John Carter trailer

The trailer for John Carter has dropped and I'm torn on it. Part of me loves it, and part of me is extremely wary of the potential for cheese. The worrisome part to me is that the trailer just looks a bit over polished (not that anything Disney makes ever doesn't), but it has something just a bit dangerously "pretty" about it. While that may just be Taylor Kitsch, it makes me nervous. The good part though is the sword and sandal stuff. I like how the story mixes the old west with sci fi. I've heard that in the book John Carter is a Civil War veteran and I can't tell if that's been kept for this film but the juxtaposition in the trailer between Earth and Mars is pretty cool regardless. Check out the trailer and see what I mean.



It's like a mix between Prince of Persia with He-Man, and a dash of Avatar meets the old west. Definitely a combination I haven't seen on film before. Despite it being a bit too... Disney I have to admit I really love the song being played, and the voice over by Willem Dafoe at the end is great. Really anything read by Willem Dafoe would be great. For ow, I'll definitely say I'm interested.

For those who are interested the song played is a Peter Gabriel cover of an Arcade Fire song "My Body is a Cage", and the novel on which this first John Carter movie is based on A Princess of Mars is available on Project Gutenberg. One of these days I'll get around to reading it myself :)
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Stanton on Carter

Andrew Stanton, director of last years Wall-E is working hard on the John Carter of Mars adaptation for Disney, and I am sincerely hoping he really gets the film made. Yeah it would've been cool if Favreau had been behind the helm, but I have a really good feeling about Stanton. The Pixar team and Disney now, would never have put so much faith in him if he wasn't the right man for the job. Recently he did a quick interview with SciFi Wire that you can check out here.

Since the movie has been tossed around in development hell literally since 1931 it will be nothing short of a small miracle to see it finally get made, but I know I am really looking forward to seeing what the Disney kids can pull together. Big news for me, Stanton confirmed that the film will be live action saying "...there are so many creatures and characters that half of it's going to be CG whether you want it to be [or not], just to realize some of these images that are in the book. But it will feel real. The whole thing will feel very, very believable."

Stanton is "deep into it now" on his second draft of the script, working on pre-production, working on the art direction, and starting to even talk about actors. All great news in my books. The film is slated for a release sometime in 2012 and I for one, can't wait.

I'll defintiely be keeping my eye on this one as it develops.
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John Carter update

Over at the Pixar Blog it was revealed that none other than Andrew Stanton, screenwriter of the Toy Story films, Finding Nemo, and Wall-E, as well as director on Nemo and Wall-E will be taking the reigns on John Carter of Mars. Stanton has said that he is currently writing the film. No official word yet, but seeing as its from the man himself I think we can take it on pretty good authority that its happening. Also, this doesn't mean John Carter will necessarily be an animated film. Lets keep this under control until we know whats really going on. As for now, I'm just happy that someone is finally moving forward on this again.

John Carter's first book, A Princess of Mars, was published originally in 1912 and it seems like people have been trying to make a film version ever since. I really look forward to this property finally gracing the big screen.
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Disney picks up John Carter

Disney has picked up the rights to John Carter of Mars from Paramount who had previously had the film set up with Jon Favreau to direct. Of course that was before the whole Iron Man thing. While we don't know if Favs is actually off the film now, my guess is probably yes. Anyhow, now that this potentially huge franchise is set up with the mouse house I for one think that it will finally get made. Sure they won't let it be anywhere near as cool as it was going to be when Robert Rodriguez was set to direct it, but heck this film... this SERIES of films... could be the next Pirates of the Carribbean, only in space.

If you don't have any clue what I'm talking about I highly recommend you go check out the WIKI on the John Carter series of novellas by Edgar Rice Burroughs, or just go over to Project Guttenberg and read some of them yourself. A Princess of Mars is the first.

For all their faults, for all the watered down Haunted Mansions they give us, Disney at least knows how to get a film made. And something like this, something that everyone knows could be fantastic that has been trapped in pre-production hell for years... this is exactly the kind of red tape that I believe Disney knows how to handle.

Besides, we know Disney has got the chops... anyone remember a little film by the name of Captain EO ....

'nuff said.