John Carter of Mars film announced (1 Viewer)

[Andy Sheets]

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.

 

[Patrick Sun]

How many projects does Robert Rodriguez have going on at once?

 

[Jason Seaver]

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.

 

[Joe_Pinney]

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?

 

[Jason Seaver]

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.

 

[SteveGon]

Cool news!

I'm also looking forward to the Solomon Kane movie that's supposed to start filming this year.

 

[Chad Ferguson]

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

 

[Rex Bachmann]

SciFi Wire: "Knowles Co-producing Mars"http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2004-04/02/12.00.film

dateline: April 2, 2004 09:00 a.m. ET

 

[oscar_merkx]

oh well sounds scary indeed

 

[TheLongshot]

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

 

[Rex Bachmann]

SciFi Wire: "Mars Imperilled"http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2004-04/08/11.45.film

dateline: April 8, 2004 9:00 a.m. ET

 

[ChrisBEA]

I always think of ER when I see that title :b

 

[TheLongshot]

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

 

[Jasmine Meathe]

That's interesting news. It should all turn out good.

 

[DavidPla]

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

http://www.joblo.com/john-carter-of-cgi

 

[Andy Sheets]

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?