Disney's Failed Next Big Thing: John Carter

[@valettashepard909]

One of the biggest mistakes they could’ve ever made with this imo is chopping the “of mars” off of the title. It takes away the hook, the thing that catches the attention of joe shmoe, that the original title, John Carter of Mars, has. Now it’s just “John Carter”, which could easily be some rando watering his lawn or driving a garbage truck or using the office photocopier. It doesn’t mean anything UNTIL you add the fantastical element of a whole different planet to it.

[@kolonarulez5222]

You said exactly why I passed on this as a kid. Yeah but what about John Carter am I here to see? Lol

[@stellviahohenheim]

They did everything in their power to make sure that this movie failed. There's probably nasty behind the scenes politics involved

[@gregbors8364]

@@stellviahohenheimI’m not disagreeing, but can you explain why that would make sense? Aren’t big budget movies created to *make* money? Was it a tax write off or something? 🤷‍♂️

[@MrRowskey]

Agreed. The marketing was all screwed up. They should have focused on the age of the story, and called it a direct influence to modern science fiction. They could have hyped so much about this movie, but they failed so miserably.

[@LucLB01]

@@gregbors8364the video covered it pretty well. Disney was more interested in making more Star Wars than it was in making more John Carter. Look how that turned out…

[@Skaiser_Wilhelm7938]

This film is my granddad's favourite film. He used to read the Barsoom books when he was a kid, and eventually, I got into reading the books.

[@WretchedIcon]

I miss my grandpa. Appreciate them everyday. That is, if they were good to you.

[@carrained]

@@WretchedIconI second that ❤️ If the people you love are kind to you, really treasure every moment you can with them. I miss my paternal grandmother and my maternal grandfather so much, I think grandparents are more important than people realize.

[@dmgcaster904]

Yep. That was the problem in a nut shell. Nobody who wasn't your granddad's age would really know who John Carter of Mars was. Then, since Disney did a bad job of informing the audience who exactly John Carter was, the movie failed. Why wouldn't it? If you suddenly saw a movie entitled Fred Garvin: Male Prostitute. Most wouldn't have any idea it was an old Saturday Night Live skit.

[@TheBrotherGrim]

I love the books too. Went through a huge retro sci-fi phase back in the day cause I'm a NERRRD

[@I_am_a_cat_]

You should show him an actual good movie

[@ultraokletsgo]

This movie is so severely underrated. I wish we got more of them.

[@williamedwards4151]

Oh man, me too. They even sequel-baited it so hard. UGH.

[@ninjanibba4259]

@@williamedwards4151didn’t sequel bait anything, he went back…the end Alita is the one that was baited and unfinished

[@thethirdchimpanzee]

​@ninjanibba4259 I just could NOT get past those UNCANNY VALLEY EYES Alita had. The movie "Ex Machina" came out a few years before and was able to create a realistic cyborg with a human face on a robotic body (really they didn't add some fact to a robot body, but removed, *everything but* the face.)

[@jessejive1174]

I remember being so excited for it and hating it.

[@nadtz]

This movie was terrible. Not as bad as Battlefield Earth but everything about it was just bad. No harm no foul on liking it, I have bad movies I like too but it's not underrated, especially when you compare it (or Battlefield earth or Starship Troopers) to the book(s). That said I do think Disney made a potentially bad call worse by reshooting this, I'd be very interested to see what the original film was like.

[@AdmiralBonetoPick]

To correct you on one point: the first Iron Man movie was made for Paramount, not Disney. Disney only bought Marvel a couple years later.

[@petermgruhn]

That's all immaterial. All things all of us do are for Disney. In one way or one time stream or another. We are all Disney.

[@bubbytumby8509]

that's why it was good. Disney is trash

[@isenhartproductions2677]

That's true, my mistake

[@nilus2k]

@@bubbytumby8509I know in 2024 Disney has had a lot of bad movies but there was a solid time where MCU movies, even under Disney, were good. I know it’s the cool kid thing to hate on them these days but the fact is we were all down for them a decade ago

[@bubbytumby8509]

@@nilus2k but that was before 2000

[@KyleJWest-vn9kn]

I managed a local movie theater when this flick came out and I had customers who said they almost didn’t come because they thought “John Carter” was a sports movie - probably confusing it with something like “Coach Carter”. Disney really messed up by changing the name of the film, it should have been “JOHN CARTER OF MARS”

[@anubusx]

I agree the title sounded to generic.

[@christianaguilera1469]

I think the title change was the biggest mistake. Knowing Disney they thought that Princess from Mars would turn away the male demographic. That's why they stick with one word titles i.e. Tangled, Frozen, Brave etc

[@umadbroimatroll7918]

Hate to break it to you but it's true, I watched this when I was younger, and if i saw "a princess from mars" I would not have watched it.

[@unemilifleur]

@@umadbroimatroll7918and as a 14 years old I didn’t watch “john carter” because it sounded like a boring biography. Or war movie. Or something else based on a real man.

[@MrJacksspleen]

Well, if they made the movie today, it would be called "Jane Carter of Mars" and the main character would be a lgbtq+poc.

[@StragProductions]

100% agreed. When I heard the title of this movie as a teenager, I thought it was some boring action movie and paid it no attention. If they'd stuck with "The Princess From Mars" or at least given it a more space-y title and really emphasised that this had influenced ALL OF MODERN SCI-FI and was based on a book series then my god would I have actually wanted to see it. I'm a huge fan of Flash Gordon, which as the video said, was influenced by these books - I adore campy old sci-fi! They really missed a beat.

[@christianaguilera1469]

@@umadbroimatroll7918 But calling it John Carter was so basic, they could have been more creative

[@QuinnyBob1]

Saying there was so much CGI but then years later every marvel movie is basically all CGI. Ahead of its time obviously and still looks really good

[@anthonynehoda2064]

Recent MCU movies/series cant even beat 20 years old CGI tho

[@TheHalloweenSpirit]

​@@anthonynehoda2064 Rocket Raccoon from Guardians Vol. 3 can...

[@CokeZorro]

And Marvel movies look like bad rubbery cartoons nowadays

[@j.m.w.5064]

But when it looked well then because of decend blend of film and CGI. Like in the first Iron Man. The Star Wears prequels look like shit and not because "George dared something new" but because he couldn't be bothered to get it right before going in production.

[@gregoryblack8109]

​@@j.m.w.5064the prequals are way over hated, the cgi is fine in them

[@oscarstainton]

This film and TRON Legacy are the ones I wished caught on and made a splash with the public. Despite being a Tarzan fan, I was unaware of the whole Barsoom mythos before watching the movie, and checked out the book A Princess of Mars.

[@serenaw4076]

I swear TRON did well but Disney ditched it when they got ahold of Star Wars. Cause everyone loved TRON and they even had a tv cartoon series for it too so I feel like Disney was trying to make it their anchor sci-fi thing but they abandoned the project for easy money🙄🙄 I will never forgive them😭😭

[@LeopoldLitchenstein]

Well there is Tron 3 coming out... with Jared Leto unfortunately. Someday I need to watch the Tron movies because I love the aesthetic and both KH worlds based on the movies

[@toonboy2041]

@@LeopoldLitchensteinmaybe it’ll be good?

[@LeopoldLitchenstein]

@@toonboy2041 Here's hoping. I'm just not a Jared Leto fan is all

[@grammaton6leric]

Tron: Legacy, upon rewatch, actually went pretty hard. I watched it right after the original and the numerous callbacks really helped me settle into it.

[@kevinhamilton5618]

I had pretty much the same reaction you did: "this is pretty good, wish we got more." Not great by any stretch, but a solid sci-fi actioner.

[@f.wallace8969]

The marketing sucked for this movie. I never even heard of it, watched it not expecting much. Was very surprised how good it was. Like you say, it wasn’t a game changing, instant classic movie. But very solid nonetheless. I wish they still had movies like this instead of the trash they’ve been pumping out recently.

[@kitlc1]

I think, rather than trying to make the film bomb, Disney execs became indifferent/distracted with the purchase of Star Wars. They didn’t try enough to help John Carter succeed, but they likely didn’t actively try to make it fail either. After all, the financial fall out was serious enough that it probably influenced the resignation of Rich Ross, the chairman of the Walt Disney film studio at the time. He left Disney just weeks after the film’s release.

[@sswpp8908]

That's my feeling too. Even if Star Wars wasn't a factor the bad press stacked against this movie already was an obstacle and in light of the costs already spent to make the movie, exec's probably would decide to write it off rather than give in to what is likely sunk cost fallacy. Though in a world where this movie turned out to be wildly successful I could imagine that the higher ups would have killed any sequel out of fear of diluting the scifi grnre and potentially impacting the plans for Star Wars.

[@pohjanakka4992]

I think there were some changes even before that that kind of left that movie an orphan in the system, the people who had accepted it were out or going out and their successors weren't interested in it, but wanted to push their choices. Maybe even wanted it to fail because it was associated with their predecessors. At least as far as I remember some people who had followed its making closely claimed that. I didn't like it all that much. It's a fairly decent film in its own, but I was a fan of the novels since childhood and the movie changed the characters, and the world of Barsoom itself, too much to my liking. John Carter went from a bold adventurer who was rather enjoying his adventure on the new, strange planet (most of the time) to a surly widower who just wanted to go back to his gold for far too long, the princess who voluntarily decided to marry the prince of Zodanga to save her people from war became a runaway bride, her father/grandfather (there are both a father and a grandfather in the novels) who would have done anything to save her from that became the one who pushed her to do it, Tars Tarkas who is a thoroughly scary brute who didn't know Sola was his daughter for quite a while became somebody who constantly seemed to need John Carter to save him, Sola now didn't know that Tars Tarkas was her father, unlike in the novel where she knew but didn't tell to protect him... and so on. And yes, no walking cities in the novel, and the Greater and Lesser Helium are huge impressive cities, not two small fortresses. And where are the canals? Surrounded by the big agricultural areas that feed most of the planet? About the only thing invented for the movie and not in the books I liked was making the Therns into the troublemakers who caused the constant wars between the Red nations, that would have brought a longer arc to the story than is in the novels that are more a collection of scenes and incidences, with no really solid larger plot connecting them. What is known about Favreau's plans for his adaptation make me think I would probably have liked it a lot more, it seems to have been something adhering a bit closer to the novels, while what got made seems to have taken more inspiration from the comics adaptations by Marvel in the 70s than they do from the novels. And then making a pretty different story even from those. The movie is pretty much "inspired by" rather than a real adaptation. Not really all that close to the source material at all.

[@jordanwhite352]

Thos also happen with Tron.

[@vanyadolly]

​@@jordanwhite352Ironically I was so much more excited for Tron and John Carter than SW.

[@nathang6376]

In my opinion, desert fantasy is grossly underrated. John Carter and Prince of Persia are comfort films of mine, and I’m so glad Dune is giving this niche the respect it deserves. EDIT: Does this make Dejah Thoris a Disney Princess?

[@haileyshannon7548]

The irony that the IP that inspired some of the most influential and success franchises in history, waits so long to to get made it makes very little of an impact.

[@jonathanwright8025]

YeH that's the tragedy of the film.

[@darikdatta]

This movie was way, WAAAAAAAAY better than Avatar. It's a real shame it didn't get the success it deserved.

[@davids8127]

They both mid, but when you went to see Avatar, you got dragged into the world and you forgot about the plot. One of the only movies I watched like 3 times cause the 3d and visuals, but the only unique thing about this movie I remember is that they jump big lol

[@Obama8mycatHQ.]

This movie was awful lol

[@TF2CrunchyFrog]

I agree on the horrible marketing. I disagree that casting "unknown/less known" actors was a bad idea... too often, casting _too_ famous actors buries the role under the name of the actor. And now-famous actors like Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver started as no-names when they were cast as Han Solo and Ellen Ripley, respectively, but instantly became iconic because they had charisma and good scenes. The character of John Carter himself... I don't known, maybe the old-school source material is too blame, too. Back in 1912, protagonists were written differently than what modern audiences expect. In a Pulp Adventure/Pulp Scifi story, the protagonist just had to be there and save the day, while the 1912 readers were amazed by the exotic Martian setting. But today, we expect the writers to give us more emotional depth. After decades of Scifi/Fantasy novel and movies, and heroes and anti-heroes with complex backstories, we find the aliens to be more interesting than the human protagonists.

[@ericmilnesoto2727]

So, because of this review, I decided to go watch this movie. It was AMAZING. It could have been an entire franchise. It made me remember of when I watched the first Ironman, that's how good I felt it was. I'll never forgive Disney for destroying this opportunity.

[@spartan5285]

I could have sworn this came out in 2008 or 2009 at the latest. Blows my mind that it was 2012

[@JurassicLion2049]

It does feel like a 2009 movie ngl

[@daustin8888]

100th anniversary of the character

[@George_M_]

The best of the "failed next big thing"s. The only one sunk entirely by bad marketing instead of only partially by it.

[@iamtobler]

Saw it in theaters without knowing what it was beforehand. Absolutely loved it. Excitedly looked it up online when I got home to find out why I hadn't heard about it at all. Was shocked and even angered by the negative reviews, box office failure, and lack of marketing...

[@jpgr8937]

I adore this movie. My 8th grade history teacher was a true classic nerd who exposed us to all sorts of sci-fi he grew up with. When it came out I went to talk with him about it and he said it was great but no one went to see it. I'm glad it's still considered a solid project made from a real fan. On another note, you're my new favorite cinema youtuber. I LOVE your videos and have enjoyed them daily. Keep up the great work! 👍👍

[@highstepnightowl]

When it was announced in theaters, I assumed from the title that John Carter was another male protagonist YA film adaptation. Having no familiarity with the actual source material plus the lack of any taglines mentioning that this was a major wellspring of modern space scifi, I continued to dismiss it as such through the dismal box office all the way up to now. It sounds like the poor marketing really let it down. After watching the fanmade trailer, I might go watch it.

[@stellviahohenheim]

Yep i thought i was adapted from the YA novel because of the trailer. I really believe that Disney made sure this franchise failed spectacularly because they keep calling it the biggest bomb in history making sure nobody wont even see it on DVD

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

Yep, I cut my reading teeth on the Burroughs Mars books back in the late '60's so I knew who John Carter was and all I could think when I saw the theatrical trailer was "Huh? Seriously? Yikes, that's not good!"

[@peterw2880]

I really liked this movie. It had a lot of heart, fun action scenes, and I really felt Taylor Kitsch did a great job. Also Mark Strong is always the right casting choice

[@redbearddan2000]

I still don't understand how Disney equally spent almost $300 mln. on John Carter and Indiana Jones 5 recently, but the first one looks like a big blockbuster while the latter one doesn't. Although both movies bombed.

[@gonkdroid9325]

Probably most of that went into forcing Harrison ford to be indiana jones again

[@ianmount8585]

@@gonkdroid9325lol 25 million you’re not wrong

[@shawnmcdaniel435]

It's worse when you factor in a decade of inflation. I'm thinking that the $ actually went into the film, rather than all the modern day bloat and fluff like DIE initiatives and exorbitant salaries.

[@paul4000]

@@shawnmcdaniel435 y’all gop goobers really think about nothing else 😂

[@anthonyoer4778]

​@paul4000 Can't Understand Normal Thinking...

[@matthewweng8483]

Yeah, severely underrated film and the cast was great. I was super bummed that we didn't get more of the series.

[@makingtechsense126]

The marketing for this movie assumed the general public knew the story, when in fact, that vast majority of people had never heard of it. Changing the title to, "John Carter," only exasperated the problem as it made it difficult for the average person to ever link it to the original story. The final nail in the coffin was that we know what is on Mars in modern times so the story is just ridiculous for a lot of people.

[@marymikel9193]

Actually we've been lied to about Mars and outer space in general.

[@knighthawk3749]

They could have used the original name Barsoom and set it in another solar system. It didn't have to be set on Mars.

[@patrickjeffers7864]

Changing the title was the first great mistake. The princess was hot though

[@suezcontours6653]

Because that's all that matters

[@jasonfuentz4282]

@@suezcontours6653 💯👌

[@JurassicLion2049]

What didnt help John Carter back in 2012 was that it came out in a time during a bit of a slog. Most audiences were awaiting the big movies of that year which were The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, and Skyfall, Django Unchained too which was that December. John Carter also came out decades after its inspirations were already big in popular culture. Stuff like Star Wars, James Cameron’s Avatar, Flash Gordon, etc. John Carter wasnt as new as it wanted to be & folks were eager for other major releases.

[@stellviahohenheim]

Good movies will attract viewers there's no such thing as a bad time. Disney bungled the marketing and calling it the biggest bomb after the movie came out made me really think they wanted this movie to fail.

[@thatonkgau5221]

That's why I think now is the best time for John Carter of Mars to come back not as a movie but as Disney plus that way you could properly and fully explore the characters and build up the world. With the MCU in decline, DC still figuring things out and and star wars being a complete mess. People would be looking for something new, something simple and refreshing. John Carter is a stand along series with no cinematic universe.

[@maux7767]

I loved this movie, it is severely underrated. I watched this movie in a theater alone because I loved reading the books and I thought it did a great job adapting it. But almost everyone I talked to about it said the same thing: they thought it was ripping off other movies. And I was so frustrated explaining "no, actually, all of those things are ripping off it, you don't understand!" I'm still sad about it to this day.

[@DisneyGirl2004]

What was also confusing, is that Disney licensed the rights to a PUBLIC DOMAIN character like what they did with Tarzan. Then lost the rights even though ERB's estate don't legally own the characters they lost rights to. this film had so much potiential, since a Princess of Mars is public domain future adaptations might happen.

[@unodestosdiaz2998]

Man. I Called this run of films "The Disney for Boys" era. That it was reviving classic characters (John Carter, Lone Ranger) , Nostalgia (Tron) and "new classics" (Prince of Persia, Wizard Apprentice). I enjoyed many of them in the cinema, specially john carter, which i saw three times and pre ordered the bluray/DVD when it was announced. Great times for a brand which main demographic is not the one it targeted with this films.

[@Burden_one]

I love your series bro. It feels like half the culture that made the 2010s distinct is so forgotten and overlooked. Makes it hard to articulate what that decade was even like.

[@vibrationnation5]

2:45 I'm pretty sure Jon Favreau didn't make Iron Man with Disney, Iron Man was made before Marvel Studios was purchased by Disney.

[@isenhartproductions2677]

You're right, I mixed that up

[@TGill22]

Man, I love this movie. Maybe this is the 2nd sci-fi movie from Hollywood I watched. I am an Indian living in a rural village in Punjab India. My brother used to watch Hollywood movies so I too got addicted to Hollywood. He bought a computer in 2006 and we all played games, I remember the first time playing GTA Vice City and that mission of planting a bomb in the building by RC helicopter. The San Andreas just left me shocked. The first time I watched a Hollywood movie it was some kungfu movie my bro brought a DVD, then Spider-Man. My brother got married and moved to the UK. So there was a huge gap from 2009 to 2015 or 16, then I watched this movie in Hindi on a cable channel. I forgot about it until I saw this video. Man, it brought back memories. When I found an English channel, that played Hollywood movies 24hrs in English. I would just sit and watch Hollywood movies all day on holidays. This is how I learned English in the first place my aunt is an English teacher but her teaching me was like torture I didn't enjoy it and often failed English tests. But this movie changed everything, 2nd time I watched it in English I wanted to hear their real voices. So it started my path toward Hollywood. All those aliens, wide beautiful shots of surroundings, ships, and my god the lead actress. I loved everything about it. I would happily watch this movie again over every other movie. And to be honest this movie still holds its ground visually. If I was a rich man I would buy this title just to satisfy my own heart and would not change a thing in this. and would love to bring all those people back for a sequel, especially Lynn Collins. she was so S****y in this movie. Disney should work on a sequel, this is a great universe to expand but without all that woke crap. If those rumors are true then Bob should be kicked out not only for this but for bringing Disney to the worst state it is nowadays.

[@jimhebson6793]

I’ve always liked John Carter. I still go back and watch it again. Growing up in the 1950’s/1960’s, it’s a good film if you cannot see the zipper in the monsters suit.

[@gadget133]

I loved John Carter. I read The Princess of Mars when I was like 7 and when the movie came out it took me right back to those days… It didn’t fail because it was a bad movie. It failed because the House of Mouse is a joke at understanding how to market anything other than a ride now days.

[@christographerx64]

This is Disney's BIGGEST movie failure Dial of Destiny: Hold my beer...

[@gangofheroes]

This movie is underrated and deserves better.

[@somehoodedguy]

Nah lol this movie sucks 😂

[@ninjanibba4259]

@@somehoodedguyno it doesn’t

[@jasonfuentz4282]

@@somehoodedguy 💯

[@jasonfuentz4282]

@@ninjanibba4259 😂

[@jamesu9508]

Imagine writing a book and 100 years later they make a movie about it! That’s wild! That’d be like me releasing a book in 2024 and the movie comes out 2124. Hahaha

[@lucaschudleigh7193]

What a stunning use of math. Bravo. 👏

[@imgvillasrc1608]

And witness the movie tragically fail... I'd be saddened tbh

[@theunwantedcritic]

They should have never changed the title "John Carter of Mars. "

[@PicklesRTasty]

Such a shame this killed Taylor Kitsch's career; he was great in Friday Night Lights and basically every teenage girl in the late 00s had a crush on him.

[@xuedalong]

This movie is better than any Disney Star Wars movie.

[@xisigma]

Yeah, sadly star wars killed this movie’s chances and as well as dune. Avatar turned the tables.

[@Lampoluke]

Those are not hard to reach

[@dickvalentine9021]

Kinda liked the movie. And if you compare it to new Disney or Lucasfilm movies, it becomes obvious, that it is better than its reputation.

[@mr.sinjin-smyth]

Maybe the reason why Disney doesn't do anymore movies with a White male protagonist.

[@PierceTreacher-f7o]

Rogue One and Solo: Are we a joke to you?

[@MattMcIrvin]

I didn't hate this movie--thought it was pretty entertaining, but also a bit slight. I saw it with some family and I remember my brother-in-law saying he liked it but was going to forget everything about it the moment he walked out of the theater. I pretty much agree with your assessment: they could have ditched at least one of the nested frame stories; Taylor Kitsch was not great; Lynn Collins *was* great and I think it's a pity that association with this movie seemed to tank her career. It should have been called "A Princess of Mars."

[@suezcontours6653]

Wouldn't men be mad about a female taking over a male property?

[@brandonlyon730]

@@suezcontours6653 “Princess of Mars” is literally the title of the original novel.

[@jsummer8974]

This is a truly is a great niche of the movie tube corner of KZbin you have found. I think you could do this with a bunch of things! There so many movies that have come out and went completely under the radar but were definitely meant to be the next big thing even outside of Disney. You should take this concept and run with it!

[@TheBeird]

It makes a few misteps in terms of its structure and pacing, but I love its sense of old school romanticism and adventure. Not many things are this sincere.

[@mikelewis495]

Like what you said about it being derivative. Reminds me of my experience watching The Shining for the first time in my upper 30s. I'd been a horror fan for a while, but had never gotten around to seeing that classic. Then I think it was on Netflix, so I watched it. My initial reaction was "man this is so cliche and by the numbers. Look at this trope and that one and the other one". But then I realized, oh wait. All these things are tropes because everyone who did them was copying The Shining. This seems so derivative because it's actually the OG that everyone else copied.

[@youtubesean]

John Carter is a butt kicking underrated gem. I Love it and know a lot of others who love it too.

[@MuhammadImHardBruceLee]

The plot is extremely memorable, but the protagonist, antagonist, love interest, allies, weapons, planets are all absolutely forgettable.

[@GenerusCrow]

I was out of the country for a few years starting in early 2012 and didn't even know this movie existed until several years later - a testament to how well Disney buried some of these failed "next big things."

[@robertrootes]

I saw John Carter in the theater and loved it. But DisKnees didn't know how to market a classic

[@adblue8955]

Me and my friends used to get drunk and watch this

[@PierceTreacher-f7o]

Had John Carter started a franchise, then maybe Disney could've made a deal with the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate, so they could keep using Tarzan characters, as well as the John Carter characters.

[@GermanShible]

I’m excited to see people talking about John Carter of Mars! This movie is a comfort watch & I watch it annually. It’s definitely criminally overlooked

[@dwightdeon2421]

It's such a great movie. Saw it on a whim, not knowing anything about it, and it's still one of those films that I really enjoy. i wish it had a sequel. What a shame

[@backto-il9ne]

I LOVE THIS MOVIE. It has aged like fine wine. A fun smart piece of thrilling popcorn entertainment.

[@ScottHermanFitness]

This is actually one of my favorite movies, seriously. I actually got to interview Taylor Kitsch on the red carpet for Ninja Assassin and we talked about John Carter and his workout regimen. He is a super chill guy! I wish more of these movies were made!

[@andreashoyer4662]

This movie is of my all-time favorites. I was surprised to find out it bombed and that people love to hate it. Well, luckily it doesn't change anything for me. Gonna rewatch it this weekend.

[@redjacemory4404]

I read all of the novels about 50 years ago. I remember loving them as a kid, but the Marvel Comics version from 1977 (Titled John Carter, Warlord of Mars) is the one that sticks in my head more. Especially the early issues were VERY well done.

[@jiminverness]

Two huge things that stopped this movie being successful in my opinion: 1. Make up your mind on the princess. Is she a damsel in distress, or is she a total girl boss kicking everyone's arse? Don't make her schizophrenically one in one scene, the other the next, then back to the first, then back to the second, ad nauseum. It just doesn't work (unless there's some explanation as part of the story); and 2. Put MARS boldly in the title. The title should either have been A Princess of MARS, or John Carter of MARS depending on the slant you were going for. Heck, it could even have been JOHN CARTER of MARS: 1. A Princess of Mars.

[@shockwavecg]

My brother and I watched this movie a year after it came out, fully expecting it to be terrible considering what everyone had said. At the end we turned to each other and said, "When was that bad? That was a lot of fun!"

[@chrischristenson]

This was a win for Disney, just to have it in its archives. They made movie out of a classic Sci-Fi book, (the one other writers drew inspiration from) and no other studio is going to attempt a remake. They got a big tax write-off, while paying everyone involved salaries using equipment and studios, that they rented to themselves. It's content for their Channel, and makes some coin when broadcasted on other mediums. It's made its money back. If I remember correctly, A Princess of Mars was rejected because of confusion to those that wouldn't really know the source material, Disney Princesses etc, thus it was to be 'John Carter of Mars' but then movies with "Mars" in the name did poorly - Mars needs Moms - Ghosts of Mars - Mission to Mars - Mars Attacks, etc., they went for a Brand with the name, I'm guessing like 'Remo Williams' or something like 'John Wick' would be today... Have been a big Burroughs fan, I could blab on for hours, but I'll just say, when every I start writing a new story, the Protagonist always starts off with the name 'John Carter'!

[@nicholasmorre7371]

We didn't know how good we had it. Super underrated film. The biggest flaw in my opinion is Taylor Kitsch was miscast. But overall it rocks, and Lynn Collins is perfect as Dejah Thoris.

[@edczxcvbnm]

I think the bad marketing is the single biggest reason for the failure. The article in the wrap and bad press from the inside, I don't think factored that much into the failure. The majority of audiences don't follow that stuff at all or are even aware of it. The Disney Sabotage theory is interesting but if John Carter is a huge 1 Billion dollar hit, do they even buy Lucas film? Now they have a billion dollar franchise with a rich history and legacy that they can milk instead and they don't need to spend 4 billion to buy a company from someone else to get it. I also think large reshoots are still a big sign of trouble. Fan4stic, Black Widow, Solo, all show that massive reshoots are a mad scramble to Frankenstein a workable movie when test screenings bombed. Most movies do some reshoots and have for decades, but they are usually to fix things some smaller things that aren't working or to add a scene or two because some bigger stuff got cut in editing and now you need some exposition to cover that up. The ones we hear about where they redid 70 percent of the movie almost always lead to disaster (or at least that is my impression). But, at the end of the day, it was a solid movie that did enough world building that I would have seen a sequel to. But they blew it in spectacular fashion. Great retrospective.

[@AJ-xc4qe]

This story needs a do-over either on film or television. But not by Disney since they killed the movie's chances of a sequel. It's also a sad reminder why Disney hasn't had a successful live action movie that isn't a live action remake or part of the brands they bought or studio they own because they sabotage every live action movie, even the good ones like this movie, that isn't a part of the brands they bought or studio they own. I mean, I'd love to see another PG 13 live action franchise from Walt Disney Studios but they don't care.

[@lakegroce685]

I still think this series has a chance. Disney is never gonna touch it again,obviously.But if it has a dose have a dedicated fan base, maybe it could be an indie hit. Maybe the key is giving it to people who want to see it get the love it deserves instead of a faceless greedy company who’s only goal is to make the most money in the the shortest amount of time.

[@SobiTheRobot]

On the plus side, the original three books (the ones that focus on John Carter in the protagonist slot) are actually in the public domain.

[@brandonlyon730]

It might work better as a series, something that could be on Netflix or another streaming service.

[@jphillips7083]

They could have called it "That freaky Martian thing." and did better at the box office. Why couldn't they have just called it The Princess of Mars.

[@richardboldbrooker6327]

It was actually a well made action adventure that bombed because they publicised it as the next 'Star Wars'. There was also other in-house politics going on due to Disney being in debt and how creative accounting actually made the film on paper more expensive than it literally was.

[@luxdalet]

Great video! Up until now I thought I was only person to have loved this movie. None of my friends came with me to watch it in theaters, and I was one of the few people in the room. But I loved every moment of it, and was really hyped for a follow up...

[@starwave6842]

It's claimed that the 'Of Mars' part of the title was dropped because of the failure of Disney's 'Mars Needs Moms'. Disney thought that having Mars in the movie's title would mean instant failure which happened anyway. If you liked this movie then that's fine but I didn't enjoy it. I thought that the character of John Carter was unlikeable and the actor wasn't very good. It was also very long.

[@dinobroofmf]

This video and others like it always give me a lot of respect to the source material, it's always a shame when timeless stories get forgotten for no fault of their own.

[@darthkek1953]

"WE RIDE FOR ZODANGA!" is one of my favourite lines in cinema.

[@rumali_roti7406]

People were morbing all over their seats in theater when he said that.

[@darthkek1953]

@@rumali_roti7406 10/10 great morb would morb again.

[@unbearifiedbear1885]

The company in the UK that did effects (FBFX) is directly across the road from where I work. It's a commercial warehouse type building with a small foyer/front office on the street side. They have a 10ft tall prop of the Alien leader guy in the entrance 😂

[@Luciphell]

The problem with 'John Carter' was that Disney was so hyper-focused on franchise seeding they forgot to start with good story-telling and characterization.

[@thesparklezgirl5030]

John Carter of Mars (Yes I use that as the whole title) is my absolute, number 1, favorite film of all times. Yes it is IMMENSELY sad and frustrating that Disney gave up on this movie before it even came out. Disney directly caused the failure of this film. Disney completely messed up the marketing. I, along with many others, believe that Disney purposely put forward poor quality marketing because they wanted it to fail. Not only because of Star Wars, but because of a personal vendetta against the director Andrew Stanton. He wrote about the connecting stories John Carter: The Gods of Mars and John Carter: Warlord of Mars and how we would have seen John grow in his personal journey with his new family on mars. I sincerely hope that at some point these films can become a reality.

[@section7173]

Back then Disney made bad movies that were still very enjoyable and family friendly. Now they just make bad movies with plots and characters that make normal adults utterly disgusted.

[@Adam-xd9tr]

I remember watching this with my dad on Disney+ last year. We enjoyed it well enough, but knowing ahead of time that it was based on a book series that inspired countless other Sci-Fi properties helped soften and even elevate the more cliched aspects of the film. If the marketing leaned into John Carter being the origin of several genre tropes that we know take for granted, I could see it catching peoples interest and leading them to be softer on the more "derivative" moments.

[@stanley13579]

I'm someone who saw the marketing, and immediately knew the movie was going to fail. The title was stupid... the whole thing just looked exhausting to watch... The aliens weren't "pretty" like Avatar.... Mars was dry and desolate, and made me hot and annoyed just looking at it.... all the side characters and villains looked boring and pretentious, and the action looked so, completely generic. You could have taken every, single element of this movie and made a more eye-catching version of all of it. But they went for bland, uninspired designs for everything, and it resulted in a movie I think most people knew they didn't want to sit through.

[@shammydammy2610]

Saw it at our local drive through theater. Both my husband and I had read the books, knew what it was, knew the series' legacy, knew that borroughs had written Tarzan. Excited to see it. Husband fell asleep during it.

[@ciaranmurren]

Can't wait for known flop TRON Legacy

[@solairerays55]

I thought TRON barely broke even

[@ciaranmurren]

@@solairerays55 not even close. Budget at least $170 million, marketing at least $80 million. Box office $400 mil but Disney only gets half.

[@MattMcIrvin]

At this point, the most successful thing about the Tron franchise is a theme-park ride that was greenlit for Shanghai before anyone realized the movie was going to flop, and was a big enough hit that they cloned it at Disney World. It's the tail wagging the dog. It's history repeating itself in a way, since the original movie wasn't that successful either but the associated video games were.

[@solairerays55]

@@MattMcIrvin And we are getting a sequel-reboot called Tron: Ares next year

[@axiadjinn]

This one is easy. Half of the people who watched the film hated it because it feels like a two hour long Daft Punk music video. The other half loved it because it feels like a two hour long Daft Punk music video.

[@robertlauncher]

Could you imagine if the same people who finalized the title made that decision on other major franchises? Like who could forget George Lucas’ epic masterpiece Wars? Or Steven Spielberg’s adventure film Doctor Jones? Or my personal favorite, Don Bluth’s prehistoric classic The Land.

[@juliamavroidi8601]

I'm so disappointed this movie never got a sequel. I really like it and it got me into the books.

[@robertb.7772]

Your channel will grow a lot if you keep this level of quality. This was very well made, informative and entertaining!

[@isenhartproductions2677]

Thank you!

[@Grombrindal]

It ran into the same issue Warhammer has. People who grew up with Starcraft assume that it's the original and Warhammer is the ripoff.

[@PrincessOzaline]

That may have been an issue for Warhammer for a time, but I think 40K has outlasted Starcraft at this point. And thanks to games like Space Marine and the aggressive push of gaming and merch in general 40K is more well known than Starcraft.

[@brandonlyon730]

Ironically Warhammer by itself took a lot of influence from many different properties like Dune, like the concept of an immortal god Emperor controlling the human empire that despises AI. 40k by itself is already just Warhammer fantasy in space with Fantasy taking a lot of influence from multiple different fantasy franchises as well as real world history.

[@PrincessOzaline]

@@brandonlyon730 That's true, but it's also true of everything. As the video says Star Wars is Kurosawa mixed with Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Dune, Princess of Mars... everything is inspired by other stories or real life. 40K borrows a lot but it mixes it's influences into it's own soup, that's all anyone can do.

[@Lampoluke]

40k fans are shocked when you tell them that stuff like God-Emperor or Techpriests are not an original thing that wh came up with. (But I really like how they blended Foundation and Dune)

[@randywhittle9678]

Been waiting for you to cover this one because it’s my favorite of your series so far. Despite its flaws, I would rather rewatch this than any of the SW sequel trilogy which in hindsight seems a bit ironic. Such a shame we will never get a sequel…

[@ptorq]

I read most of the series in the late 1970s, when I was just entering my teens. I loved everything about them, and couldn't understand why Tarzan had so many movies and the Barsoom stories by the same author didn't have any. (I didn't actually read any of the original Tarzan stories until the late 90s, and when I did I discovered there weren't really any Tarzan movies, there were just a lot of movies that had the word "Tarzan" in the title.) I never knew the director of the film was actually a fan, and the trailer looked like it would be Tarzan all over again: a crappy story with the name of John Carter held on with masking tape.

[@epicgamerhank9509]

I remember seeing that first teaser trailer at the theater. Never have I ever been confused with a trailer before.

[@ChillinWithTheCapuchins]

I loved this movie when it came out. Not that it is an incredible movie, but watching it I was very immersed and I loved the VFX. A shame it was never given a chance.

[@skryreacolyte8038]

I quite enjoyed the film, but never even knew it existed until I stumbled over it on whatever streaming platform I first saw it on.

[@OrinThomas]

It's definitely rewatchable - a lot of films aren't.

[@AT1972ASDF]

So much potential here. Imagine a world where this had the "Wizard of Oz" style treatment. The opening on Earth is shot like an old western, black and white with sepia tone, then Mars is in full colour, shot partly on location and partly in a Volume style setup. Could be epic

[@bbro43]

I think the larger overall issue with these films is Disney focused more on franchise prospects and less on good stories

[@redherringoffshoot2341]

that’s the one thing that ties together all failed “next big things”

[@thegodemperorhiram]

I used to go every weekend to the cinema with my girlfriend and so we watched many movies just because they were on. I hadnt seen any review or criticism, I was midly aware of the Barsoom books, since Im a HG Weels fan. I honestly can say I really liked this movie, not only as an action film, but my girlfriend and I really loved the love story, I think the relation betwen john and deja is very well made. Later I heard of this movie flooping and all the critics and I couldnt understand what were they talking about, this movie is great. BTW, the nephew thing, is kinda dumb, but is necesary to give us the sense that John spend decades searching for a way back to Barsoom, is part of what makes this a great love story.

[@laurenconrad1799]

Does Mars Need Moms fall into this category?

[@ender7278]

No, it was never really pitched as a big franchise starter, just an oddball that underperformed.

[@canaldohector]

Surprised it wasn't mentioned here, since it is usually cited as a reason for the title change.

[@caronstout354]

The failure of "Mars Needs Mom's" was the main reason for this movie's name change.

[@JaredBared]

I remember watching Friday Night Lights and thinking man this Canadian actor is going to be a movie star. Sure enough he became a movie star.... just not for that long. John Carter, Battleship and that's all she wrote. Jesse Plemons ended up being the biggest actor from the whole show. Didn't see that coming

[@thomasgalloway6862]

Too bad I remember reading the books when i was a teen and i was sorry to see the poor marketing doomed the film. The teenager in me really wanted John Carter to achieve Tarzan status. I still do. Failer is preparation for success.

[@marcuswalters8093]

8:18 Incompressible plot?!? This was shockingly straightforward. 15:07 Okay, I actually though this was down to some exec with an axe to grind ruining this thing. So this totally explains this.

[@ghostexdelta6]

I remember liking this film but I can’t remember a thing about it lol

[@bobbyblazini]

So weird to me how people couldnt accept this actor. He couldnt even get traction as Gambit and people even like the sabretooth from that movie...n Deadpool even got his start there.

[@martinrobert6709]

The biggest Disney bomb until Indiana Jones 5, and a lot less deserving.

[@jimbeaux1442]

The decision to make John Carter a coward who did not even want to engage with the events passing around him was what made me hate this movie and probably anyone e,se who actually read the books. It was such an enormous let down after the anticipation that I felt when I heard about this film. The fact that one never hears this complaint seems to indicate how unfamiliar most people are with the source material.

[@caronstout354]

One factor in its failure: the source material was 2-3 generations old, and only the OG ERB fans were familiar with it.

[@planning9930]

Loved this movie as a kid, seen this at least five times and always liked it