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John Carter of Mars film announced

post #1 of 16
3/2/04 at 12:17pm
Thread Starter 
Apparently Variety is reporting that Paramount is making a (very) big budget John Carter of Mars movie, with Robert Rodriguez attached to direct it. I guess this is another example of what happens when Lord of the Rings makes a billion dollars and cleans up at the Oscars

I don't know all that much about the character because I only read the first book, which was okay but quite stiffly written compared to the other Burroughs books I've read (a couple of Tarzans), but I've heard that's because it was one of his earliest works. Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how well this one works on screen.
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post #2 of 16
3/2/04 at 12:21pm
How many projects does Robert Rodriguez have going on at once?
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post #3 of 16
3/2/04 at 2:11pm
About three or four, which isn't unusual for him, or directors in general. Some will fall by the wayside, some will take longer to get off the ground than expected, and some will actually get made.

Right now, I guess Sin City and A Princess Of Mars are on the front-burner, though I wouldn't be terribly shocked to see Madman get done between them - especially since someone else is doing the script for Mars, which is probably a good thing and will help slow the production down. Then he's got another 3-D family project he wants to do.

I am kind of psyched to imagine what Rodriguez will do with $100M of Paramount's money, considering his ability to squeeze a lot out of relatively small budgets on the Spy Kids movies.
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post #4 of 16
3/2/04 at 6:13pm
So, the John Carter of Mars project found its way from Disney to Paramount, eh? I remember reading A Princess of Mars over a decade ago in college, and learning back then that Disney had plans to bring it to the screen, but it never happened.

Rodriguez with a $100M budget? He got canned from The Mask of Zorro purportedly because he told the Sony suits that he didn't NEED a $40 million budget, that he'd turn in the movie on less than half that. For some odd reason, they didn't like that, so they replaced him with Martin Campbell. I'd guess if he's accepting a $100 million budget, he'll still maximize it, just hire a fancier craft services company or give himself a higher salary or something.

Anyway, I hope that this is actually true. The Burroughs novels are LONG overdue for a film adaptation.

Wither Tom Hanks's starring turn in Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land?
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post #5 of 16
3/2/04 at 8:32pm
Quote:
Rodriguez with a $100M budget? He got canned from The Mask of Zorro purportedly because he told the Sony suits that he didn't NEED a $40 million budget, that he'd turn in the movie on less than half that. For some odd reason, they didn't like that, so they replaced him with Martin Campbell.
I'd heard it was the other way around - Rodriguez added everything up, said he couldn't make the movie they wanted for less than $65M, and Sony canned him because his reputation for squeezing blood from a stone was why they'd hired him in the first place. They then hired Martin Campbell, who worked from Rodriguez's storyboards and brought the movie in... for $65M.

It is interesting that the movie is being set up at Paramount, because I was under the impression that Disney had an arrangement with the Burroughs heirs, that Tarzan was supposed to only be part of. And, in further "stretch to find irony" terms, the Princess Of Mars script that's been under development for the past ten years was from the same team (Elliot & Rossio) as the Mask Of Zorro one.
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post #6 of 16
3/2/04 at 9:46pm
Cool news!

I'm also looking forward to the Solomon Kane movie that's supposed to start filming this year.
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post #7 of 16
3/2/04 at 10:25pm
Perhaps I'm the only one but I'm starting to find that R.R. budget cutting ways are starting to get in the way. I'm finding that his short cuts are really starting to be short comings of his films. Although I definitely would love to see him do a big budget movie.
Thanks
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post #8 of 16
4/5/04 at 1:18pm
SciFi Wire: "Knowles Co-producing Mars"

dateline: April 2, 2004 09:00 a.m. ET
Quote:
Harry Knowles, creator of the Ain't It Cool News Web site, will co-produce the upcoming SF movie Princess of Mars for Paramount Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Knowles will join a production team that already includes director Robert Rodriguez, his wife Elizabeth Avellan, Jim Jacks, and Sean Daniel.

A Princess of Mars was the first of 11 books in Edgar Rice Burroughs' seminal Martian Tales series that chronicled the adventures of adventurer John Carter. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Knowles, in his 2002 autobiography, described Martian Tales as one of the literary world's properties most deserving of a big-screen treatment. Paramount plans a 2006 release for Princess of Mars, which Rodriguez will direct after completing his current project, Sin City.
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post #9 of 16
4/5/04 at 4:44pm
oh well sounds scary indeed

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post #10 of 16
4/5/04 at 9:50pm
Surprised it took this long for that bit to get on here.

As long as he isn't writing or directing films, he can do whatever he wants...

Jason
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post #11 of 16
4/12/04 at 12:11pm
SciFi Wire: "Mars Imperilled"

dateline: April 8, 2004 9:00 a.m. ET
Quote:
Robert Rodriguez's resignation from the Directors Guild of America has jeopardized Paramount's development of its adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' classic SF book A Princess of Mars, Variety reported. The director of Spy Kids quit the union so he could co-direct Sin City with Frank Miller, who created, wrote, and illustrated the three-book graphic novel series on which that movie is based, the trade paper reported. (Guild rules do not permit such "co-directing" credits.)

But that imperils Mars, because as a DGA signatory, Paramount is required to employ only guild directors, the trade paper reported. Insiders close to Rodriguez tell the trade paper that, at least for now, the director is unwilling to rejoin the guild just to direct Princess of Mars.

Mars is based on the first book in Burroughs' 11-volume John Carter of Mars series.
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post #12 of 16
4/12/04 at 5:28pm
I always think of ER when I see that title :b
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post #13 of 16
7/30/04 at 12:48pm
Time to resurrect this thread:

Kevin Conran to direct "A Princess Of Mars"?

http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=18072

No conformation from Harry, but could be an interesting choice, depending on how Sky Captain turns out.

Jason
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post #14 of 16
8/3/04 at 10:45am
That's interesting news. It should all turn out good.
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post #15 of 16
2/7/07 at 1:33pm

Re: John Carter of Mars film announced

Looks like it might be turned into a CGI film now.

http://www.joblo.com/john-carter-of-cgi
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post #16 of 16
2/11/07 at 6:19am
Thread Starter 

Re: John Carter of Mars film announced

More follow-up on the previous post (there's also some intriguing stuff regarding what's going on lately with Disney, Lasseter butting heads with Glen Keane):

Pixar and Zemeckis teaming up?
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