'John Carter' Fans Petition Disney For Sequel

I usually judge a movie by the trailer and the reviews and let it fall by them as it's my money. By a lot of the writers here, and those that agree. that strategy fell short this time. There's apparently a lot of informed opinion here.  Whether or not the movie was a critical success, I could care less about what we know about Mars now than the phony science in 2012.   AND FOIDAMAW--The first Star Trek movie opened to mixed reviews--not sure of their receipts--but it became a series.

I thought it was OK...the FX were certainly great but overall I think Disney and many people commenting here really don't understand the core Sci-Fi audience. I don't know how many of you know this, but sci-fi films don't have an automatic wide appeal across demographics, certainly not in the way a comedy or a good spy film has...if you don't entice the bulk of the core sci-fi movie crowd - you are going to fail, simple as that. Who is that core sci-fi crowd? ? Men, between the ages of 18 and 45. - I have a B.A in Cinema Studies, I actually studied these things.

The problem is that this feels like a Disney film, through and through, it may appeal to plenty of 9 and 10 year olds, and some mainstream adults who are fans of the books but you are not going to get the majority of hardcore sci-fi buffs. The lead is a beach-body toned pretty boy - obviously designed to pull in a female audience, which, honestly - most women (notice I said most - so if you are a woman and liked this film, don't start ranting) could care less about seeing a sci-fi film based on a completely absurd storylne and basically starring a male calendar model and the core male sci-fi crowd, they want something that at least seems plausible on some level...and a hero who they can identify with - this film fails on both those counts.

Yes, plenty of films have absurd storylines but women and sci-fi buffs are more likely to see a sci-fi film with at least a small nugget of "possibility" to hang their collective suspension of disbelief on for two hours... say films about an alien invasion or some intergalactic war "In a galaxy far, far away" - the whole concept of people and aliens running around on Mars during the civil war is just too ridiculous for the times we live in. Absurdity can often be mitigated if you place the film in a distant place or time that is far in the future or thousands of years in the past - but here, no hope. Supernatural films about vampires, ghosts and such - at least have the advantage of positioning the story worlds as "secret worlds" - hidden from most normal humans.

Look, the books are great but as far as sci-fi goes, they were written for a different society and different time - these specific stories just don't translate well for the modern sci-fi film fan - sorry, but they just don't. Bottom line, bring in the core sci-fi fans and you will likely get them AND a decent percentage of general moviegoers - but when you go out and TRY to make a blockbuster sci-fi by throwing in elements that you think will appeal to EVERYONE, you end up getting none of them... 

You want an example of a film that appeals to the hardcore Sci-fi crowd and will make money EVEN if the critics pan it - the upcoming Ridley Scott film - Prometheus - This film IS specifically targeted at the hardcore sci-fil crowd, they will all go see it no matter what and in the process, plenty of mainstream movie fans will get drawn in from the hype...

The JC series of books (11) are amazing and I grew up on them and Tom Corbett and Rick Blaine.  There have been one or two previous attempts to make a John Carter movie, both total flops not making their cost back.  I've waited 50 years for a good rendition of JC and had high hopes of a Disney production.  The movie was ok, and the failure was on the part of the screenwriter to properly fill in the audience in the background of JC, how he was a warrior, and that Mars, the Greek God of War, was his touchstone.  He didn't fight some apparition appearing in a cave to get to Mars, in the book he was dying and reached out (literally) to his touchstone, Mars, and was transported to the Red Planet.  If the audience was properly 'briefed' as to JC's background his appearance on Mars, and his warrior like behavior when he got there, would have given his character more credibility and believability.  I totally fault the writer for missing the essence of the character.  I'm a wanna-be screenwriter so I do know something about which I write here.  That said, I do hope there's 10 more sequels!  You rock Edgar Rice!!