Disney and director Andrew Stanton(Wall-E) can haggle over whether John Carter cost $250M or $300M all they like. It doesn't really matter, because the film cost a friggin' ton regardless, and if the tracking numbers are to be taken at face value, then all that money hasn't bought them much in the way of audience recognition. John Carter is a pariah to many people at this point, since most haven't read any of Edgar Rice Burroughs' fantastic Barsoom novels. Also, because Taylor Kitsch isn't a proven commodity as a leading man yet, although he'll get plenty of opportunity this year with Battleship and Oliver Stone's Savages coming up. There has been very little to make John Carter stand out from the pack.
After a two month marketing blitz, the final trailer for John Carter has been revealed, and as expected it's an all out special effects throwdown, showing us as little of the barren and boring desert scenes as possible in favor of huge action and even larger creatures. Carter is a former soldier who finds himself whisked away to Mars by unknown means, and becoming embroiled in the planet's violent civil war. Mark Strong, Willem Dafoe, and Lynn Collins, Thomas Haden Church, Samantha Morton, Bryan Cranston, Dominic West, and Ciaran Hinds make up a powerful cast. John Carter opens next week on March 9th....
