JOHN CARTER OF ONE-SHEET

Seriously. News on this one has been near nil. Not sure how I feel about the lead casting, but I'm excited for everything else. Can't wait for a trailer or a look at the Martians.

Will this thing have any name recognition with people?  Honestly, I see the JCM and the first thing I think of is John Cougar of Mellencamp.

OK, this is not offensively bad or anything, but I fail to see what this poster has to do with the property, thematically speaking. "Oh shit it's a dude!"

Even people familiar with this would have to be told what it is about.

Unfamiliar with the property (Jesus, I know!), and that poster...okay. It tells me some bare chested hunk is a coming.

 

Now if John Carter was punching out Hitler...I'd be more interested.

John Carter of Mars and anything Burroughs wrote beside Tarzan is niche at best. You're not alone. Which is weird considering how monumentaly he influenced pulp literature.

How the hell do you not use the pulp art of the books for a teaser?  This is lazy and boring.  I'm not saying to copy a work of art, but you know, get creative with it. Make people look at it and go "WOW, what is this?!"   I see this teaser poster and just think well, boring and I don't care...

I recall an interview with someone involved with the production where they stated that the film would avoid pulpy, Frazetta stylings because it was viewed as being out of fashion. I don't debate that Frazetta and ERB are fairly niche, but I doubt this little teaser, and the style in which it's been rendered, would draw much more than a shrug from your average person.

 

I love the John Carter books in all their pseudo-racist, swashbuckling glory, but this is going to need to look no less than brilliant for Disney to get my money.

 

 

Quote:

Because they wrong-headedly (IMO) abandoned that art direction.
 

 

A friend/mentor of mine has words of wisdom that applies here. 

 

These movie-folk only plan for failure and not success.  Nobody wants to be the one to have OKed a pulpy, old-fashioned marketing campaign in case the movie ends up underperforming.  They want to be able to say, "Hey... I did everything that I was supposed to do according to standard practice.  I did my job.  You can't blame me."

 

Do they think a Frazetta-styled illustrated poster would look better?  No answer.  That's not even the issue.

 

Shame.

I wouldn't take offense at such an unimaginative and timid attempt at marketing if I didn't know Disney were probably spending the gdp of a small african country gearing up to market this thing and some coke snorting marketing douche has just been patted on the back told that this poster was brilliant - and that he believed it.

 

Gods, as MBN pointed out, why not just appropriate the classic pulp art from the past for your poster?

 

I simply don't understand why Hollywood is interested in mining these pulp properties for film ideas and then trying to distance themselves from their pulpier aspects when it comes time to make and market them.

I guess they fear another Flash Gordon if they went the classic pulp style... But I just call it lack of imagination and the inability to know how to market this film.

 

Sadly, Mcnooj is right about the planning for failure. Once a film like this is green lit, I can imagine a bunch of suits finding ways to cover their asses early.

If anyone would like to hear my friend/mentor shoot the shit about movies/Hollywood/storytelling...

 

 

Thing is tho, it's gotten worse in the last decade - a lot worse. I wonder if it's just the fact that the rise of the corporations and the free market economic philosophy  they adhere to is slowly making its way through all facets of western society like a slow acting cancer and this is just another symptom of that.

 

The fact that film executives seemingly don;t give a shit whether they're making movies or whitegoods speaks to this issue as well. Hollywood has always had 'the suits' but at least back in the day those suits seemed to love what they did and loved the movies.

One of the worst teaser posters of all time. I understand that if this is Hanna or Step Up 3D but John Carter of Mars and a budget thats in the hundreds of millions.

 

Fire whoever thought this was a good idea immediately!

 

For some weird reason this brings up Travolta's opening scene in Swordfish " Hollywood they make shit! "

Jesus Christ, guys. It's a teaser poster.

A teaser poster for what? That is my problem. Marketing so early is supposed to be aimed towards vitalizing your existing fanbase. I wouldn't know what this was about if I wasn't told and I already know what John Carter is.

Actually at this stage I think teaser posters have become more of an intra-industry "look at what we're making" thing than any kind of serious advertising effort. I just don't see the cause for handwringing. It's established a logo if nothing else.

Because pulp doesn't sell en masse, but pulp DOES energise the niche fanbase into talking about the product ad nauseum until it's released. The property itself lures a small core audience in who will a)go see the film when it's released no matter what and b)ensure that it stays as a topic of discussion amongst the film magazines/websites during pre-release.

 

I have nothing to contribute to the industry chatter, but I'm way excited to see Riggins carrying a movie. I had no interest in Wolverine, so I skipped it, but I hope this is the springboard he needs to become the star he can be. The kid's fantastic.

Yeah, with this, BATTLESHIP most of all Stone's SAVAGES it's gonna be a hell of a 12 months for Taylor Kitsch.

Raindog, how is all that free market is cancer bullshit relevant to this teaser poster? They designed a poster which they think appeals more to the masses than a niche pulp design. They may well be wrong though.

A shot of a no-name actor and the initials of an "unknown" property doesn't tease shit. It'll be forgotten before the next poster rolls around. Should have gone with an alien landscape and maybe a Tars Tarkas (wielding a scimitar or 4) silhouette.

Exactly. It's a teaser poster, it should give audiences something that ya know, teases them.

 

Read 'Down and Dirty Pictures' by Peter Biskind (the guy who wrote Easy Riders, Raging Bulls). It's largely about the 'independent' film scene in the 1990s but it paints a picture of Hollywood and the Independent scene as you described going back into the 80s. This isn't some new paradigm shift.

 

Apple.com has a couple pix of concept art up that have risen my interest level:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/disney/johncarter/gallery/