Wow! John Carter is destined to become one of the biggest box-office failures of all time.
"As a result of the catastrophic performance of the action film on Mars, the studio should lose up to $120 million in the quarter.
John Carter will cause Disney to write down about $200 million, the company said Monday.
During the period ending March 31, Disney's second-fiscal quarter, the studio segment will post a loss of from $80 million-$120 million, the company said.
"In light of the theatrical performance of John Carter ($184 million global box office), we expect the film to generate an operating loss of approximately $200 million during our second fiscal quarter ending March 31," Disney's statement issued Monday said. " As a result, our current expectation is that the Studio segment will have an operating loss of between $80 and $120 million for the second quarter."
So CG Arts, what franchise will be next in line to forever be killed off by a special effects laden, over-budgeted, poorly directed sequel? Prometheus? Batman? Superman?
ReplyDeleteSuperman...
Agh! Meant film, not sequel!...
ReplyDeleteWell - if it's Prometheus, I'll turn my back on Hollywood forever. If it's Superman, I'll cry a little bit. (Actually, I've got zilch expectations for Superman *sob*). Ouch - 200 million! Well, it's going to put the breaks on a few 'in-development' projects, I'm guessing... Still, there's always Piranha 3DD to look forward to, right?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LZCHqLMKeU
(and for all you 'meta' fans out there, rejoice in the David Hasslehoff cameo...)
*Spoiler Alert*
ReplyDeleteI think the failure of John Carter proves that it's often difficult to transfer Sci-Fi into credible dialogue, performance, and cinema. Particularly when green screen and CG are being used. I saw John Carter at the weekend and it comes across as one of those films where you feel like you're watching children playing with action figures, doing the voices, and making up a narrative as they go. Carrie Fisher once said (of the Star Wars script) "You can write this shit but you can't say it".
Jon Carter has been in 'on/off' production for 82 years and it's such a shame it ended this way. It's a very good book and deserved better. However, the scope of the narrative meant that in a two hour film it could never be done justice. I get the feeling Disney left a lot of footage on the cutting room floor (directors cut coming soon?). Personally, I think it would have made a much better TV series for this reason, allowing deeper character developement and world building. Although Star Gate has pretty much covered this territory already.
On Prometheus;
Please, please, please Hollywood don't mess up Prometheus and destory Alien in the process 'Episode 1' style.
I'm going with Superman.
ReplyDelete