It seems that John Carter Of Mars has been in production for eons. As far back as 2004 Robert Rodriguez was saying he was going to direct it, before he pulled out (the second of today’s stories that display Rodriguez’s favourite pastime – developing then dropping films). However it was picked up again last year, with Finding Nemo and Wall-E director Andrew Stanton due to make his live action debut with the film. It’s also Pixar’s first foray into live action, as the studio tries to expand its horizons.
Since that announement, many wondered whether the movie had returned to development hell as there was little more news, other than that Pulitzer prizewinner Michael Chabon had been brought on to help with the script. However it’s now being reported that Disney has done a deal to shoot part of the movie in Utah, with production due to get underway in November (as always in Hollywood it’s a deal to get tax breaks, with Disney spending $28 million in the State and getting $5.5 million in tax breaks in return).
The film, which is due to be the first of a trilogy, is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ (King Solomon’s Mines) 1917 novel, A Princess Of Mars, which is about a Civil War veteran who is tranplanted to Mars, where he finds a a civilisation of 12-foot-tall green barbarians. He also comes across Dejah Thoris, Princess Of Helium, who’s desperately in need of a savior.
Disney is hoping that the film will be the start of a massive franchise akin to Pirates Of The Caribbean. While John Carter Of Mars initially sounds a bit bizarre, so does most of what Pixar does, but in the end they seem to know what they’re doing. The movie is due out in 2012.