Originally Posted By basil fan Disney's email newsletter said that, while filming in the Utah desert, the crew came upon a plaque that marked the spot where the Mars Rover (whatever that thing was called) was tested, as NASA thought it was the most Mars-like terrain on Earth. Get Smart Catchphrases <a href="http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/etc/catchphrase.html" target="_blank">http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/...ase.html</a>
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 <<This movie looks very much like one of the newer 'Star Wars' movies, or like the 'The Golden Compass' or even 'The Prince of Persia.'>> Without the Barsoom tales(as JC is a part of) we wouldn't have had Star Wars. Or I should say it had a heavy influence.
Originally Posted By u k fan My brother saw the movie on Friday in an industry preview. He wasn't looking forward to it, but figured it would be better than work for a few hours. He thought it was great! He really enjoyed it. Maybe it WILL be a sleeper hit and word off mouth will save it!!!
Originally Posted By danyoung I don't remember Pirates being that way - I think it was a huge hit right out of the box.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox It's the Depp Factor. Almost every film Johnny is is, becomes a huge hit. There are exceptions, but very few. Depp is Hollywood's personal platinum mine.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Truthfully, I don't understand why Disney selected March for their release date. This type of film screams summer to me. Why March? And why the serious lack of promotion? I see a few billboards here and there, but not at a saturation level I'm used to seeing from Disney. Both Price of Persia and TRON: Legacy was promoted to hell and back before release. And neither met Burbank's expectations. (And we're still waiting for more news about TRON 3 supposedly coming in 2013. Those rumors have been silent for months now. Do they even have a finished script or official green light?) Is that why Disney has pulled back on John Carter? Because they were disappointed in Prince of Persia and TRON?
Originally Posted By skinnerbox "Price of Persia"? Maybe that's what Disney should have done instead. A game show about buying antiquities in ancient civilizations.
Originally Posted By danyoung Could be that with the gigantic budget of John Carter, they don't want to spend a gigantic amount of money on publicity. I'd bet that if this has a good opening weekend, you'll see a HUGE media blitz for the next couple of weeks.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>I don't remember Pirates being that way - I think it was a huge hit right out of the box.<<< I thought Disney wasn't very confident in POTC and so they didn't promote it very much. I do know that it was a hit right away, but the situation before the movie was released, is similar to John Carter. I can't wait to see the movie.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb The only reason I saw POTC was word of mouth. I was going to avoid it like the plague until my sister raved about it and insisted we see it when she was visiting. I don't think I was alone in my ambivalence toward a movie based on a Disney attraction before word got around about how good the movie actually was.
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 <<Truthfully, I don't understand why Disney selected March for their release date>> I don't think they could have fit it in summer. May, they have the Avengers. June is Brave. And then that leaves July but that month will be Spider-Man and the Dark Knight Rises. That would have left the first weekend of August, but again it would likely be going against the Batman juggernaut. Ever since Disney scored a massive hit with in Alice in Wonderland(no doubt due to Johnny Depp) they've sort of staked out March for a big tentpole film. Problem is last year was Mars Needs Moms. And next year they have the Great and Powerful Oz.
Originally Posted By DlandDug >>I don't remember Pirates being that way...<< Actually, there was a lot of trepidation at the time. PotC came out the year after The Country Bears (2002), and just before The Haunted Mansion. The Bears pretty much tanked, and word of mouth for Mansion was brutal. So PotC was being lumped in with these "lame theme park attraction" films. There was a also a perception at the time that "pirates" were box office poison. The last major release was Cutthroat Island (1995), a BIG Summer film with major talent that is still considered among the bigger box office bombs of all time. Even Disney had been stung by Treasure Planet (2002), and that was a "pirate" movie only by association. It is hard to remember what it was like back in the Spring of 2003, before PotC mania swept the country. Yes, Johnny Depp was a draw, but bear in mind that he was not, at that time, considered an action star, or a main stream box office magnet. His previous two films (both in 2001) were "From Hell" and "Blow." His most memorable roles were for Tim Burton, and even those weren't Burton's big Summer movies (Batman, Planet of the Apes), but rather highly regarded cult films like Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, and Sleepy Hollow. Johnny Depp was considered a sure thing at the box office only after the Pirates franchise was established. John Carter could have the same trajectory as PotC, or it could go the way of other of the "tent pole" films (Prince of Persia, Sorcerer's Apprentice, TRON) that Disney has thrown out in recent years.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA In this interview with the director, please note the various pictures... Where they're shooting in the Utah desert. And where they're shooting on a green screen. <a href="http://d23.disney.go.com/news/2012/02/23-questions-with-andrew-stanton/" target="_blank">http://d23.disney.go.com/news/...stanton/</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I just skimmed the article for pictures, but this caption stood out to me: >>"Anytime you've seen motion capture done well, there's been a talented animator in the middle of that process who has been finessing that data, or more often fixing or supplementing the source material to really bring it to life, to a place that shines,"<< So why bother? If you have to hire an actor and an animator, why not just hire the animator to do it right the first time? I've felt this way for a long time, but it's interesting to see that someone who is making a movie featuring a lot of motion capture also seems to feel the same way...
Originally Posted By DlandDug I saw John Carter Wednesday night. It was SO much better than any motion capture I've seen. The characters are seamless. Of course, having Andrew Stanton directing made a big difference. He spoke to the crowd before the screening. One quote stood out for me: "I haven't left animation. There are more animated shots in John Carter than in Finding Nemo."
Originally Posted By basil fan I don't usually like mo-cap either. But then, Gollum is so flawlessly done that you know it can be done right. I guess, as with other kinds of SFX, it can be done well or poorly.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb I agree basil fan. Gollum was done so perfectly between Andy Serkis and the animators (and that was in the very early days of Mo Cap), but I find most Mo Cap creepy and distracting. It really took me out of the movie every time "young" Kevin Flynn spoke in the new TRON. I hope John Carter was done well and not poorly, because I am thinking I might like to see it in spite of the cheesy preview I saw.
Originally Posted By leobloom >> There are more animated shots in John Carter than in Finding Nemo. << So it's like the Star Wars prequels?
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 Remember when we'd get that poster from Walt Disney Pictures stopping by and asking us to see an upcoming film. Well I hope that person comes by again and we can ask why was the marketing for this so lackluster. Why didn't they from the very beginning play up the influence the story had? Why didn't they say this was from the director of Finding Nemo and Wall-E? Disney really screwed this up.
