In development for years, Disney has finally managed to visit Mars with "John Carter" but with a rumored price tag of $300 million this thing is going to have been a massive blockbuster hit if it wants to make any money. And so far, the studio is probably wishing for better buzz. The first trailer was a dazzling looking puzzle while the recent official still didn't do much to make the movie stand out as anything more than your average space epic. Now a handful of new pics have popped up over at SFX and it seems Mars looks like a lot of other places in the galaxy.
The pics are still putting our hero Taylor Kitsch front and center (though we also get a peek at Lynn Collins) and it appears that the planet on which he finds himself is not unlike Tattooine. Though the airship does look a bit less advanced (are those sails?), the general landscape looks familiar, there's a Jar Jar Binks sorta dude hanging around (though far more rugged, probably much less racist; he's also played by Willem Dafoe) and some kind of six legged creature. Let's just hope the next trailer sells this a bit better.
Co-starring Samantha Morton, Dominic West, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston, Ciaran Hinds, James Purefoy, Thomas Haden Church, Mark Strong and Daryl Sabara (some of whom we hope we get to see more of soon), "John Carter" arrives on March 9, 2012. Pics below with a new trailer coming on Thursday. Update: Bleeding Cool has revealed two new posters for the film.
I am guessing the six-legged creature is a pet since it has a bulldog's snout and doesn't look menacing. But yeah, the background reminded me of Jabba the hut's lair.
Taylor Kitsch is in danger. I won't get into it again, since I've expounded on it several times here before, but Kitsch is in real and extreme danger of becoming the next Colin Farrel or Jude Law. Public backlash is a ferocious thing. Even as the John Carter marketing revs up, we are also about to be hit with a wave of Battleship marketing and interviews and publicity. The only thing most people know him as is "the guy who gave a shitty performance in Wolverine." Friday Night Lights was lovely, but it had 5 regular viewers and they were mostly your grandma's age. Nope. The public only knows him as Crappy Background Actor, and now he is leading man of two of the biggest wannabe blockbusters of the year, which hit within 2 months of each other. By the time June rolls around, he is either going to be the biggest superstar in the world, or the public won't be able to stand the sight of him and he'll be on their permanent shit list. The public has never forgiven Colin Farrel and only tolerates Jude Law in sidekick roles. Taylor Kitsch: This is your future.