Re: Name Recognition...or NOT!
Broadway
3/24/2012 9:06:45 PM
Starship Troopers was a box-office bust, perhaps, but it is now a cult classic and has spawned direct-to-DVD sequels. The first is disgusting and idiotic but extremely entertaining if you're into that...and stars a young-adult Neil Patrick Harris. From what I've heard about the director, he might have gotten bored by the book, but he also had political disagreement with his original subject material. The book's author leaned toward the right, even fascism, while the movie is a send-up of the neo-fascist society that exists on the futuristic earth.
Sometimes movies get made without any coherent regard for the source material.
For example, the writers who handled the script for the movie Starship Troopers, another big budget flop, did not know the story was supposed to be based on the book by Robert Heinlein. Apparently the movie's director got bored with the book after the first chapters, stopped reading, and then got "creative".
Some studios buy the rights to existing material just so they can use the names for completely unrelated projects they already had underway.
They slap on a brand name and figure people will want to see it anyway.
Name Recognition...or NOT!
Street Smart
3/23/2012 6:25:47 PM
I realize that the name of the movie was based on a pre-existing fictional character but all I can think of when I hear the name John Carter is Noah Wylie's young doctor character from ER! I know that brands me firmly in the demographic that the movie was NOT trying to attract, but I still think it's a crummy title.
Snakes on a Plane was a world-class horrendous movie but its name immediately elevated it to cult status and it didn't matter. Then it became cult-bad.
Movie marketing is an overlooked art form. To @Tenacious's point, there are so many narcissistic actors/directors/producers that sometimes the marketers don't get the last word. This'll teach 'em!
This is a case of a narcissistic producer/director indulging his own fantasy at the expense of any realistic return on investment. Really a big waste of money!
All I can say is I have no desire to see this movie, and obviously I'm not alone!
Re: Budgets
cat tail
3/23/2012 6:06:49 PM
Valid point. You think someone would do some cost-profit analysis before dumping all this money into a production.
Budgets
Dex
3/23/2012 6:05:29 PM
Why don't studios make filmmakers stick to a budget? This is a huge loss, and while Disney can absorb it, it just seems like a ridiculous waste.
Well, they didn't give us much of a trailer, and then, as Street Smart notes, the movie was disappointing. What did they expect?
It is difficult to engage today's audience with a much older science fiction story that is not widely known.
Disney attempted to connect this movie, at least in spirit, to money makers such as Avatar and the Star Wars franchise. The ads called Burroughs's story the inspiration for such later works . . . but never really let you in on what's at stake for the characters.
I have not seen the John Carter movie but a copy of The Martian Tales Trilogy, the first three books of this series, resides on my bookshelf. The original story was first published 100 years ago.
I imagine the movie studio banked heavily on the notion that there is a wealth of material to build a new movie franchise around but unfortunately John Carter does not have the same name recognition as say . . . The Lord of the Rings.
And mixed reviews for a movie with a huge budget tells the audience that this was a bloated, unsatisfying effort.
Re: Has anyone seen the movie?
Value Hiker
3/23/2012 4:09:49 PM
It is impossible for movie studio to have each major release a blockbuster. If John Carter doesn't do well here, it is hard to say it will do well in global market. This dud will have a short term impact on Disney stock. In the long term, it is not a big issue. I am still long on Disney
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