Great movie. Best movie of the year thus far in my opinion yet it had it coming - the financial turmoil.
For Disney to so lavishly spend on a book-film adaption that many haven't heard of was risky because the director (Stanton) was new to live-action films and even warned the execs that he is new to this format. As for Stanton's direction, there was no problem at all - he is a fine director.
Stanton had two massive problems however: pricey reshoots and lack of involvement in the trailers (He only worked on the TEASER trailer and not on the other ones as many people think. Forbes and Honor Hunter at Blue Sky acknowledged this. If you want to see something Stanton approved, look at the sizzle reel).
The Trailers that followed the TEASER trailer were pathetic. They depicted the movie as a cheap hybrid of Star Wars episode 1 and Avatar - something many would not want to see. Where was the love story? This movie was practically a love story at its core with action serving as a side platter. Taylor Kitsch is as attractive as Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson (hes shirtless for 3/4 of the movie!), so the female fans of twilight (or women in general) could have come in masses if they knew that there was a gripping love story behind all the cgi facades.
Where was the "cause" that Carter kept mentioning? Give the audience something about Carter - who he is and what he believes in and not the cliche battle cries to over-dramatize something that isn't dramatic.
Where was a simple synopsis of what the heck the movie was about? A shirtless young man wearing lion cloth and running from white "apes" that look like a genetically mutated King Kong doesn't help. It was the same for the posters: A half naked man in awkward positions looking macho and uninteresting. Not having the read the books or heard of Barsoom, I walked blindly into the theatre, with high expectations that were ultimately achieved.
Who is John Carter? Is this movie a western? Is it a comedy? You couldn't tell by simply looking at the trailers. Then Disney made the stupid mistake of releasing the first 10 minutes of the film to further confuse people. No Mars, no green aliens, just some bearded man escaping from the American military. Is this a Lone Ranger spin off? What a mess.
Where were the toys, lunch boxes, stationary kits, water bottles, paper plates, school bags and clothes? There was no merchandising. How could anyone possibly have been aware of this film? Look at the Avengers, its a giant in terms of merchandising. Yesterday when I went to the local theatre to watch The Hunger Games, I got myself a nifty "Avengers Assemble" refillable plastic water bottle from the food kiosk. I went to Toys R Us a while back and saw shelves of Avengers items from school bags to Pez dispensers. Even the buses here have posters of the movie on their sides.
As great a movie as this was (in my opinion), this crisis was inevitable. This project was dead from the moment production began. I hope it does better in home video sales since it is worthy of sequels and it would be a shame if this doesn't become a franchise.
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