Disney says 'John Carter' to lose $200 million

MSN Entertainment ^ | March 19, 2012 | AP

[Vince Ferrer]

"John Carter" is now officially a flop of galactic proportions.

The Walt Disney Co. said Monday that it expects to book a loss of $200 million on the movie in the quarter through March.

"In light of the theatrical performance of John Carter ($184 million global box office), we expect the film to generate an operating loss of approximately $200 million during our second fiscal quarter ending March 31.

[Vince Ferrer]

'John Carter' Fans Petition Disney For Sequel

[MIchaelTArchangel]

John Carter is as big a flop as Jimmy Carter.

[BO Stinkss]

I liked it

[glorgau]

I liked it too - even saw the 3D version.

[Norm Lenhart]

Clearly the solution is to PO more of their fanbase.

And people like me who haven’t spent a cent on a Disney product in years since they adopted an overtly liberal agenda in their productions? No point in trying to get us back I suppose since the lib market seems to be keeping them in record profits... (snicker).

Well, at least my DVDs of the ‘classics’ won’t wear out anytime soon.

[Vince Ferrer]

I haven't seen it. I read a long article about it before it came out, and the article was pretty accurate that it would lose this much money. The thrust of it was that the director was used to animation, and wasted tons of money doing reshoots. It was predicting corporate heads will roll over this.

[napscoordinator]

More movies like “The Lorax” please. What a great movie that was. I enjoyed it. My kids got a kick out of it. If they would make more movies like this than Hollywood would be making big bucks. It has made 150 million so far.

[SJSAMPLE]

Screw it.
I’ve got ALL the books, and they never get old.

[freedumb2003]

I had a feeling this movie didn’t reflect the sensibilities of the author.

I guess I was right.

The tepid, terrible marketing didn’t help much.

Jackson “got” LOTR...

If Disney wants to make some bucks, it is Cthulhu made right... (good luck!)

[Cicero]

This is the first I’ve heard about the movie. I haven’t read any Edgar Rice Burroughs for decades, but I think I read just about all of them when I was younger, including John Carter on Mars. And I still have them around somewhere, I think.

Looks like some liberal snit of a movie reviewer managed to kill an entertaining movie because it didn’t suit his ideology or something.

[PreciousLiberty]

I think this film was marketed very poorly. It also didn't help that no big-name star was involved.

I don't understand how it can be a $200 million loss when it cost $250 million to make, and has already made $53 million at the box office. That's not counting Blu-Ray/DVD/download sales which will be substantial.

I hope there's a sequel, I'm a big Edgar Rice Burroughs fan. :-)

[Trailerpark Badass]

It couldn’t be that people have finally gotten their fill of alien/zombie/comic book superhero movies?

[pabianice]

CGI can’t carry a lousy movie, guys.

[Williams]

I have a book by a naturalist, John Burroughs. I know I can look this up but is he Edgar Rice’s brother or maybe father? The book is Squirrels and Other Fur Bearers and I really love it. Found it in an antique book shop.

[truth_seeker]

“It couldn’t be that people have finally gotten their fill of alien/zombie/comic book superhero movies?”

Aren’t they loved by children from 4 to 44?

[Nachum]

I liked it too.

[vbmoneyspender]

It's actually made $180 million - See Link. I think part of the reason it didn't get favorable reviews is that the bad guys in the movie aren't corporate polluters like they are in Lorax.

[Gene Eric]

Maybe Disney will recover its losses with the series: “Good Christian Bitches”.

[Vince Ferrer]

As I understand it, the promotional costs and marketing is not included in the figure used for a movie’s cost, but it is substantial. For a block buster, it could be $50-100 million worldwide. For a blockbuster in the past, even printing out the films for distribution to thousands of theaters costs tens of millions. This is why there is a big push for digital download of movies. I don’t know how many theaters still use physical film.

[Jonty30]

I think it had the same problem as Hellboy II. It’s monsters were too wierd and weren’t recognizable by the audience, so the movie wasn’t relatable.

[Trailerpark Badass]

Aren’t they loved by children from 4 to 44?

Maybe, but I'm 46. (ugh)

[piasa]

I didn’t even hear about this movie until it was already declared dead. Just heard the first ad for it last week. Some “marketing.”

[LukeL]

That is the films budget, are forgetting marketting, distribution costs, overruns, executive costs, costs from shelving other projects, international distribution, localization costs, regional marketing, etc.

[Nachum]

It's actually made $180 million

Indeed. And it is not quite out of the theaters yet, or out on DVD and on Cable. The movie will lose money, but not 200 million. I liked this movie for a lot of reasons, part of which was it was devoid of foul language and good guy I could root for. It mangled some of the story of Princess of Mars, but it got enough of the flavor and wonder of the book to make it worth viewing IMHO. The fantasy aspect of the story is why the books were so wonderful and the movie captured it well.

[DManA]

Movie bookkeeping is where the real story telling takes place these days.

[mrsmith]

Wasn’t a lousy movie.
Had a couple plot gaps and backed away a little from Burrough’s work.
Was an above average movie and took in above average money.

I saw a report that it would have had to make 600 million to break even... Hollywood accounting must be very interesting.

[Neanderthal]

In the book Dejah Thoris did not wear clothes - just a necklace and bracelets. In the movie they put clothes on her.

I think I understand the problem.

[TexasFreeper2009]

I LOVED it!

I even started reading the series because of it.

[Raider Sam]

Stop making overpriced re-packaged versions of movies we have already seen, and maybe we come back. I saw Remember the Titans. I didnt need Glory Road, The Great Debators, The Blind Side, The Express, or Gridiron Gang. Those movies may have had brilliant acting, but the story of sports/competition giving a platform for a group of oppressed people to prove their worth against the prejudice of their time, while softening the hearts of some of the “oppressors” by working side by side was already told. Other than different uniforms, what makes the movies unique?

[Oztrich Boy]

I don't understand how it can be a $200 million loss when it cost $250 million to make, and has already made $53 million at the box office

The producersb onlt get about 53% of the BO.

But it was marketed poorly

Book and working title Princess of Mars

The someone in marketing had a thought (Be kind, it's an only child): A Disney movie with "Princess" in the title, boys won't go to it.

Right diagnosis, wrong solution. That problem could have been fixed by with the right marketing

So John Carter of Mars. Oh no girlz don't like sci-fi ans won't go to see it.

Final choice John Carter and noone went to see it.

I mean back in the 80s, who would have gone to see a film if if had been John Conner's Parents instead of Terminator

[Nervous Tick]

No kidding -- they made a movie about my congresscritter?

By the way he's one of the Good Guys... staunch conservative.

[Vince Ferrer]

In the book Dejah Thoris did not wear clothes - just a necklace and bracelets. In the movie they put clothes on her.

I think I understand the problem.

What to do, be true to literature, or go for the PG-13 international market? Watchmen had the same problem, a major character who walked around naked most of the time. Since there was an actual reason for this, it had to have been tough to argue to cut it out. They ended up keeping it.

[vbmoneyspender]

I really liked the movie and I think the reviews against it were ideologically motivated. The only hint of pc in the movie was Dejah Thoris' sword fighting capabilities. Otherwise, the movie was a throwback to 1950s and earlier action movies.

The Tharks play the role of the Indians in the movie and they are depicted (with the exception of Tars Tarkas) as baby-murdering, bloody thirsty savages. What's worse is the Thark/Indians don't help the good guys out until they are prodded into it by a Virginian who fight on the side of the Confederacy in the Civil War.

Playing the role of the cowboys are the humanoid residents of Helium - and they are depicted as straight-up good guys. While the bad guys are self-proclaimed gods who want to control everybody (boy that sounds familiar).

In short, Hollywood has become so ideologically polluted that it cannot except straightforward good vs. evil movies like this anymore.

Exit question, can you recall any recent Hollywood action movie where the hero is a heterosexual American who gets married to the heroine at the end of the movie.

[vbmoneyspender]

I really liked the movie and I think the reviews against it were ideologically motivated. The only hint of pc in the movie was Dejah Thoris' sword fighting capabilities. Otherwise, the movie was a throwback to 1950s and earlier action movies.

The Tharks play the role of the Indians in the movie and they are depicted (with the exception of Tars Tarkas) as baby-murdering, bloody thirsty savages. What's worse is the Thark/Indians don't help the good guys out until they are prodded into it by a Virginian who fight on the side of the Confederacy in the Civil War.

Playing the role of the cowboys are the humanoid residents of Helium - and they are depicted as straight-up good guys. While the bad guys are self-proclaimed gods who want to control everybody (boy that sounds familiar).

In short, Hollywood has become so ideologically polluted that it cannot except straightforward good vs. evil movies like this anymore.

Exit question, can you recall any recent Hollywood action movie where the hero is a heterosexual American who gets married to the heroine at the end of the movie.

[AnTiw1]

i believe they’re all available free online at gutenberg.org

[gogogodzilla]

Ditto (3D, too).

That said, I think the name helped to kill the movie. It ought to have been called Barsoom.

Those who’d read the books would know what to expect... and those who hadn’t would have thought it some sort of fantasy movie (which isn’t too far off the mark.)

[redhead]

"Screw it. I’ve got ALL the books, and they never get old."

I have them on my Kindle. Right now, I'm reading "Princess of Mars."

[Nachum]

Exit question, can you recall any recent Hollywood action movie where the hero is a heterosexual American who gets married to the heroine at the end of the movie.

Well.. at the end of the last Transformers, he sort of proposes to his girl at the end.

In the last Tron sequal, he goes off with the girl at the end. Not sure if it is marriage, but you get the idea he will.

In The Prince of Persia, the hero eventually marries the Princess.

Avatar marries off the hero to Pocahontas of Pandora. Even if they are blue aliens

Thor wants to marry the girl, but they are separated

Spiderman finally gets to date Mary Jane Watson (the get married in the comic book)

Capt. America would have married his WWII sweet heart, but he gets frozen solid in Ice- she gets old.

They are making the Hunger games and (warning, plot spoiler...)........ the book marries off the girl to her childhood sweetheart.

So, there are a few. Kind of.

[DManA]

It comes down to, Disney really only understands and can program for little girls.

[redhead]

"CGI can’t carry a lousy movie, guys."

Yep. Just watched "Tintin" yesterday. The books were awesome. The movie might be okay for entertaining little kids, but it was really blah. The CGI was absolutely stunning, though. Incredibly beautiful. Just a flop as a movie.

[DManA]

It’s really true. My boys growing up always had access to the Disney channel. Never watched it. Nothing on it appealed to boys.

[Maringa]

Son and I watched it in 3D. We both loved it. It was standard consumption sci-fi. Entertaining and reasonably clean for teens.

[DManA]

As I said, all aimed at a little girl’s sensibility.

Not that there’s anything intrinsically wrong with that I guess except when they go out side their comfort zone they lose enormous amounts of money.

[vbmoneyspender]

Prince of Persia doesn't count because the hero is Persian.

And Avatar doesn't count because the hero goes native (literally) and then pulls a full Benedict Arnold - after which he slinks off with a blue-skinned she-alien.

Now if the she-alien was a green-skinned slave girl from Orion, I might cut the hero some slack. But getting hitched to a blue-skinned relative of Manute Bol? - no way should a red-blooded American cut the hero slack for that.

[Vince Ferrer]

Now if the she-alien was a green-skinned slave girl from Orion, I might cut the hero some slack. But getting hitched to a blue-skinned relative of Manute Bol? - no way should a red-blooded American cut the hero slack for that.

How interesting that the blue skinned girl was once roomates with one of the green skinned girls.

[avenir]

CGI can’t carry a lousy movie, guys.

CGI is a big part of what makes these movies lousy to begin with. It imparts a fakeness to every film that relies on it too heavily.

[Terry Mross]

Haven’t you heard? All movies lose money. I know a director who shot 5 weeks on location then moved to Hollywood for editing, etc. He was ahead of schedule and under budget. In one week he was over budget according to the suits. One executive was shown a rough cut of the film and the production was charged $75,000. That’s how they do it.

[OrangeHoof]

All I could think of is John Carter is the U,S. Congressman in our neighboring district.

[Nachum]

Ha. I saw it with my son in 3d too.

[risen_feenix]

“My boys growing up always had access to the Disney channel. Never watched it. Nothing on it appealed to boys.”

And the characters on those Disney Channel shows are just absolutely deplorable little sh*ts. That young girls across America right now are taking cues from these horrible characters bodes quite ill for our nation in the future.