John Carter of Mars

[Mark]

A film designer has sketches from one of the earlier planned versions of ERB's John Carter of Mars movie. Check out:

http://www.design-concepts.co.uk/Mar...rterplaces.htm


Hmm, from some of the scenes it looks like they were taking a bit of a license with ERB...

Later, MEH

[BlueDelvia]

Wow... thanks for that link Mark!

I've always liked Michael Whelan's cover art for the John Carter novels.

[Mark]

I guess I am showing my age...for me the illustrators for ERB have always been Krenkel or Frazetta. Both managed to capture the dynamism of the texts in very vivid and visceral fashions. Boris and Whelan's covers I find to polished for ERB---it is almost like the figures are statues and not living organisms.

Don't get me wrong on Whelan though. His covers for the DAW Elric books I think are great and capture Elric quite IMO.

Best, MEH

[Mark]

Bill Hillman's ERBZIN-E has several unpublished sketches by John Coleman Burroughs posted in his most recent issue. Check out

http://www.angelfire.com/trek/jcb/erbz937.html

[Ciboule]

Hi ERB fans !

If you want help the legendary John Carter to win a poll, this is time !

A french website dedicated to fantasy, Elbakin.net, is runnning a tournament between a lot of fantasy characters, and John Carter is one of them !
His showdown has begun :

You can vote here !

This "vs" ends is up for 2 days.

Sorry for my bad english,

Have a nice day,

[Mark]

Jon Favreau to helm 'John Carter of Mars'.
07 Oct 2005

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Variety says that Paramount has hired 'Elf' and 'Zathura' helmer Jon Favreau to direct John Carter of Mars, the epic adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs sci-fi series.

The film begins with a Civil War veteran whose retreat into a cave to avoid capture by Apache Indians takes an otherworldly turn as he's transported via time portal to the planet of Barsoom and taken prisoner by 12-foot-tall green man.

Burroughs wrote 11 volumes of Carter's adventures and the studio is hoping the film will launch a franchise. Ehren Kruger rewrote a script by Mark Protosevich, and Ain't It Cool News creator Harry Knowles is co-producing.

rest at

http://www.thefilmasylum.com/newsite...rt_from=&ucat=

[Michael]

Looks like he has a busy schedule ahead of him:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds25286.html

He is doing is own CG animation film, "Neanderthals". I think the bad part of all this is that Harry Knowles is co-producing. If that is what it takes to bring this story to the big screen, then so be it. I just don't have a good feeling about that (meaning no disrespect to Harry -- but what is his contribution going to be?).

[Michael]

He talked a little more about what he'll do for "John Carter of Mars" in this story from October 12:

"That's sort of a bit of a treat project," said Favre. "Zathura was fun and I got to wet my feet in Science Fiction a little bit. People have been trying to make John Carter of Mars for 75 years now. It actually was a project when Snow White was being made. It was supposed to be the first animated feature from Disney from what I understand."

Read the full article here (you'll have to close some annoying ads -- sorry):

http://www.canmag.com/news/4/3/2175

[Michael]

Dark Horizons has more information published on October 18:


Director Jon Favreau ("Elf") is out doing promotions for "Zathura" this past weekend and spoke with Now Playing Magazine about what he's up to next - specifically the film adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel series "John Carter of Mars".

Read the full article here:
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/051018i.php

[Michael]

I saw the preview for "Zathura" when I went to see "The Legend of Zorro" last night. The quality promises to be good. Of course, we all know how previews can be totally deceiving. But "Zathura" looks like a top-notch movie. I am hopeful for "John Carter of Mars" (or "A Princess of Mars" or whatever they decide to call it).

[Michael]

Empire Online has a new interview with Favreau. It sounds like they are making progress:

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=17774

The movie is still in the development stages, but has the potential to be enormous. “The way it stands is that we have artists working on research, we’re working on a script and we should know by the spring whether we’re going ahead or if the project goes back on the woodpile…It’s pretty big. Theoretically it could spin out into a fully fledged franchise, which is, I think, what the holy grail is for the movie studios now.”

[Ciboule]

I fear that this projet will fall down again. :(

By the way, round 2 for John Carter is up in that french fantasy tournament :

Vote right here for the Barsoom Emperor !

[Michael]

A brief mention of the project appears in an article about Paramount Pictures studio head Gail Berman:

Berman and her team had been methodically building a slate of pictures, which takes a long time. When Paramount producers James Jacks and Sean Daniel made a presentation to Berman on Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ "Princess of Mars," which "Elf" director Jon Favreau is developing, Berman told the producers that she also was interested in one of their other projects, "Ripley‘s Believe It or Not." She then was able to persuade Tim Burton that the project was right for him, and she hopes to make the movie with Jim Carrey .

A story from last month about "Spy Kids 2" on New Zealand television introduces a little doubt:

Ever the maverick, Rodriguez resigned from the Director's Guild of America so he could co-direct the film with Sin City's writer/artist Frank Miller (the DGA will only allow one director credited on any one picture).

But the move has threatened Rodriguez's next film, a Paramount-backed, $100 million adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' (Tarzan) space epic A Princess of Mars, the first in the John Carter, Warlord of Mars series. Paramount, as a DGA signatory, is only permitted to hire DGA members to direct its films, and was forced to move on to other directors, after failing to convince Rodriguez to re-join the DGA. Plays by his own rules, that guy.

Rodriguez is currently planning a follow-up to Sin City, and is also collaborating with Quentin Tarantino (who "guest directed" a scene in Sin City) on a double feature called "Grindhouse", for which each director will make a trashy b-movie style feature split by especially-made trailers for fictional b-movies.

[Michael]

I could have sworn we had stayed on top of this story, but apparently not. Looks like we completely missed the whole Paramount rumor sweep.

...sigh...

Oh. The latest word I could find is from March 2007 (first article cited below) and May 13 (second article cited below).

Mark Fergus of Queens
What does a screenwriter do for an encore after earning an Oscar nomination for Children of Men? Easy: he directs his first feature, nudges John Lasseter towards an epic and gives Robert Downey Jr. the comeback role he's been looking for.
Friday, March 23, 2007 at 5:45 PM
By Daniel Robert Epstein

Screenwriter and first-time director Mark Fergus (First Snow) came this close to convincing Paramount to move forward with an adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel John Carter of Mars. But he’s still stoked at the prospect of Pixar picking up the slack, either by way of animation or special effects enhanced live action.

“[Executive producer] John [Lasseter] brought us in to do an adaptation of the trilogy,” Fergus explains during a recent interview with FilmStew. “The trilogy is huge and I hadn’t read them before, which was great because it made it fresh material. I was like, ‘Wow. Everyone has pillaged these books over the years for sci-fi stories and movies.’”

“What we really had to do is focus it to just be a mythical fairy tale,” he adds. “It could be a four-hour movie if you wanted it to be. But it’s quite a simple story when you strip away the hundreds of side characters and layers and all of that. When we showed them that we knew how to travel through this material and find that story, I think that’s really what made them want to get us involved. I think we nailed that.”

Read the full article here

From MickeyNews, May 13, 2007:
Before signing up to do Iron Man, director Jon Favreau's next project was supposed to be an adaptation of the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs sci-fi books "John Carter of Mars". With Favs committed to iron underwear, it died on the vine Eventually Paramount decided not to renew their rights to the project, and it's just been sitting there waiting for someone to snatch it up.

Now TMZ says Disney may be that someone. They say the Burroughs estate is negotiating with Disney to turn the series of books not just into a single film, but into an entire franchise of films. Disney is looking for more family friendly epics to turn into major movies, and this could be it for them.

Read the full article here

As I understand it, Pixar is negotiating for only the first three books, but I hope we find out more soon.

[Mark]

Originally Posted by Michael

I could have sworn we had stayed on top of this story, but apparently not. Looks like we completely missed the whole Paramount rumor sweep.

...sigh...

Oh. The latest word I could find is from March 2007 (first article cited below) and May 13 (second article cited below).

Mark Fergus of Queens
What does a screenwriter do for an encore after earning an Oscar nomination for Children of Men? Easy: he directs his first feature, nudges John Lasseter towards an epic and gives Robert Downey Jr. the comeback role he's been looking for.
Friday, March 23, 2007 at 5:45 PM
By Daniel Robert Epstein

Screenwriter and first-time director Mark Fergus (First Snow) came this close to convincing Paramount to move forward with an adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel John Carter of Mars. But he’s still stoked at the prospect of Pixar picking up the slack, either by way of animation or special effects enhanced live action.

“[Executive producer] John [Lasseter] brought us in to do an adaptation of the trilogy,” Fergus explains during a recent interview with FilmStew. “The trilogy is huge and I hadn’t read them before, which was great because it made it fresh material. I was like, ‘Wow. Everyone has pillaged these books over the years for sci-fi stories and movies.’”

“What we really had to do is focus it to just be a mythical fairy tale,” he adds. “It could be a four-hour movie if you wanted it to be. But it’s quite a simple story when you strip away the hundreds of side characters and layers and all of that. When we showed them that we knew how to travel through this material and find that story, I think that’s really what made them want to get us involved. I think we nailed that.”

Read the full article here

From MickeyNews, May 13, 2007:
Before signing up to do Iron Man, director Jon Favreau's next project was supposed to be an adaptation of the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs sci-fi books "John Carter of Mars". With Favs committed to iron underwear, it died on the vine Eventually Paramount decided not to renew their rights to the project, and it's just been sitting there waiting for someone to snatch it up.

Now TMZ says Disney may be that someone. They say the Burroughs estate is negotiating with Disney to turn the series of books not just into a single film, but into an entire franchise of films. Disney is looking for more family friendly epics to turn into major movies, and this could be it for them.

Read the full article here

As I understand it, Pixar is negotiating for only the first three books, but I hope we find out more soon.

Well, I guess if they put some clothes on whoever plays Dejah Thoris, they will have a family flick--LOL!

But then again, if they had the right actress play Dejah Thoris.....

[Boomstick]

I don't think they necessarily needed to make an R-rated film series, but I'm not so sure Disney is the studio to take these on. If anything, I'd expect them to make a watered down series of movies based on the books rather than adapted from them.

I was just reading A Princess of Mars last weekend, and I was thinking to myself how potentially astronomical the budget could be on a film adaptation of it.

[Michael]

Looks like some people are speculating that Pixar may move the movie release back to 2012 or thereabouts if they do a sequel to "Cars".

[Michael]

Here is the most recent news I could find on the story. I'll keep looking. This was also from January 2007.

Disney Considering a Return to Mars
Paramount was the latest of a long line of entities attempting to bring the Edgar Rice Burroughs character to the screen, but their option expired before shooting began.
Thursday, January 18, 2007 at 12:01 AM
By Dennis Michael


Disney had the rights to John Carter of Mars for most of the 90’s; Jeffrey Katzenberg had it in mind for an animated film, and then they decided on live action, with John McTiernan at the helm. But then Paramount Pictures picked up the rights for a film version and discussed it with directors Robert Rodriquez, Kerry Conrad, and Jon Favereau. Now Paramount’s option on the property has expired, and Disney is in talks with the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate again to make John Carter of Mars a series for the studio.

Source: http://www.filmstew.com/showArticle....ontentID=15362

[Michael]

Okay. IMDB has more recent information that completely contradicts the above.

Overview
Writers:Edgar Rice Burroughs (novel) and
Mark Fergus (screenplay)

Release Date:2009 (USA) more
Genre:Family / Fantasy / Sci-Fi more

Plot Summary:Civil War vet John Carter is transplanted to Mars, where he discovers a lush, wildly diverse planet...

Status:Announced
Comments:Now being reimagined at Pixar as a half animation/half live action project
Status Updated:25 June 2007

Note:Because this project is categorized as being in production, the data is subject to change; some data could be removed completely.

Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401729/

[Michael]

The list the production company as Angry Films from Austin, TX.

John Carter of Mars (2009) ... Production Company
Real Steel (2009) ... Production Company
Coin Locker Babies (2008) ... Production Company
A Cool Breeze on the Underground (2008) ... Production Company
While She Was Out (2008) ... Production Company
Shoot 'Em Up (2007) ... Production Company
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) ... Production Company

Source: http://www.imdb.com/company/co0000612/

Wired's blog says Frazetta has been brought on board as Production Designer (April 2007).
http://blog.wired.com/tableofmalcont...films_wor.html

But Frazetta disputed that information soon afterward.