Comments on: Andrew Stanton Explains ‘John Carter’ Name Change, Says Girls Won’t See A Movie With ‘Mars’ In The Title

By: douglassirk

douglassirk — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

you people need to get a grip. he's making an awesome movie that also happens to be incredibly expensive. if the marketing team crunched the numbers and they wanna call it "big mac" then let them, as long as they don't get near the film. they're the ones giving an artist with a great track record the equivalent of a small country's GDP to make a 90 min piece of entertainment, you should consider yourselves lucky guys like him and brad bird get to direct movies at all.

By: padre

padre — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

Wow, Stanton is a complete douchebag, as are apparently the other dick swingers at Pixar. I haven't been paying attention to Disney. Wasn't their animation studio set to be shut down after Tangled? Did that ever happen? They made the girl-friendly stuff: fairy tales, musicals, and cuteness. Are they dead now? So it's all penis-fixation world at Disney now with Marvel and Pixar and whatever remains of the animation studio? So who is going to tell the little girls of the world, "No more Disney movies catering to YOU!" Little girls have become Disney's undesirable demo. Wow.

By: Kate

Kate — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

What an asshole. Seriously, he sounds like a huge asshole. He can keep the title whatever he wants, I doubt many people will have interest in it either way. I like Sci-Fi movies…and Mars for that matter…so up yours buddy!

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

I was 7 when 'Princess Bride' came out and I kicked a fit when my parents took me to see it. Of course I ended up loving it.

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

Might I add that I have no interest in seeing this movie whether the word "mars" or "princess" is in the title.

By: StephenM

StephenM — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

Oh, come on. It's a commercial movie, they decided to go with what they thought was the more marketable name, the old name was better, he's just doing press so he can't admit it. What's the big controversy here? I've never heard any girl complaining about Pixar movies not being girly enough, they've got Brave coming out next year, if that's a success they'll probably follow more of that template. There might be something to be vaguely irritated at here, but I see no reason for outrage.

By: Mike S.

Mike S. — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

There's nothing of interest here – this is just one hundred percent a focus group tested decision that Disney has made to protects its interests. Does it reduce things to perhaps antiquated gender categories? Well, yes, but welcome back to the world where a multi-billion dollar corporation isn't willing to forego an extra hundred million dollars for the sake of flattering your progressive framework. The reality, one that has no doubt been polled and focus grouped to death, is that less girls probably would see a movie called John Carter of Mars (and boys would probably avoid a movie with Princess in the title). Maybe not all of them, maybe not even enough to severely limit the box office, but enough to scare Disney into simplifying the title. If that shocks you and you want to take umbrage with it, fine, but the fact that you're passing this off as news is laughable, and what can so often make you guys read like wide-eyed teenage boys. Can you please follow this up with an article about how shocked you are that Sony wouldn't cast Donald Glover as Spiderman? Then can we all go back to being adults and acknowledging that – as terribly shocking as this is – a corporation might rely on sexist and racist policies and precepts to protect its bottom line?

By: buntyhoven

buntyhoven — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

If you're going to change the name, why not go all the way? John Carter is just completely boring; some ordinary man-name. Might as well call it Peter Henderson. It's totally uninspiring. John Carter of Mars sounds alright. But if you don't call it that, give it another name. Space Man Against Martians or some shit.

By: jimmiescoffee

jimmiescoffee — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

i like the old title. and hate the new trailer.

By: LifeOnMars

LifeOnMars — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

Edgar Rice Burroughs was a boring hack. Who cares what they have to entitle this CG fest in order for teenaged boys, who have legendarily horrendous taste in everything (I know, I was one once) to fork over money to see it…

On the other hand I am willing to allow for the possibility that it may the next sleeper hit for Disney a la Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.

By: Theo C

Theo C — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

Still think they need a more by the numbers trailer to convince people. I think it looks OK i'll be willing to give it a go but I'm in already. I thought A princess of Mars would've been a good title but honestly don't care, maybe just call it JC and have people assume it's a retelling of the life of christ. Also this explains what Kristen Bell has been doing wrong, she should have gotten people to sign a petition to make a 'Veronica' movie.

By: haddocs

haddocs — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

Douglassirk, I agree 100%. Who cares if the marketing department changes the title if they don't interfere with the film itself? If this ends up being a good film, I sure hope that it makes as much money as possible. It'll be easier to make more good sci-fi adventure films if JC is a hit.

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

RE: Brenda Chapman… I have seen a lot of vague rumors about her exit. But you talk like you know more to the story… Where can I find info about this?

By: Nate

Nate — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

RE Chapman; she recently joined Twitter and still seems to be willfully associating herself with both Brave and Pixar. Maybe her exit was really not as bad-blooded as you make it out to be.

By: katherine

katherine — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

But how do you explain Bruno Mars, huh?

By: Ron

Ron — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

bleh. This doesn't fill me with desire to see the film. If "not a single boy would go" to see "A Princess of Mars", how does one explain all the boys, including me, who read the book?

Add the Rock Quarry locals, the steampunk aircraft, miscasting, (I'm sure Lynn Collins is a fine actress, but she's too old for the part. And Taylor Kitsch is too young.) and horribly corny dialog (in the trailer, which is supposed to highlight the best moments), and now Stanton getting defensive and showing insecurity, and it's become apparent that as long as Disney has owned the property, they still do not understand it, and Andrew Stanton is out of his depth. Despite the gargantuan budget, it has the look and feel of a "B" movie, and not in a good way.

I predict that the flawed production will damage word-of-mouth, and the combination of that and uncertain marketing will cause the film to crater. It might make its budget back eventually on DVD, but forget seeing any of the other books on film.

It's too bad, because the property had an automatic following, if only Disney had had the guts to run with it.

By: Winston Blakely

Winston Blakely — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

I just hope the movie is good… regardless of the lack of " Mars" in the title.

By: Jonathan Greene

Jonathan Greene — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:17:35 +0000

It's beyond that. Since Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote these stories in the 1910's, Mars has gone from mysteriously exotic to cheesy cliche thanks to all the cheap 1950's films that centered on Martian invasions. I cannot remember the last successful project that actually put Mars in it's title – Mission To Mars, The Martian Chronicles, Tobe Hooper's Invaders From Mars, Ghosts Of Mars, Mars Needs Moms; all disappointments or bombs. Total Recall may have been set on Mars, but they didn't put that in the title, avoiding the jinx. I think they are just going with the best marketing angle right now, for non-fans of the series. We'll see in the film how they handle the Mars/Barsoom angle.
If it's a hit and there is a sequel, maybe they might go with Warlord Of Mars. But most likely it would be John Carter: Warlord.