. It's an adventure romance. That's a negative for most people IMO, so I think advertising the authors name and explaining where the John Carter name came from is needed, because most people watching the trailer are scratching their heads asking why is this film title some dudes name?

My nephews were watching tv at my home when the trailer came on a few days ago. One said exactly that and the other said it looked like a ripoff of Phantom Menace (the arena scene). When I explained who the character was and the book series, they actually have some interest in seeing the film now.

 

[Solo4114]

Re: John Carter

I'm still waiting for this to be made into a movie.

Are you kidding?!? They'd totally RUIN it. Florth's deadpan humor would be completely squashed by casting someone like Seth Rogen in the role. Ugh. Such a shame to ruin a classic like that...

 

[glorbes]

Re: John Carter

I guess it all comes down to personal taste regarding the designs. To me, the green martians look similar to the seventies Michael Whelan illustrations, but more realistic and greater thought given to the anatomy. While I love Frazetta, I always felt his Tars Tarkas illustrations were very cartoonish. For the most part, I'm really digging the style of what I've seen.

I agree that the trailers aren't clearly selling what the movie is beyond desert settings and mostly naked people...but there IS a lot going on with the story. I guess I really have hope that this will translate well, and most of that hope rests in Andrew Stanton (director and writer) and Michael Chabon (the writer). Stanton is the guy who made Finding Nemo and Wall-E, and while they're animated films, they're also extremely good animated films. A lot of hash has been made about Stanton making that transition into live action, but the reason Nemo and Wall-E (and pretty much every other Pixar movie) worked was because of the writing, story, and characterization, which I think will be brought to this film.

I don't necessarily get the gripes from Burroughs fans about the look of the film, because I really think that the style and atmosphere of the visuals is bang-on to the books...but that again comes down to personal taste. Divorcing myself of what I know of the source material, I can certainly see how this looks like another run of the mill big budget extravaganza...but I really can't help but be enthusiastic.

 

[Solo4114]

Re: John Carter

No reason to not be upbeat. I'm just saying I wouldn't count on boffo box office, ya know? This could end up being one of those "It was a great movie, but the marketing guys had no idea how to sell it" kinds of films.

 

[Rotwang]

Re: John Carter

Carter has never been in the public eye, no serial, no cartoon, no films, just the books which have been mined by everybody for the last 95 years, so of course everybody's going to think they ripped off everything else.

It looks amazing, I can't wait to go see it, but I'm afraid it will bomb like the RAF over Dresden.

 

[Wes R]

Re: John Carter

The problem is the target audience is made up of teens and twenty somethings who for the most part have the attention span of rotten apples and only care about seeing stuff blow up not storyline. It's the exact reason movies these days aren't any good, you have to dumb stuff down or market it so the vapid twits don't avoid it because they think something from the past is lame.

 

[Solo4114]

Re: John Carter

Note: "From the past" means "Anything that existed prior to 2000." And even that's pushing it.

 

[Kit Rae]

Re: John Carter

I guess it all comes down to personal taste regarding the designs. To me, the green martians look similar to the seventies Michael Whelan illustrations, but more realistic and greater thought given to the anatomy. While I love Frazetta, I always felt his Tars Tarkas illustrations were very cartoonish. For the most part, I'm really digging the style of what I've seen.

I was thinking more along the lines of Richard Corben's Tharks.

Or even the Thark designs from the previous production.

But really, anything more realistic and less cartoony and Disney looking than the finding nemo face on this THIS little guy would have been good -

 

[KnightAsylum]

Re: John Carter

Never read the books, did he get bitten by a radioactive frog?

He does three separate "super-jumps" over the camera in the trailer so I figure something must explain that ability.

I agree the name sucks - I get the point that it is an old story with tradition, but I think the name recognition across all ages for this is next to nothing.

For a movie that should appeal to me a lot, the trailer doesn't do much for me. I am hoping it is good.

 

[cayman shen]

Re: John Carter

The title sucks, as others have said. Utterly unexciting. It tells you nothing about the movie. Yes, I know it's based on ERB's books, but for the sake of marketing, it sucks.

 

[Ozymandius]

Re: John Carter

Never read the books, did he get bitten by a radioactive frog?

He does three separate "super-jumps" over the camera in the trailer so I figure something must explain that ability.

...

Not having read the books I can't say for certain, but I took it as a simple advantage of him being on a planet with 1/3 the gravity of what he is used to. 1/3 the gravity equals 3 times the strength.

 

[Werstrooper]

Re: John Carter

MORTAL KOMBAT!!


Sorry had to do it

 

[Contec]

Re: John Carter

It's been a couple of years since i read the first book: "Princess of mars" but i am still amazed on how good it is.
Let's answer some questions you peoples have:

That's exactly the problem. Saw the trailer in theaters, and everyone within earshot said the same thing as the giant "JOHN CARTER!!!!!" name came up on screen... "Is that supposed to mean something? Who's John Carter and why should I care?"

I eventually gathered that it was based on a book, which makes slightly more sense in the way they're marketing it, but they're going off the very large assumption that everyone already knows what this is about, when in fact it's the exact opposite. As a result, I have little to no impetus to see this.

The director said and It's a pretty stupid answer if you ask me... :
Writer/director Andrew Stanton recently discussed why the film, based on the novel A Princess of Mars, lost the “Princess” and the “Mars.” Hint: it has to do with us fickle little girls.

Stanton spoke in London last month at a small preview of the new Walt Disney distributed film, John Carter. Take a deep breath before you read this. “Here’s the real truth of it,” he said of the film’s title, “I’d already changed it from A Princess Of Mars to John Carter Of Mars. I don’t like to get fixated on it, but I changed Princess Of Mars…because not a single boy would go.”

Stanton added, “And then the other truth is, no girl would go to see John Carter Of Mars. So I said, ‘I don’t won’t to do anything out of fear, I hate doing things out of fear, but I can’t ignore that truth.’”

Never read the books, did he get bitten by a radioactive frog?

He does three separate "super-jumps" over the camera in the trailer so I figure something must explain that ability.

Not having read the books I can't say for certain, but I took it as a simple advantage of him being on a planet with 1/3 the gravity of what he is used to. 1/3 the gravity equals 3 times the strength.

Even if you have not read the books you are right. He has super strength on Mars just because of the gravity thing.