Pixar Develops John Carter of Mars
CGI Studio Making 3 Movies Based on Edgar Rice Burroughs Novels
Disney/Pixar is developing John Carter of Mars as a trio of CGI films. Andrew Stanton (WALL-E) will direct and Mark Andrews (Ratatouille) will write the script.
The rumours are true. After becoming the top name in famiy-oriented CGI animated films, Pixar has announced that they are adapting the John Carter of Mars series for the silver screen.
Despite being first optioned for the movies nearly twenty years after the first book was published (1917's A Princess of Mars), Edgar Rice Burroughs' classic tale of a Civil War officer fighting monsters and rescuing fair maidens on the planet Mars have never reached theatres.
Pixar's John Carter of Mars Details
Much like Spielberg and Jackson's big-screen adaptation of Tintin, Pixar will bring a trio of John Carter of Mars films to cinemas. However, there will be only one mastermind: über-director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E). According to Pixar, the movies will be a combination of live-action and CGI, and will probably go for a PG or PG-13 rating.
Stanton may or may not help write the 3 movies' scripts, which starts with an adaptation of Princess of Mars, now renamed John Carter of Mars. Storyboarder Mark Andrews (Ratatouille, the short One Man Band) is officially the senior scriptwriter for all three movies.
A Princess of Mars: Edgar Rice Burroughs' First Novel
Burroughs, who would later shoot to fame as the creator of Tarzan, developed A Princess of Mars out of his disgust with what he was reading in pulp fiction magazines.
He later claimed that "if people were paid for writing rot such as I read in some of those magazines that I could write stories just as rotten."
The first novel established the character of John Carter, a former soldier from Virginia. When he hides in a cave to escape bloodthirsty Apache Indians, he mysteriously journeys to Mars. Due to the fact that Mars' gravity is lighter than Earth's, John now has superhuman strength. After rescuing the lovely (natch) Barsoomian Princess Dejah Thoris from the green Tharks, he eventually destroys the villainous city-state of Zodanga and marries the princess.
Although A Princess of Mars ended with John Carter waking up back on Earth after he sacrificed his life to save the Red Planet, calls for a sequel meant that Burroughs was forced to somehow relocate Carter back to Mars for future stories.
The first novel was initially serialized in 1912 for the magazine All-Story, as Under the Moons of Mars.
John Carter's Tormented Journey to the Big Screen
John Carter of Mars has had a long and troubled history in Hollywood. Legendary animator Bob Clampett was the first to try and adapt the series as an animated movie, enlisting author Burroughs' enthusiastic support. However, MGM shot down their concept, demanding a slapstick comedy instead of the serious science-fiction adventure Clampett and Burroughs had envisioned.
In a further twist of irony, the movie was slated for a 1936 release, which would have made it the first full-length animated feature film. Instead, Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves captured that honour when it came out in 1937.
Near the end of Clampett's life, when was touring colleges and universities in the 1970's, he would show the original test footage of John Carter of Mars during his lectures. The response was always enthusiastic.
In the 1980's, Disney affiliate Touchstone Pictures tried to produce a live-action version of John Carter of Mars, helmed by then red-hot action director John McTiernan (Die Hard, Predator). Both Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts were approached to star in the movie, but rising costs doomed the project.
In 2005, Paramount tapped actor/filmmaker Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Elf) to bring John Carter of Mars to the big screen. However, that fell through and Paramount declined to renew the property, which meant Disney/Pixar was free to pick it up.
Obviously, Stanton is currently working on WALL-E, which rolls into theatres on June 27, 2008. That pushes the first John Carter of Mars movie to a distant 2012 release.
