Mark my words: The biggest box office bomb of 2012 will be JOHN CARTER.
Why so harsh? I just don’t understand how Disney though this was a tentpole franchise worth pouring so much money into. There’s already been data that says the film will have to make $700M worldwide to warrant a sequel thanks to enormous production costs at $250M and a marketing budget bigger than that.
Blockbusters make that much all the time these days, right? What’s the problem? The issue is in every theater where I’ve sat through the trailer, the general response has been a collective “what the f*ck was that about?”
Only sci-fi devotees know anything about the universe of John Carter, and the trailer which mashes up the Civil War era with Mars doesn’t make any sense to anyone unfamiliar with the story (which is nearly everyone). Even covering this movie for months, I still can’t give you a definitely few sentences that explain what this movie is about.
It’s going to need more than giant CGI white apes (seen above via EW) to impress audiences, and I think Disney needs to brace themselves unless this film can somehow be way, way better than its concept and marketing.