Corona | Coming Attractions

Check out those Martian white apes in the new John Carter movie poster. They grow them big on Barsoom.

Disney has released a second teaser poster for John Carter, and this one harkens back to the days of golden age science fiction novels. Check out that cover and dig it's pulp sci-fi vibe!

A teaser poster for John Carter has been released. Wait -- the movie is called John Carter now and not John Carter of Mars? That's right, for some reason Disney's dropped the red planet from the title. [Full story]

One person who has an idea why Disney decided to drop Mars from the John Carter title is Mark Strong. In the film he plays Matai Shang, a Martian zen warrior, and the actor believes he knows why the movie's title got shortened.

"There seems to be some kind of confusion as to why this should be, and I think the reason is brilliant," he explains. "The reason is that he has to earn that title. Again, it's a franchise or a number of books; a series of books that people may or may not know, but if you call him John Carter of Mars, I think at the very beginning, all the work’s been done and what Andrew wants to do, I think, is introduce people to this first film, and by the end of it, he becomes John Carter of Mars, but not at the beginning. In the beginning he's John Carter, but by the end of the first film, he's John Carter of Mars; so he’s earned that title to take it off should it want to go to further storytelling."

Disney has decided to move up its release date for the film from June 8 to March 9, 2012. Curiously, this new day is also the same date of release for 20th Century Fox's Prometheus, its new science fiction film being directed by Alien helmer Ridley Scott.

Walt Disney Pictures has slotted John Carter of Mars for a June 8, 2012 release date. What's interesting about that target is that Disney has positioned the release of Pixar's Brave for June 15, one week after John Carter's release. Two major Disney movies to be released, one week apart, and both with a heavy Pixar connection? Something tells us that Brave is getting moved.

Disney has launched its Facebook fan page for John Carter of Mars. If you're interested in signing up, hit it at http://www.facebook.com/JohnCarterOfMars.

The studio has also released an official logline for the movie: "From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E), JOHN CARTER OF MARS brings this captivating hero to the big screen in a stunning adventure epic set on the wounded planet of Mars, a world inhabited by warrior tribes and exotic desert beings.  Based on the first of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom Series, the film chronicles the journey of Civil-War veteran John Carter (TAYLOR KITSCH), who finds himself battling a new and mysterious war amidst a host of strange Martian inhabitants, including Tars Tarkas (WILLEM DAFOE) and Dejah Thoris (LYNN COLLINS)."

Walt Disney Pictures has issued a press release stating that principal photography has begun on John Carter of Mars. Included in the release is a statement from the movie's director and a couple of new additions to the cast.

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Principal photography is underway in London for Walt Disney Pictures’ JOHN CARTER OF MARS. Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton brings this captivating hero to the big screen in a stunning adventure epic set on the wounded planet of Mars, a world inhabited by warrior tribes and exotic desert beings.  Based on the first of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom Series, the film chronicles the journey of Civil-War veteran John Carter, who finds himself battling a new and mysterious war amidst a host of strange Martian inhabitants.

Produced for Walt Disney Pictures by Jim Morris (WALL•E, Ratatouille) and Colin Wilson (Avatar, War of the Worlds), the live action/animation film marks Academy Award®-winning director/writer Andrew Stanton’s (Finding Nemo, WALL•E) first foray into live action. Stanton directed and co-wrote the screenplay for Disney•Pixar’s WALL•E, which earned the Academy Award and Golden Globe® for Best Animated Feature (2008); Stanton was nominated for an Oscar® for the screenplay.  He made his directorial debut with Disney•Pixar’s Finding Nemo, garnering an Academy Award-nomination for Best Original Screenplay and winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature (2003). He has worked as a screenwriter and/or executive producer on Disney•Pixar’s Toy Story, A Bug’s Life (which he also co-directed), Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Ratatouille and Up.

"I have been waiting my whole life to see the characters and worlds of John Carter of Mars realized on the big screen," says Stanton.  "It is just a wonderful bonus that I have anything to do with it."

The stellar ensemble cast is led by Taylor Kitsch (NBC’S Friday Night Lights, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) in the title role, Lynn Collins (50 First Dates, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) as the warrior princess Dejah Thoris and Oscar® nominee Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man 3, Shadow of a Vampire) as Martian inhabitant Tars Tarkas.  The cast also includes Thomas Haden Church (Sideways, Spider-Man 3), Polly Walker (upcoming Clash of the Titans, Patriot Games), Samantha Morton (Elizabeth: The Golden Age, In America), Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes, Body of Lies), Ciaran Hinds (Munich, There Will Be Blood), British actor Dominic West (300, Chicago), James Purefoy (Vanity Fair, Resident Evil) and Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad). Daryl Sabara (Disney’s A Christmas Carol, Spy Kids) takes the role of John Carter’s teenaged nephew, Edgar Rice Burroughs.

The creative team includes Oscar®-nominated production designer Nathan Crowley (Public Enemies, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins), costume designer Mayes Rubeo (Avatar, Apocalypto), cinematographer Daniel Mindel (Star Trek, Mission Impossible III, Spygame) and video effects supervisor Peter Chiang (The Reader, The Bourne Ultimatum).

Bryan Cranston has joined the cast of the film. Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog states that the actor will play a Civil War colonel who becomes at odds with John Carter, though we don't know if this happens before Carter takes off to the red planet or afterward.

Cranston most recently starred in the AMC cable series Breaking Bad, and 12 years ago he played a colonel at the start of Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. He's most likely remembered for playing he beleaguered father in the Fox TV series Malcolm in the Middle.

Thomas Haden Church has been confirmed and James Purefoy and Mark Strong have joined the cast as Martians. Church will play Tal Hajus, a Thark fighter who has a desire to become his peoples' leader; Purefoy will be Kantos Kan, captain of the kingdom of Helium's flying battleship; and Strong is Matai Shang, the ruler of the Thems who believes himself to be a god.

Three more actors have been cast in John Carter of Mars: Samantha Morton (Minority Report) will play Sola, the daughter of Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe's Martian friend to Carter); Dominic West (Punisher: War Zone) will play Sab Than, the prince of the Zodangans and would-be conqueror of the red planet; and Polly Walker (Rome) will play Sarkoja, a combatitive green Martian Thark.

Willem Dafoe has been cast as Tars Tarkas in the film. As described in Burroughs' Mars books, Tarkas is a four-armed, 10-foot-tall green Martian fighter. While the Variety casting notice doesn't mention if Dafoe will be filmed using motion capture techniques like the ones used for Andy Serkis to create his role as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings films, one imagines that the method will have to be used if the movie is to remain faithful to its source material.

Throughout his career Dafoe has had dozens of roles including twice nominated for Best Supporting Actor Oscars (once for Platoon, the other time for Shadow of the Vampire). He played Norman Osborne in the three Spider-Man films and is currently starring in Lars von Trier's controversial film Antichrist.

During a video interview Spider-Man 3 and Sideways actor Thomas Haden Church reveals that he's been offered a "very dramatic role" in John Carter of Mars. Church stops himself short of revealing who the character he might play is.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine cast members Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins have been cast as Civil War soldier John Carter and Martian princess Dejah Thoris in Disney's big screen John Carter of Mars movie. Some filming will take place in Utah. [Full story]