John Carter Movie Details:
| Based on | A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Action Adventure Sci-Fi |
| Release date | February 22, 2012 (Los Angeles) March 9, 2012 (United States) |
| Running time | 2hr 12min |
| Age rating | PG-13 |
| Starring | Taylor Kitsch Lynn Collins Samantha Morton Mark Strong Ciarán Hinds Dominic West James Purefoy Willem Dafoe |
| Directed by | Andrew Stanton |
| Screenplay by | Andrew Stanton Mark Andrews Michael Chabon |
| Produced by | Jim Morris Colin Wilson Lindsey Collins |
| Cinematography by | Dan Mindel |
| Edited by | Eric Zumbrunnen |
| Music by | Michael Giacchino |
| Production Company | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Distributor | Motion Pictures Walt Disney Studios |
John Carter Movie Cast & Characters:
- Taylor Kitsch as John Carter, a Confederate army captain who is transported to Mars.
- Lynn Collins as Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Helium.
- Samantha Morton as Sola, a Thark that works with John Carter.
- Willem Dafoe as Tars Tarkas, the Jeddak of the Tharks and Sola’s father.
- Thomas Haden Church as Tal Hajus, a vicious Thark who dislikes John Carter and Tars Tarkas.
- Mark Strong as Matai Shang, the Hekkador of the Therns.
- Ciarán Hinds as Tardos Mors, the Jeddak of Helium and Dejah Thoris’ father.
- Dominic West as Sab Than, the Jeddak of Zodanga.
- James Purefoy as Kantos Kan, the Odwar of the ship Xavarian.
- Bryan Cranston as Colonel Powell, a Union colonel who wants John to help his U.S. cavalry soldiers against the Apache.
- Daryl Sabara as Ned, John Carter’s nephew.
- Polly Walker as Sarkoja, a merciless Thark who hates Sola.
- David Schwimmer as a young Thark Warrior, a Thark who informs Tars Tarkas that 18 of the Thark eggs did not hatch.
- Jon Favreau as the Thark bookmaker, a Thark who collects the bets on any conflict.
- Don Stark as Dix, a shopkeeper in an Arizona town where John Carter stops.
- Nicholas Woodeson as Dalton, John Carter’s executor who summons Edgar.
- Art Malik as Zodangan General.
Storyline:
John Carter, a Civil War veteran, who in 1868 was trying to live a normal life, is “asked” by the Army to join, but he refuses, so he is locked up. He escapes and is pursued. Eventually, they run into some Indians, and there’s a gunfight. Carter seeks refuge in a cave. While there, he encounters someone who is holding some kind of medallion. When Carter touches it, he finds himself in a place where he can leap incredible heights, among other things. He later encounters beings he has never seen before. He meets a woman who helps him to discover that he is on Mars, and he learns that some kind of unrest is going on.
John Carter Movie Box Office Collection & Budget:
| Budget | $306.6 million (gross) $263.7 million (net) |
| Worldwide Collection | $284.1 million |
About John Carter Movie:
John Carter is an American science fiction action-adventure film directed by Andrew Stanton, written by Stanton, Mark Andrews, and Michael Chabon, and based on A Princess of Mars, the first book in the Barsoom series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Several attempts to adapt the Barsoom series had been made since the 1930s by various major studios and producers. Most of these efforts ultimately stalled in development hell.
In the late-2000s, Walt Disney Pictures began a concerted effort to adapt Burroughs’ works to film, after an abandoned venture in the 1980s. The project was driven by Stanton, who had pressed Disney to renew the screen rights from the Burroughs estate.
Andrew Stanton became the new film’s director in 2009. It was his live-action debut, after his directorial work for Disney on the Pixar animated films Finding Nemo and WALL-E.
Filming began in November 2009, with principal photography underway in January 2010, wrapping seven months later in July.
Michael Giacchino, who scored many Pixar films, composed the music. Like Pixar’s Brave that same year, the film is dedicated to the memory of Steve Jobs.
John Carter was released theatrically in the United States by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The original film release date was June 8, 2012. In January 2011, Disney moved the release date up three months to March 9 of that year. A teaser trailer for the film premiered on July 14 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. On February 5, 2012, an extended commercial promoting the movie aired during the Super Bowl, and the day before the game, 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, the competing teams.
It failed at the North American box office but set an opening-day record in Russia. It grossed $284 million at the worldwide box office, resulting in a $200 million writedown for Disney, becoming one of the biggest box office bombs in history.
With a total cost of $350 million, including an estimated production budget of $263 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made. Due to its poor performance, Disney canceled plans for Gods of Mars and Warlord of Mars, the rest of the trilogy Stanton had planned.
John Carter’s failure has been attributed to its promotion, which has been called “one of the worst marketing campaigns in movie history”.
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released John Carter on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download on June 5, 2012. The home media release was made available in three different physical packages: a four-disc combo pack (1 disc Blu-ray 3D, 1-disc Blu-ray, 1 DVD, and 1-disc digital copy), a two-disc combo pack (1 disc Blu-ray, 1 disc DVD), and one-disc DVD. John Carter was also made available in 3D High Definition, High Definition, and Standard Definition Digital. Additionally, the home media edition was available in an On-Demand format. The Blu-ray bonus features include Disney Second Screen functionality, “360 Degrees of John Carter”, deleted scenes, and “Barsoom Bloopers”. The DVD bonus features included “100 Years in the Making”, and audio commentary with filmmakers. The High Definition Digital and Standard Definition Digital versions both include Disney Second Screen, “Barsoom Bloopers”, and deleted scenes. The Digital 3D High Definition Digital copy does not include bonus features. In mid-June, the movie topped sales on both the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart, which tracks overall disc sales, and Nielsen’s dedicated Blu-ray Disc sales chart, with the DVD release selling almost a million copies making $17 million and Blu-ray and 3-D releases selling almost as many copies making $19.2 million, for a combined total of $36.3 million in its first week alone.
