Disney May Be Making A Sequel To ‘John Carter’ Because Everything Is Terrible

Carrie Stemke / September 22, 2015 / Critic / 50 Comments

Disney’s $350 million epic disaster John Carter might not have been well received by audiences, but that doesn’t mean the story of the Civil War veteran who gets transported to Mars is dead to audiences just yet. In fact, it recently became apparent that unfortunately John Carter 2 might actually happen.

Yes, you heard me correctly. The rights to John Carter of Mars have reverted from Disney back to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. (the estate of the author), and president James Sullos made it clear in a statement that he’s holding out hope that John Carter will become a successful franchise a la The Avengers, and we all have the billionth Tarzan reboot to thank for it:

John Carter of Mars was the creative stimulus behind such movie classics as Superman, Star Wars, and Avatar. Edgar Rice Burroughs was the Master of Adventure and his literary works continue to enjoy a worldwide following. We will be seeking a new partner to help develop new adventures on film as chronicled in the eleven Mars novels Burroughs wrote. This adventure never stops. Along with a new Tarzan film in development by Warner Bros., we hope to have John Carter of Mars become another major franchise to entertain worldwide audiences of all ages.

Oh good, there’s eleven of these books. And while it may have been the inspiration for great stories like Superman and Star Wars (please note my deliberate exclusion of Avatar) does John Carter of Mars really make a great movie? Clearly, you can spend all the money in the world on it (which Disney did, by the way) but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Burroughs’s written works translate well on screen. It’s an odd story to begin with.

And it would seem logical to say, “Well, with a different director…” but Andrew Stanton, who directed the first (and currently, only) John Carter, is not just some inexperienced hack. He’s the director of Finding Nemo, WALL E, and A Bug’s Life, and wrote all three Toy Story movies. All of those movies are pretty awesome and show his skill and experience working with Disney and Disney audiences, so you can’t just drop the blame for John Carter in his lap.

Additionally, while Taylor Kitsch’s heavy-breathing acting left a lot to be desired, John Carter had a number of excellent actors in the cast, including Ciaran Hinds, Willem Dafoe, Mark Strong, and Bryan Cranston, so it’s very difficult to see a re-cast John Carter sequel somehow magically fixing all of the mistakes made by the first.

So will a sequel actually happen? Only time will tell. Now, John Carter is not the worst movie I’ve ever seen, but there are much better things to be spending movie money on, and, considering the fate of the many other movies that Hollywood has repeatedly struggled to make successful with endless reboots, here’s hoping that the John Carter 2 option gets shelved in favor of something else.

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davidiste

Beg to differ but while the director is not a hack, he’s not experienced in live action movies of this nature. He’s done nice family entertainment movies of another kind, and only a few. For Disney to hand this over to someone with no experience in this live actor genre of movie and spend that much money is their own fault. I wonder why they did, who owed who a favor? The movie should stand apart from the hype which Disney also failed to promote properly. The greater let down of the entire effort so far is Disney, incredible that their process of director selection couldn’t come up with someone more qualified, which shouldn’t be so difficult.
- niauropsaka
  
  It was his project. They let him do it to keep him happy with Disney.
  
  Then, once it was getting wrapped up, some new people came in at the head of Disney who cared even less than the previous bosses, and the new guys completely failed to market it.
  - davidiste
    
    What’s missing is the logic of the accounting department. Disney spent a bundle on this project and its hard to understand their management being so careless that with so much put into making it they didn’t pay attention to making their investment back. Well it’s back in the hands of the E.R. Burroughs estate. It may eventually get another treatment, though I enjoyed the casting as it was done and we likely won’t see that group again.
El Comandante

For me, I really liked the movie when I finally saw it a year after it’s release. The biggest problem I saw and thought at the time it was originally released, I thought they chose a really bad release time considering the Star Wars (Feb 2012) release and Star Trek (Press had Jun 2012 as the release date but it actually didn’t make that.) release around that same time. Had they been a year earlier or later, I think it would have been a totally different outcome. Again, I’d see a second John Carter movie at the theater, this time.
Lefty Hara

movie was good. actors were good.. the movie critics sucked to the point of being counter-productive. This is the only movie I purchased on DVD from that year.
- john
  
  Agree
Mrsneakyz28

The author is a moron. Stop spreading this type of negative publicity and trying to ruin what many folks would actually like to see. If you didn’t like the movie, then don’t watch the sequel.

In my opinion and many others John Carter was a well made film that was entertaining through and through. The only “fail” was the marketing departments part in deciding to change the name of the title from “Princess of Mars” to John Carter. I mean wtf, no one would make a movie about the Zelda series, called “Link” and expect it to get the necessary amount of publicity. Now stop being a whiny brat and write articles that actually contribute something of value.
- Rawr-er-fon
  
  well said. I absolutely hate this recent trend of movie hating.
  
  It’s enough not to like it and move on, but it’s always gotta be about going one step further to bombard a movie with hate, and anyone who likes or defends that movie. the recent ghost busters mess is retarded, i don’t even know if its gunna be a good stand alone movie or not with how much its being hated.
  
  Everyone is just jumping to conclusions, making the assumption that it’s a femanizi movie just because of who’s in it.
- john
  
  Yes I been saying that same thing ,how can a big budget film get less advertising than the boring iron man story line and so on , I see the advert on to didn’t know it was even si fi , the people in charge of advertising let the stars down and the director and should be sacked as all suffer because of them ,I wanted a seqal
Chad Charles

Movie was great. Totally capable of II – VI…. The secret is to start cranking and integrate constructive critique. Public is tired of long waits that leads to geriatrification of characters before the next release.
Shaye La-Rat

I liked it, and would love a second third….
Z4RQUON .

You come off as being a little too desperate to join the bandwagon.

John Carter of Mars was a solid film by any standard and anyone who says otherwise is both in the minority and was probably not even really paying attention while watching it. It’s just popular to say it was a bad movie so you try to seem popular by parroting that opinion. You probably also walk around making sure people know that you like Quentin Tarantino movies as well, because it’s trendy to do so (despite the fact that his movies are garbage that people only ever watch once but then buy the Blu-Ray simply to have it on display in their home to make it look like they’re a discerning movie buff)
- Nick Lasley
  
  Really? Don’t act like your opinion of Tarantino is fact. That little rant is just as bad as this article.
  - Z4RQUON .
    
    Good storytelling *is* a matter of fact.
  - JA
    
    Actually Nick…Z4RQuon couldn’t be more spot on…Tarantino is an overrated piece of garbage who just made actually one of the worst/stupid/over the top asinine films I have ever seen in my life (h8ful 8 if you didn’t know what i was referring to) and people who enjoyed are most likely -100 I.Q Donald Trump voters who think “durrr…America’s gonna be great again…drr it will be y’all.”
    
    John Carter was entertaining, original and simply bad-ass. One of those few movies you can watch more than once and still have your eyeballs locked on the screen. It would be a travesty if they don’t make another one…Most everyone on here I have read agrees that it didn’t succeed due to the so-called “movie buffs” that ripped the film apart for no reason, other than they couldn’t wrap their tiny pea brains around it. So, they wrote terrible reviews and all of the brainless followers who read those articles interpreted them as gospel; either skipping the movie altogether or waiting for the DVD release. Just proves even more how people in this country cannot think for themselves or form their own opinions on things.
    
    Z4RQuon is spot on. People like Tarantino, because they’ve read that he’s a genius filmmaker when the rest of us know that lately he has made a massive pile of crap over and over…Kill Bill, trash, Django unchained, ridiculously bad and H8ful 8 caps it off as being one of the very worst films I have ever sat through in my entire life. People know they want to agree with me on that, but sheep my man….sheep.
    
    I end this with…MAKE ANOTHER JOHN CARTER YOU ASSHOLES! WE ALL WANT TO SEE WTF HAPPENS ON MARS 10 YEARS LATER!
    - Judah Priest
      
      You are extremely spot on with your analogy. Every time I watch John Carter, I feel the need to watch it again one of the best movies I’ve ever seen that I can watch over and over again!
ap cg

I did like this movie when I first saw it at the theaters. And I found this page, ’cause I recently saw it again and I was wondering if there was going to be a 2nd one to see what happened once he returned to mars 10 years later. To what you mentioned of the director. It is true he is awesome on cartoon movies. But John Carter was not animated it was just science fiction, he is not an expert on this area. Disney should have hire someone else. Nonetheless, the story line and the actors were awesome.
Jimbo2K7

The movie was great, and stands up to repeat viewings. Effects are top notch – acting is the required over the top space opera.

This article however, is sub par, and not worthy of lining a litter box.
Suzanne N Davis

We enjoyed the movie and the books. We have seen the movie probably a thousand times now cause every time it was on cable or tv we watched it and then we bought it and watch it at least twice a month. Sometimes you have to see beyond the acting and issues with the story and just let yourself be entertained and introduced to a new world of possibilities.
Felix

I’ve loved the movie and the only reason why i found this article with negative critics (!!!) its because i was curious to see if the 2nd one its on the making! So, in my opinion, the 2nd one (at least) would be great! Loved the actors and the story! Additionally, like it was said here already, I’m got really curious to see what happens when he gets to Mars 10 years later! Time flies when you see the movie and i really hope they make the 2nd one keeping the lineup (big important detail!)
Cheers
johncarter19

I’m really tired of hearing how bad a movie John Carter was. That is BUNK. The reason this movie “bombed” had nothing to do with the quality of the movie – I believe that most everyone who actually saw the movie liked it. It had its flaws, but they were minor. There were two reasons It didn’t succeed: One – Disney did a lousy job promoting it, and Two – Critics like Carrie Stemke, the author of this hatchet job, never gave the movie a chance. They took their prejudices into the screenings and came out of the experience unchanged, refusing to acknowledge that old-style swashbuckling adventure/romance stories (ala: the great Errol Flynn and Barrymore movies), which is what the novels were, had any place in in movie theater in the 21st century, unless, of course, they have “Star Wars” in the title. The only difference from those old movies and John Carter is that this was based on another planet and not on a ship, or in Sherwood Forest. Those same critics then proceeded to savage a good movie with their terrible reviews, based on their pre-conceived notions, not what they actually watched – if any of them actually watched the movie they were paid to review. They scared off a wider audience leaving Burroughs aficionados to make up the bulk of ticket sales. But as can be seen from comments, across the internet, by the unsuspecting movie going public with no prior knowledge of the stories – it was very well received.
Here’s hoping the franchise gets another chance, with the same cast and same overall design – Lynn Collins was a great Dejah Thoris, and even Taylor Kitsch, who was highly criticized for his performance, did a good job, IMO.
I would love to see a high profile director, such as Peter Jackson, James Cameron or Ridley Scott take over the job, but that will never happen. So just put a competent director on the job, someone with experience in sprawling epic type movies, and market it properly.
- Paula Santiago
  
  I could not have expressed myself better. You read my mind! Thank you!
Akram Drahaman

My wife and I loved the movie. The author is clearly biased. We cant wait for a sequel.
Tom Tague

Great movie!!! Do the sequel!!!
Drew Kempen

This first movie was actually awesome. I remember watching the previews thinking that it looked like the dumbest movie ever. Got dragged into seeing it by a book fan. Absolutely loved the movie and the ending. If you haven’t seen it and think John Carter fans are idiots, watch it before you talk bad about it. I really don’t understand how someone could be critical of this movie. First of all, it is sci-fi and based on mars. So if you want realistic or a movie where everything has to make logical sense, why the heck are you going to see this movie in the first place?! I would love a part 2. I hope Netflix or Amazon Prime picks up the rights to make a movie or series.
NewThomasPayne

The author’s article is grossly misleading. While the movie was panned by the critics and talking heads, the viewing audience loved it….as did I. It was wonderfully done and an outstanding piece of entertainment. The only criticism I could bring would be my desire that the storyline for the film did not deviate so much from the source material (ERB’s book “A Princess of Mars”). While even the greatest of novels must be adapted to make them work for the big screen, the changes in this case were much greater than required and made the original plot from the novel almost unrecognizable. Still, it was a very entertaining movie with very good acting and effects and bears multiple watchings and I would love to see a sequel. It not only succeeds in getting the audience to suspend disbelieve, but draws the viewer in and makes them believe for a time that the story is real and anything is possible. Above all isn’t that what quality entertainment is supposed to do?
CubicSun

‘Poorly marketed’ is true cos I only watched the movie recently. Surprised how good it actually is. The more I see the negative reviews everywhere, the angrier I get. JC deserves more credit. I actually really really need sequels to the movie cause part1 left me hanging… Hate reboots. Please bring back the original cast! There’s a special chemistry between Taylor and Lynn.
OurRhino

I loved the movie! Excited to see the continuation into the next movies!
Michael Norman

I actually have John carter on my dvr and I have watched it about 3 times this month. Then I googled jc2 and found this place. The person writing this article is an absolute moron. John carter was awesome. And I would love to see part 2. So I can see how his homecoming was back to Mars. So come on Disney let’s make jc2 you can use that for title to its catchy. Here’s to JC2 for 2016 or 2017
Greg Nusz

Loved the movie, would like to see a sequel.
- Jo Flowers
  
  I love John Carter i watch it over and over would love to see another
Duane Cummings

It’s so good to read that there are others that share my love for this movie. It’s a shame that critics can help tank a movie. It was a great adventure movie and original unlike the many craptastic reboots I’ve seen over the years. I really hope a studio decides to make a sequel and if possible get the same cast.
Peter Currer

As much as anyone I would like the sequel to the “John Carter of Mars” film
to be produced, but it needs a roadmap to get there.

First the film needs to be re-released with its correct title “A Princess
of Mars”. No need to beat about the bush concerning tipping off the public as
to the screenplay heading for Mars, so be up front in the title and cash in on
the brand recognition and the Edgar Rice Burroughs name as the author by putting
it up there in big letters. People like me waited half a lifetime to see this
book turned into a movie and it has the potential to be a greater hit than the
“Star Wars” Trilogy, which incidentally paid homage to it when citing a rider
sitting on a Banth. The Burroughs book should simultaneously be released with a
movie tie-in cover and a range of merchandise set up for the usual toys and
collector items such as Martian weapons, airships, fliers and character
figurines and beasts. Collectors will descend on this merchandise like a swarm
of locusts.

The next thing is to put in a voice over somewhere along the track that
this is a Mars of millions of years ago when the planet had started to dry up.
Burroughs never intended that, but in his day nothing much was known of Mars and
if John Carter is astral travelling in space then he may as well travel in time
as well. The linking of ancient Mars and cowboy-era Earth can be attributed to
some fold in space and time and the view from Mars of Jasoom can be explained by
them looking through this rift is space and time as the Thals seem to be au fait
with different epochs and planets as explained in the film. Like all fantasies
the audience is more interested in the cut of the cloth than the weave, so the
storyline need not explain any of this stuff in great detail.

The other movies will be made only if they make money and right now it
seems that Disney is letting a multi-million dollar property slip through its
hands because the critics saw the original film as derivative when all the other
“similar” movies are actually copies of it, or more accurately of Burroughs’s
first Martian book. Although some things were changed to reflect the modern
state of knowledge, I thought the producers did a great job in bringing the guts
of the first Barsoom novel to the screen and surely Dejah Thoris must be
wondering where John Carter has got to, but in the movies he may be gone only
hours or weeks, not years and decades. Just as long as the movie leads are
still young enough to reprise their roles we may yet return to Barsoom and the
Twin Towers of Helium for the next enthralling instalment.

Of course we have been to Mars before with Gullivar Jones, but he missed
the opportunity to return (but in a way the producers borrowed his amulet which
in a comic book reinterpretation replaced that dusty roll of
carpet).
Rocky Raccoon

The product was perfect. The issue was changing the name (“The Princess of Mars” sells itself!!) and marketing being an incoherent mess. This movie DESERVES a sequel.
Moonwatcher 1644

This is just the kind of purile rubbish that (so called critics) spewed at the time of the original movies release. This muppet wouldn’t know a good film if it landed on his head. It was a brilliant attempt to try something new,not the same recycled,sad,worn out franchises we have come to expect from Hollywood. The idiot at Disney,that thought it was a better idea to buy the Star Bores franchise,rather than back John Carter needs shooting. Love the books,loved the film. Bring on John Carter 2 !! And a pox on all critics !!!
Morris_Cips

John Carter is a beauty movie also without success. Many stupid movies have success but they stand stupid.
auralenz

spend money on female reboots. so much better than EGB. note to author: that is called mocking sarcasm.. leaving out Avatar deliberately, when James Cameron himself said he wanted to do a John Carter like story? what planet is this guy from, Cosoom?
Cody Seaton

#johncarter2!!!!!! it was a good movie, really wanting them to pick up where they left off!!!!!!!!!
Barton Biddlearton

The actual news is that Disney has let the rights to this movie lapse to The Edgar Rice Burroughs Foundation. NOT that Disney might make a sequel. I have check a few reviews of this Carrie Stemke, and ALL of them had just such an inaccuracy in the headline or the first 1-2 sentences. Who reviews the reviewer?
Orion Pax

Whatever nonsensical, unobjectively thinking, purely bandwagon critic wrote this nonsense I hope you have every regret writing this. Did you even see the movie? This review clearly had next to 0 research and thought put into it. No looks at context. Majorly biased. If you had looked at all the reasons a movie can tank, you would have seen that major films were coming out in conjunction to John Carter. How do you compete with star wars? Even fully grown men flocked together to see it and they cried when they saw the return of the melinnium falcon. They did a crap job promoting it and honestly should feel ashamed. Correct me if I’m wrong but I’ve read it was 250 not 350 million that was spent as opposed to the 284 mil that was garnered. The only reason it was such a flop was because of the monetary comparisons made between movies of that same year. The previous commenters are definitely right on this one. If you wanna talk crap about good things just to make yourself feel better I say you get a change of heart and a change of mind while you’re at it and do some real journalism or analytics. Leave good movie reviews to those who can actually enjoy movie but also spot where it’s bad at. Good day to you sir/ma’am.
Amber M. Davis

It’s not a fact that it wasn’t well received. The author of this doesn’t take in account of the major movies that were out around that time, case in point one of the Hunger Games movies came out a couple weeks after John Carter was released. People would be saving to see that since it was what was IN trend at the moment, that and Wrath of the Titans, which is also a well received movie by people.

Most people were saving for their favorite movies and watching those said movies multiple times. John Carter (oh wait Prince of Mars, thanks marketing department. -heavy sarcasm- Plus that fact advertisement of the movie was dropped heavily which makes no sense for a big budgeted movie…) probably would have been well received if other movies weren’t in trend at the moment. People weren’t thinking about “Hey John Carter might be decent to watch” they were thinking “OMG! Hunger Games next movie is coming out!” Honestly I was one of those people, but I bought John Carter after the movie came out and I regret not having seen it before hand.

The story is rather amazing and inspirational and full of imagination that movies as of late are greatly lacking to be honest. Think about it this movie shows potential for an amazing series if only it had been given a perfect time to shine. Look at current movies, how many of them are remakes? How many of them lack any sort of imagination? How many of them are just another rendition of another movie. Honestly Zombies, Vampires, remakes of of movies such as Spiderman, Superman, Batman, etc….. it’s getting really dry. I love the imagination Harry Potter series, The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe series, Golden Compass (honestly I want the next one but it probably wont happen…), John Carter, Hunger Games, Maze Runner series, Avatar, etc. brought because it actually hold attention and keeps you wanting to know what happened next.

What we need is more movies like John Carter, but we can’t get that if people keep bashing a movie and never actually giving it a chance to thrive. I have also come to the conclusion that I can’t trust movie critics. Why? Because every one of them are biased… tell me I’m wrong, seriously I am absolutely serious. They will find something about the movie to harp on and degrade, but when they find a movie that appeals to them they praise it yet it gets horrible ratings afterwards… and the movies they actually out right bash get better ratings than anyone thought they would. So in actuality, you can’t base squat off a critic, or the fact that it’s ratings hadn’t been high during it’s initial release when there are many other factors that play in the success of a movie.
Andrea Wharton

Yes!! I am so excited to see the second one :O the person that wrote this is a jerk and should not be negative about another persons ideas. It should be celebrated! PLEASE MAKE THE SECOND ONE AND MORE! thank you 😛
Berruiser

I have watched this movie 3 times and really liked the entire concept. I agree about the bad timing on the release. That said, I would indeed pay to go see this in version 2.
Cliff Smith

One of the best movies ever made with one of the worst promotional campaign ever imagined. Disney screwed up by giving the Director who had never worked with real actors before a blank check. Could have been made for a 1/3 of the cost. Then everyone would have been cooing how great a success it was even with such horrible promotion. Don’t use the movie as a scapegoat for the studio’s failure.
Ric Iron

I liked it, I would like to see the sequel
Melvin E. Holliday

John Carter of Mars was one of the best movies made in the last ten years. It’s lack of success at the box office wasn’t because of the acting or the movie itself. I think Disney needs to look elsewhere to lay blame for losing its tail end on the movie. There are going to be many more failures if movie makers don’t stop trying to make the public eat their Liberal ideology and their trying to force feed us gay rights by lacing every new movie with guys kissing and having sex with each other. The fans go to the movies to see action, love, suspense and not politics and gay issues. So find some other dead horse to beat and lay off the John Carter movie because it was a great movie and I would love to see a sequel or even several. Try cutting back on some of the other boring movies like some of the Marvel movies if you want to cut budgets and increase profits. There are so many of them that are all practically just remakes of each other that I can’t even keep track of what I have already seen and what is new. They already have the sets and costumes bought and paid for in the John Carter movies and that was a large portion of the original loss.
Jeramy Grajiola

Wheres the sequel?????????????????????
D. Paul League

I’m actually watching the movie now, and probably the fifth time. I seldom watch movies twice, so 5 means there is meat on the bone for this movie. I think the issue with the reviewer is his mommy never allowed him to have her milk.
Dan Martin

i hought it was done well and would like to very much see 2.
Shirley Underwood

I thoroughly enjoyed John Carter, and would love to see this cast, including Tyler Kitsch, in a sequel. Your heavy handed criticism does nothing to change my enjoyment of the novels, and the film itself. So it may be an acquired taste, as they say, but at one time, Star Trek was viewed in similar fashion, as were the other aforementioned films. Of course, I loved those films as well…Look where they are inow…Yes, extremely popular and well loved, and grossing high dollars…I think many sci-fi fans would enjoy a deeper look into the world of Barsune and the fascinating mind of Edgar Rice Burroughs, it’s creator…Say what you will, but many of us were not so disappointed as you might believe. Sometimes, there is an expected connection or idea of the kind of movie, Disney producers will make, that throws movies such as this one into a different light, that actually hurts the outcome at the box office….As for me, I look forward with great anticipation, to the many possible, creative ideas that will take place in the making of the new movie!