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John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood
How did Disney's film become a calamity of historic proportions? Michael Sellers, a Hollywood filmmaker himself, saw the disaster approaching and fought to save the project — but without success. In John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood, Sellers details every blunder and betrayal that led to the doom of the motion picture — and that left countless Hollywood careers in the wreckage.
John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood examines every aspect of Andrew Stanton's adaptation and Disney's marketing campaign and seeks to answer the question: What went wrong? It includes a history of Hollywood's 100-year effort to bring the film to the screen, and examines the global fan movement spawned by the film.
John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood examines every aspect of Andrew Stanton's adaptation and Disney's marketing campaign and seeks to answer the question: What went wrong? It includes a history of Hollywood's 100-year effort to bring the film to the screen, and examines the global fan movement spawned by the film.
370 pages, Paperback
First published November 28, 2012
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584 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews
January 30, 2015
Well, I'm now an expert on what went wrong with Disney's, John Carter. Go ahead, ask me anything.
Did the giant Disney mega-flop, John Carter, fail due to things that had almost nothing due to the movie itself? I think so.
The book, written by a huge fan of the series of books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs more than a century ago, tells a pretty entertaining and hard to believe, even if it is all true, tale of how a movie that was a quarter of a billion dollar investment, was abandoned by the studio that was funding it years before it was to be released.
Sellers book starts with a bit of a love letter to the pulp novels, and the comic books from the seventies, and that part drags on a just a tad longer than I'd have preferred, but once the history of the efforts to get the books brought to the screen begin, it was captivating reading.
The gist of the tale is this: The Disney Exec that greenlit this movie did it at Andrew Stanton's request. This exec bought the rights once they became available and handed the reigns over to Stanton (who directed megahits Finding Nemo and Wall-e - although Wall-e was yet to be released at the time). Stanton was given a blank check to do whatever he wanted with this franchise.
Stanton put his heart and soul into it for five years, but just after this Disney exec got the ball rolling on the project there was a change of philosophy at Disney and the exec was fired. Stanton was the number 2 guy at Pixar and the no one was eager to nix a beloved project from Disney's new golden goose.
So, they honored the agreement, but then went on a strange and hard to understand trail of bizarre decisions that undercut the movie years before the release date. Stanton had a script that he said would take $250 million to turn into a movie. He was given the okay. He wanted to make this live action movie the same way that Pixar made theirs, reworking scenes and story elements right up until the very end... so he scheduled extensive reshoots from the outset, assuming he'd need them.
Disney had never dispelled the rumor that the budget was around $150 mil, so when people got wind of the actual budget, the assumption was that it was an out of control production. When the planned-for reshoots were conducted, everyone assumed it was because the first rough cut was a disaster... people were putting these clues together and piecing together a narrative that was making folks worry that this was leading to the next Waterworld or Ishtar... a flop of unparalleled proportions.
That change of philosophy that Disney was undergoing that I mentioned earlier? It was the shift from being a content creator to a content distributor. Pixar was being run independently, Marvel was purchased in 2009, and negotiations for the purchase of LucasFilm was well underway while John Carter was being made. Disney was competing with itself, Star Wars is the grandchild of John Carter of Mars, they target the same audience... the braintrust at Disney was starting to view this movie as a conflict of interest. They were interested in buying existing film franchises, not creating them.
I can't lay out the whole argument that this book makes in a short post, but I have to admit that when looking at the details of how many times this movie was made a scapegoat for other things (like the 200 million dollar loss Disney put on its shoulders 10 days after it was released - which many insiders believe was actually the cumulation of several other unprofitable projects that were all bundled and thrown at the feet of this movie) it's hard not to take this account seriously.
Anyone like me, who saw the movie and thought it was pretty good, and noticed that the movie did make back its production budget worldwide, will find this fascinating. Highly recommended.
I took off a star for a couple of reasons. Tons of typos litter this book. Sometimes passages go on for way too long, or a point is driven home to the point of exhaustion. But believe me, it's readable. I read this straight through for the most part. Really hard to put down.
Did the giant Disney mega-flop, John Carter, fail due to things that had almost nothing due to the movie itself? I think so.
The book, written by a huge fan of the series of books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs more than a century ago, tells a pretty entertaining and hard to believe, even if it is all true, tale of how a movie that was a quarter of a billion dollar investment, was abandoned by the studio that was funding it years before it was to be released.
Sellers book starts with a bit of a love letter to the pulp novels, and the comic books from the seventies, and that part drags on a just a tad longer than I'd have preferred, but once the history of the efforts to get the books brought to the screen begin, it was captivating reading.
The gist of the tale is this: The Disney Exec that greenlit this movie did it at Andrew Stanton's request. This exec bought the rights once they became available and handed the reigns over to Stanton (who directed megahits Finding Nemo and Wall-e - although Wall-e was yet to be released at the time). Stanton was given a blank check to do whatever he wanted with this franchise.
Stanton put his heart and soul into it for five years, but just after this Disney exec got the ball rolling on the project there was a change of philosophy at Disney and the exec was fired. Stanton was the number 2 guy at Pixar and the no one was eager to nix a beloved project from Disney's new golden goose.
So, they honored the agreement, but then went on a strange and hard to understand trail of bizarre decisions that undercut the movie years before the release date. Stanton had a script that he said would take $250 million to turn into a movie. He was given the okay. He wanted to make this live action movie the same way that Pixar made theirs, reworking scenes and story elements right up until the very end... so he scheduled extensive reshoots from the outset, assuming he'd need them.
Disney had never dispelled the rumor that the budget was around $150 mil, so when people got wind of the actual budget, the assumption was that it was an out of control production. When the planned-for reshoots were conducted, everyone assumed it was because the first rough cut was a disaster... people were putting these clues together and piecing together a narrative that was making folks worry that this was leading to the next Waterworld or Ishtar... a flop of unparalleled proportions.
That change of philosophy that Disney was undergoing that I mentioned earlier? It was the shift from being a content creator to a content distributor. Pixar was being run independently, Marvel was purchased in 2009, and negotiations for the purchase of LucasFilm was well underway while John Carter was being made. Disney was competing with itself, Star Wars is the grandchild of John Carter of Mars, they target the same audience... the braintrust at Disney was starting to view this movie as a conflict of interest. They were interested in buying existing film franchises, not creating them.
I can't lay out the whole argument that this book makes in a short post, but I have to admit that when looking at the details of how many times this movie was made a scapegoat for other things (like the 200 million dollar loss Disney put on its shoulders 10 days after it was released - which many insiders believe was actually the cumulation of several other unprofitable projects that were all bundled and thrown at the feet of this movie) it's hard not to take this account seriously.
Anyone like me, who saw the movie and thought it was pretty good, and noticed that the movie did make back its production budget worldwide, will find this fascinating. Highly recommended.
I took off a star for a couple of reasons. Tons of typos litter this book. Sometimes passages go on for way too long, or a point is driven home to the point of exhaustion. But believe me, it's readable. I read this straight through for the most part. Really hard to put down.
December 8, 2013
Just as John Carter the film, which was actually very entertaining, was derailed by poor advertising and general mismanagement by Disney studio bigwigs, this book, which contains nuggets of insight into the world of film distribution and marketing, is marred by indulgent writing, too many rhetorical questions that we already know the answers to, and a horrendous lack of copy-editing, thus spelling and grammatical errors abound. It's overlong too. Still, it explained a lot about how a £250million dollar movie can be left to die by the studio that made it.
January 26, 2013
This book is a bit of a mixed bag, but ultimately is an important one. I somewhat felt that the author padded out the book with more context than was necessary about the history of Burroughs and of the John Carter series. There was some information that I did not know already (that ERB had tried to get a comic strip made with King Features and it fell apart, only to have Flash Gordon coincidentally appear soon after) that was interesting, but did not have much bearing on the central problem that the book illuminates.
His documentation of the many failures that turned what should have been a summer blockbuster into a movie with an undeserved reputation as the biggest flop of all time is thorough and while repetitive at times, very detailed.
I remember waiting and waiting for John Carter to get even something as minimal as the Prince of Persia marketing treatment from Disney and it didn't even get that. This book explains the cascade of poor decisions that dug the film into a giant hole...and shows how even minimal effort by *fans* outclassed the marketing actions of the "professionals" at Disney.
As I said, the book repeats some information more than necessary and tends to constantly sum-up the same series of events, but other than that, it is important for fans of John Carter to realize that the movie did not fail on its own merits--it failed because one bad decision after another knocked its legs out before it ever had a chance to stand.
July 12, 2013
I didn't see John Carter when it first came out, in spite of the fact that my friend Kerry Conran, director of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, was originally attached to the project, and my acquaintance, Andrew Stanton, ended up directing it. I suppose I was suckered in by the negative press and inept marketing on the part of Disney Studios that Michael Sellers addresses in the book. When I was actively pursuing a career in Hollywood around 20 years ago, I used to read "insider" books like this quite frequently, and now revisiting the genre in Gods of Hollywood, I remember now why I enjoyed stories of film industry politics and machinations so much. If you're interested in learning how a mainstream film is made and marketed (or at least how it should and should not be marketed), then Sellers' book delivers. He's admittedly a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs and had a huge stake in the success of the film as a fan. Based on what I read, I ended up seeing the film and am now a convert. While not perfect, Stanton's film did indeed get the short shrift from Disney for a confluence of reasons. I'd have scored the book more highly, but the Kindle edition is laden with typos & grammatical errors, almost as if its publication received the same level of neglect as the film whose story the book tells.
March 2, 2014
I'm torn between two and a half stars and three...but I'll go with three for the writer's passion.
Then again...his passion isn't always a good thing. He admits he's a fan, but that's only half of it. He worships Edgar Rice Burroughs as if he were an unassailable god-genius of literature and all must submit to his perfection or suffer dire consequences.
The book is also repetitive and, in places, tedious.
It feels overlong by a third (it's 348 pages.
Another minor annoyance is the seeming lack of an editor. At times words are left out of sentences , words are repeated (like "were were") , wrong words are used...and once, a zero was used for an "o"
In short, the whole book can be pretty much summed up as, " ERB is a genius. The movie wasn't perfect, but it wasn't bad. If it had been marketed better it would have done better. There should be another movie"
348 pages is a long way to go for that...maybe I should've gone with two stars.
Then again...his passion isn't always a good thing. He admits he's a fan, but that's only half of it. He worships Edgar Rice Burroughs as if he were an unassailable god-genius of literature and all must submit to his perfection or suffer dire consequences.
The book is also repetitive and, in places, tedious.
It feels overlong by a third (it's 348 pages.
Another minor annoyance is the seeming lack of an editor. At times words are left out of sentences , words are repeated (like "were were") , wrong words are used...and once, a zero was used for an "o"
In short, the whole book can be pretty much summed up as, " ERB is a genius. The movie wasn't perfect, but it wasn't bad. If it had been marketed better it would have done better. There should be another movie"
348 pages is a long way to go for that...maybe I should've gone with two stars.
February 7, 2013
Michael Sellers has done something impressive with this book. He's made the disastrous marketing campaign and boardroom politics that sabotaged John Carter nearly as thrilling as one of Edgar Rice Burrough's planetary romances.
Sellers has an ax to grind. He's the man responsible for thejohncarterfiles.com, the amazing fan-trailer, and as longtime Barsoom fan, he's using this book to push for sequels. Just because he has an agenda does not necessarily mean that his facts or interpretations are wrong, despite his CIA background*.
Sellers starts by contextualizing the 100 year history of the Barsoom books and attempted film adaptations, and their impacts on modern science fiction. Then the story moves into one about an expensive and complex movie that had its executive support cut out from it when it needed it most. Despite costing $250 million to make, and director Andrew Stanton taking more time than typical for reshoots, the film was completed within its budget and schedule. The Hollywood rumor-mill blew the scale of into an 'out-of-control rookie filmmaker' narrative to feed its unending lust for schadenfreude. Early promotional material was lackluster; dusty desert shots instead of the lush living world of Barsoom. A name change, from 'John Carter of Mars' to 'John Carter', poisoned the opinion of elite early opinion makers and stripped the film of its 100-year pedigree. The marketing team was replaced twice, and never devoted its full attention to the movie, using lackluster trailers and spots. And finally, just 10 days into the theatrical run, Disney killed its own film by labeling it a bomb, writing down losses, and pulling Asian distribution.
All of this is true, you can check the footnotes and the media links (although David Iger would probably tell you a different story). But what sealed the deal for me were the numbers that Sellers pulls. Compared to its Spring 2012 peers, The Hunger Games and The Avengers, John Carter had orders of magnitude lower presence on Facebook, Twitter, and in the industry press. This doesn't even account for the mind-boggling qualitatively superior marketing effort, in terms of engagement and multimodal tie-ins, for the other movies. Sellers describes John Carters marketing effort as "something an intern would do in 5 hours a week at a Burbank Starbucks", and he'd know, having set up a better marketing effort with thejohncarterfiles.com in his spare time using only public resources.
This book won't tell you how to sell a blockbuster. Mostly, it's an amazing picture of a trainwreck. I disagree with Sellers' categorization of John Carter as a misunderstood classic; I think it was a strictly average action-adventure flick that needed more of a heart. But that said, this book is a fascinating look inside Hollywood, and the first and last word on the John Carter story. A movie that had great potential was killed because nobody had the vision or courage to stick their neck out and save it.
*Sellers actually is a retired CIA agent. But that's just a joke, please don't drone me, bro.
Sellers has an ax to grind. He's the man responsible for thejohncarterfiles.com, the amazing fan-trailer, and as longtime Barsoom fan, he's using this book to push for sequels. Just because he has an agenda does not necessarily mean that his facts or interpretations are wrong, despite his CIA background*.
Sellers starts by contextualizing the 100 year history of the Barsoom books and attempted film adaptations, and their impacts on modern science fiction. Then the story moves into one about an expensive and complex movie that had its executive support cut out from it when it needed it most. Despite costing $250 million to make, and director Andrew Stanton taking more time than typical for reshoots, the film was completed within its budget and schedule. The Hollywood rumor-mill blew the scale of into an 'out-of-control rookie filmmaker' narrative to feed its unending lust for schadenfreude. Early promotional material was lackluster; dusty desert shots instead of the lush living world of Barsoom. A name change, from 'John Carter of Mars' to 'John Carter', poisoned the opinion of elite early opinion makers and stripped the film of its 100-year pedigree. The marketing team was replaced twice, and never devoted its full attention to the movie, using lackluster trailers and spots. And finally, just 10 days into the theatrical run, Disney killed its own film by labeling it a bomb, writing down losses, and pulling Asian distribution.
All of this is true, you can check the footnotes and the media links (although David Iger would probably tell you a different story). But what sealed the deal for me were the numbers that Sellers pulls. Compared to its Spring 2012 peers, The Hunger Games and The Avengers, John Carter had orders of magnitude lower presence on Facebook, Twitter, and in the industry press. This doesn't even account for the mind-boggling qualitatively superior marketing effort, in terms of engagement and multimodal tie-ins, for the other movies. Sellers describes John Carters marketing effort as "something an intern would do in 5 hours a week at a Burbank Starbucks", and he'd know, having set up a better marketing effort with thejohncarterfiles.com in his spare time using only public resources.
This book won't tell you how to sell a blockbuster. Mostly, it's an amazing picture of a trainwreck. I disagree with Sellers' categorization of John Carter as a misunderstood classic; I think it was a strictly average action-adventure flick that needed more of a heart. But that said, this book is a fascinating look inside Hollywood, and the first and last word on the John Carter story. A movie that had great potential was killed because nobody had the vision or courage to stick their neck out and save it.
*Sellers actually is a retired CIA agent. But that's just a joke, please don't drone me, bro.
October 8, 2014
Not only does this book offer great insight into the commercial disaster that was John Carter, it also gives the reader a greater understanding of the inner workings of Hollywood and the film industry. Although I have yet to read a book by ERB, I found this to be a very interesting, well-researched and informative read. Now the only thing left for me to do is read A Princess of Mars :)
February 26, 2023
Когда автор рассказывает историю книги и фильма, то написано отлично, подробно и с любовью к творчеству Берроуза.
Но середина книги - анализы реакций Интернета на каждый чертов постер, тв-спот и прочие промо-материалы по очереди (здесь книга оказалась очень неудачно�� для чтения в больнице).
Еще у автора слово-паразит "thus", он вроде бы вообще не использует аналогов, что придает тексту все растущий градус претенциозности.
Но середина книги - анализы реакций Интернета на каждый чертов постер, тв-спот и прочие промо-материалы по очереди (здесь книга оказалась очень неудачно�� для чтения в больнице).
Еще у автора слово-паразит "thus", он вроде бы вообще не использует аналогов, что придает тексту все растущий градус претенциозности.
February 14, 2013
I first read the wonderful series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs about John Carter of Mars (which he wrote before he got round to Tarzan of the Apes) when I was a small boy. They occupied my father's bookshelves which I was devouring at the age of 10 or so. My brother still remembers me excitedly telling him how great the books were and he became a fan too - and still is.
John Carter first arrived in print 100 years ago but Burrough's imagination was so stupendous that film-makers have felt unable, until the arrival of the digital age, to bring the books to the screen - although this has not prevented the extensive strip-mining of the books for such cinematic efforts as Flash Gordon, Star Wars and Avatar, all of which were heavily influenced by John Carter.
John Carter fans, who were legion, because these books dominated the paperback market for decades and are regarded as the basis for the whole science fiction market, have waited patiently all this time for a film company to be a) capable and b) willing, to put John Carter into the cinemas.
So imagine our excitement when, a very few years ago, we heard that Disney (?) had decided to do just that. And imagine our disappointment as it became obvious before the film came out that, despite spending $250 Million in production, Disney seemed to have no interest in promoting the film or supporting it in any way. Imagine our amazement when we saw the film in the cinemas (in my case both the 2-D and 3-0 versions - 2-D best in this case) and found it to be excellent, if not perfect, only to find that Disney publicly wrote off the film (after 11 days!) before it had even reached some of its major markets and while it was still in its first run at major cinemas - would you go to see a film which the manufacturing company had publicly labelled a flop? Despite all this the film brought in $300 million worldwide and when it came out on DVD it immediately headed the ratings.
But Disney have no interest in producing what should have been a trilogy because they have in the meantime bought the Star Wars franchise, which would be compromised by having the story which it copies coming out of the same company at the same time.
This very detailed book by Michael D Sellers, who is not only an author but a film producer himself as well as, interestingly, an ex-CIA operative, explains all the unfortunate political decisions and sheer incompetence, especially on the marketing front, which led to this long-awaited film being so publicly branded as no good, despite the fact that it is quite excellent. It also reveals the strong fan-based movement keeping alive the idea that it should be turned into a trilogy, and why the trilogy would indeed make money.
I commend this book to readers
John Carter first arrived in print 100 years ago but Burrough's imagination was so stupendous that film-makers have felt unable, until the arrival of the digital age, to bring the books to the screen - although this has not prevented the extensive strip-mining of the books for such cinematic efforts as Flash Gordon, Star Wars and Avatar, all of which were heavily influenced by John Carter.
John Carter fans, who were legion, because these books dominated the paperback market for decades and are regarded as the basis for the whole science fiction market, have waited patiently all this time for a film company to be a) capable and b) willing, to put John Carter into the cinemas.
So imagine our excitement when, a very few years ago, we heard that Disney (?) had decided to do just that. And imagine our disappointment as it became obvious before the film came out that, despite spending $250 Million in production, Disney seemed to have no interest in promoting the film or supporting it in any way. Imagine our amazement when we saw the film in the cinemas (in my case both the 2-D and 3-0 versions - 2-D best in this case) and found it to be excellent, if not perfect, only to find that Disney publicly wrote off the film (after 11 days!) before it had even reached some of its major markets and while it was still in its first run at major cinemas - would you go to see a film which the manufacturing company had publicly labelled a flop? Despite all this the film brought in $300 million worldwide and when it came out on DVD it immediately headed the ratings.
But Disney have no interest in producing what should have been a trilogy because they have in the meantime bought the Star Wars franchise, which would be compromised by having the story which it copies coming out of the same company at the same time.
This very detailed book by Michael D Sellers, who is not only an author but a film producer himself as well as, interestingly, an ex-CIA operative, explains all the unfortunate political decisions and sheer incompetence, especially on the marketing front, which led to this long-awaited film being so publicly branded as no good, despite the fact that it is quite excellent. It also reveals the strong fan-based movement keeping alive the idea that it should be turned into a trilogy, and why the trilogy would indeed make money.
I commend this book to readers
March 12, 2013
I spent more time reading this book than I spent watching the movie John Carter! It is a good recap and analysis from both a fan and business perspective about why the movie was so reviled by the press and Disney itself. John Carter's failure at the box office was a perfect storm of events: Dick Cook getting fired after green lighting the movie, Rich Ross and the new Disney marketing department never fully realizing how to sell the movie, a series of disastrous trailers in the US that never explained who John Carter was to the audience. Other failures were not including Dejah Thoris front and center in the marketing, and perhaps the biggest blunder of all, just calling the movie "John Carter" without the "of Mars" in the title.
The author Michael Sellers tried to help Disney on his own dime, by creating a blog and his own movie trailer that won kudos from Andrew Stanton. He tried to give Disney advice about how to market it properly, but he was ignored, partially because he wasn't an insider, and partially because Disney was putting all of its chips in the Avengers basket.
I think if you are a real fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs and wanted to know how this movie tanked at the box office, it's a good read. It made me relive my own fervent anticipation for this movie. I skipped over certain parts of the story I was already familiar with, like the creation of Tarzan and JC. I recommend reading this and then watching John Carter again.
The author Michael Sellers tried to help Disney on his own dime, by creating a blog and his own movie trailer that won kudos from Andrew Stanton. He tried to give Disney advice about how to market it properly, but he was ignored, partially because he wasn't an insider, and partially because Disney was putting all of its chips in the Avengers basket.
I think if you are a real fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs and wanted to know how this movie tanked at the box office, it's a good read. It made me relive my own fervent anticipation for this movie. I skipped over certain parts of the story I was already familiar with, like the creation of Tarzan and JC. I recommend reading this and then watching John Carter again.
April 8, 2013
Michael Sellers brings his passion for all things Barsoomian to this analysis of how Disney botched the John Carter film. The book carefully lays out the history of Edgar Rice Burroughs, his John Carter stories and the influence it has had on writers and filmmakers ever since. He carefully documents from a wide variety of sources and boils it all down into easily digestible analysis. As a study of modern day Hollywood gone awry, this is fascinating.
The book is devoid of original reporting which would have made the later chapters more informative. Sellers seemed content to thoroughly datamine the public sources from print and online without once trying to get director Andrew Stanton or anyone associated with the film to look back and talk about what happened, confirming or rejecting his analysis.
Additionally, the current edition is said to have seriously cleaned up the errors from the first. There were still typos galore (McDonalds, not macdonalds) and missing words. Additionally, block quotes needed to be set off for easier reading comprehension.
Still, a valiant effort and a worthwhile read.
The book is devoid of original reporting which would have made the later chapters more informative. Sellers seemed content to thoroughly datamine the public sources from print and online without once trying to get director Andrew Stanton or anyone associated with the film to look back and talk about what happened, confirming or rejecting his analysis.
Additionally, the current edition is said to have seriously cleaned up the errors from the first. There were still typos galore (McDonalds, not macdonalds) and missing words. Additionally, block quotes needed to be set off for easier reading comprehension.
Still, a valiant effort and a worthwhile read.
December 14, 2012
I had the privilege of reading this book before it was released, when it was still in edit mode. I was so impressed with the detail and thoroughness of the book and how it was well balanced in its approach. Hollywood and filmmaking have always been a huge fascination for me, and the drama around John Carter and its struggle at the box office is quite a tale. I also love the many great references offered so that the reader can refer to articles and such to back up all of the details that are presented.
John Carter, in my opinion, should have been a huge box office success. For most people who weren't watching the drama unfold as closely as I was, this book will give the details that explain precisely what occurred and why things fell into place as they did.
Regardless of whether you're a John Carter, or Edgar Rice Burroughs fan, if you have any interest in the politics of Hollywood, if you're film student, marketing student, or in any way involved in filmmaking, production, etc., or if you are simply curious about such things, then I highly recommend this book.
John Carter, in my opinion, should have been a huge box office success. For most people who weren't watching the drama unfold as closely as I was, this book will give the details that explain precisely what occurred and why things fell into place as they did.
Regardless of whether you're a John Carter, or Edgar Rice Burroughs fan, if you have any interest in the politics of Hollywood, if you're film student, marketing student, or in any way involved in filmmaking, production, etc., or if you are simply curious about such things, then I highly recommend this book.
May 7, 2013
I recommend this book to people who are interested in transforming a book into a movie. This book is about the process of how the John Carter of Mars novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs were made into a big budget Hollywood film, and examines the process and its aftermath.
The book has three distinct parts. First, background story on Edgar Rice Burroughs, which is interesting (I've never read ERB) and essential to understand the rest of the story.
Second part was my favorite, as it talks about the artistic process & decisions that gets made in transforming words & ideas into a movie.
The third & final part of the book is organized to show the marketing decisions that Disney made to promote this movie.
Note: this book was self-published & the eBook edition has many formatting issues & could have used better editing. However, the story is so compelling that I had no trouble over-looking the shortcomings.
The book has three distinct parts. First, background story on Edgar Rice Burroughs, which is interesting (I've never read ERB) and essential to understand the rest of the story.
Second part was my favorite, as it talks about the artistic process & decisions that gets made in transforming words & ideas into a movie.
The third & final part of the book is organized to show the marketing decisions that Disney made to promote this movie.
Note: this book was self-published & the eBook edition has many formatting issues & could have used better editing. However, the story is so compelling that I had no trouble over-looking the shortcomings.
May 27, 2013
I read this over the weekend because the top intereted me. Why did the quarter-billion dollar John Carter movie fail in theaters. Short answer: advertising, or the lack thereof. I've saved you from having to read through most of this book.
I won't say the book is badly written, because it's not, but there are quite a few parts that feel very repetitive because the author has one real point to make and makes it several times. I will say that the book did feel like an extended blog post and I don't think the author's obvious bias (he was a John Carter blogger before the movie came out) helps the book.
I'm hoping that in a few years someone from the inside of the production will be able to give us a better look into the the rise and fall of John Carter, but until then this should serve as a substitute.
I won't say the book is badly written, because it's not, but there are quite a few parts that feel very repetitive because the author has one real point to make and makes it several times. I will say that the book did feel like an extended blog post and I don't think the author's obvious bias (he was a John Carter blogger before the movie came out) helps the book.
I'm hoping that in a few years someone from the inside of the production will be able to give us a better look into the the rise and fall of John Carter, but until then this should serve as a substitute.
October 28, 2013
Long, comprehensive, exhaustively researched and mind-numbing account of how John Carter of Mars was mis-marketed, mis-managed and mis-handled by Disney, and was eventually still-born/murdered by the studio before becoming the biggest write-down in Hollywood history.
Clearly, Disney sabotaged the project, pursuing an ever-changing agenda between green-lighting the project, playing executive musical chairs, changing the release date, and providing only the lightest token marketing of the film.
Unfortunately, Sellers spends too much time blaming Avatar, Star Wars and 300 for strip-mining the Burroughs oeuvre, and spends very little time or thought investigating how John Carter doesn't play well to a modern audience anymore (given that it is 100 year old pulp fiction), or how Stanton's film was technically brilliant but the story telling was clearly lacking.
Clearly, Disney sabotaged the project, pursuing an ever-changing agenda between green-lighting the project, playing executive musical chairs, changing the release date, and providing only the lightest token marketing of the film.
Unfortunately, Sellers spends too much time blaming Avatar, Star Wars and 300 for strip-mining the Burroughs oeuvre, and spends very little time or thought investigating how John Carter doesn't play well to a modern audience anymore (given that it is 100 year old pulp fiction), or how Stanton's film was technically brilliant but the story telling was clearly lacking.
November 3, 2013
First of all, I never saw "John Carter." I thought it looked interesting, but I heard a lot of bad buzz, so I ignored it. Only after reading this book did I realize what a mistake I had made. This book gives a thorough overview of the John Carter franchise, the production of the movie from concept to world premiere, and the aftermath of loyal fans left begging for a sequel which never comes. Besides the tragic story of a good movie sabotaged by its own studio and bad publicity, I found this book an absolutely fascinating insight into the inner workings of Hollywood. Makes you realize the movie itself is rarely the reason for success or failure. Return to Barsoom!
April 26, 2014
An eye-opening analysis of how Disney spent a fortune on a film that, once finished, had a new regime in power with little to no interest in promoting what is now regarded as an unheralded classic in the high adventure / pulp fantasy genre. Towards the end of the book, the author falls into the trap of repeating himself and tilling the same soil previously covered, but his passion for the film John Carter is infectious. The Kindle edition comes with plenty of hot links to take you to online trailers and articles to supplement your reading.
February 24, 2013
Somewhere in this book there is an interesting story but it's buried under tons of almost meaningless stats and huge quotes. The author quoting himself (from his own "blogsite") was the final straw for me.
July 7, 2014
I thought this book would be a lot more inside. But it's an outsider looking in. It is as good as it can be with that as a given. Well that said, it would have been a whole lot better if it was edited down about 75%.
April 8, 2013
Fascinating but terribly written tale of a massive Hollywood blunder.
June 14, 2014
why did I read this
November 19, 2017
A lot of current movies are overly expensive, overblown and heartless CGI fests that nevertheless have a loyal dedicated following. But every once in a while a potential blockbuster comes along that totally tanks at the box office..... yet is far more interesting than most of the actual box office success stories.
Disney's JOHN CARTER is one such example. Based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' first Barsoom novel, A PRINCESS OF MARS, this is now generally known as a mega-flop but has, however, over the last couple of years accumulated a dedicated following of fans that will forever regret that this production has not managed to transform into a new franchise.
The author is one of these people as well as a longtime ERB aficionado and takes the opportunity in this book to analyse the reasons for this failure.
And though he is a fan, this is by far not the usual fan gushing. It also is not the typical kind of Making Of book. Instead JOHN CARTER AND THE GODS OF HOLLYWOOD primarily analyses the marketing decisions made in the run-up to the film's release.
Now if you had asked me prior to reading this whether I'd be interested in reading 370 pages of Marketing analyses for a film production, I'd have probably doubted it; yet this book ended up being a real page turner and eventually a 101 on how to market a product (cinematic but also otherwise) in this social media dominated age.
Utterly fascinating stuff.
And if there is one reason why it doesn't get my full marks it is because it never relly addresses the big Thoat in the room and that is the fact that despite all the talk of JOHN CARTER being the first adaptation of the story after 100 years in publication, just three years prior bargain basement studio The Asylum had already released their PRINCESS OF MARS with Traci Lords as Dejah Thoris.
Including a comparison between those two productions and their different strategies - one the most expensive movie at the time, the other a notorious cheapo obviously produced to cash in on the bigger brother's release - should have been a necessity for a truly all encompassing overview, yet as it is the Asylum production never once even gets a single mention.
Disney's JOHN CARTER is one such example. Based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' first Barsoom novel, A PRINCESS OF MARS, this is now generally known as a mega-flop but has, however, over the last couple of years accumulated a dedicated following of fans that will forever regret that this production has not managed to transform into a new franchise.
The author is one of these people as well as a longtime ERB aficionado and takes the opportunity in this book to analyse the reasons for this failure.
And though he is a fan, this is by far not the usual fan gushing. It also is not the typical kind of Making Of book. Instead JOHN CARTER AND THE GODS OF HOLLYWOOD primarily analyses the marketing decisions made in the run-up to the film's release.
Now if you had asked me prior to reading this whether I'd be interested in reading 370 pages of Marketing analyses for a film production, I'd have probably doubted it; yet this book ended up being a real page turner and eventually a 101 on how to market a product (cinematic but also otherwise) in this social media dominated age.
Utterly fascinating stuff.
And if there is one reason why it doesn't get my full marks it is because it never relly addresses the big Thoat in the room and that is the fact that despite all the talk of JOHN CARTER being the first adaptation of the story after 100 years in publication, just three years prior bargain basement studio The Asylum had already released their PRINCESS OF MARS with Traci Lords as Dejah Thoris.
Including a comparison between those two productions and their different strategies - one the most expensive movie at the time, the other a notorious cheapo obviously produced to cash in on the bigger brother's release - should have been a necessity for a truly all encompassing overview, yet as it is the Asylum production never once even gets a single mention.
January 20, 2020
Michael D. Sellers’ book charts the calamitous saga of Disney’s John Carter – a film that was certainly worthy of greater respect, and promotion, during its production and release. How and why Disney made the decisions that ultimately impacted the film’s recognition and subsequent success isn’t really known by any outsider, however, Sellers offers plenty of facts, stats and personal observations that suggest a combination of mismanagement, misunderstanding, lack of creativity, personal conflict, disinterest and possibly willful machinations.
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ world of Barsoom is spectacularly brought to life on screen by Andrew Stanton, and despite the changes made to the storyline and characters, the film isn’t anywhere close to what I’d ever describe as a ‘flop’. Of particular interest to me was Sellers’ own part in assisting to promote the film, firstly via social media and the web, and then via direct involvement with Disney and Stanton. His interactions with the studio appear to highlight the level of ineptitude that the film was subject to – even when it was obvious that the direction taken with media and fan engagement wasn’t delivering, almost nothing changed. Bravo to Sellers for believing that he could prompt a rethink and generate marketing improvements, but it’s quite clear that all doors were closed to external suggestions.
Unfortunately, the book is marred by numerous typos and punctuation errors, and often repeats the same basic facts or stats many times, as if they were never previously stated. A thorough final edit should have identified all of these issues, and they did detract from my enjoyment of reading this unfolding drama. If you’re a fan of ERB or Stanton, and don’t know the details of how the film came to be and how it failed to find a large enough audience, then it’s certainly worth a look.
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ world of Barsoom is spectacularly brought to life on screen by Andrew Stanton, and despite the changes made to the storyline and characters, the film isn’t anywhere close to what I’d ever describe as a ‘flop’. Of particular interest to me was Sellers’ own part in assisting to promote the film, firstly via social media and the web, and then via direct involvement with Disney and Stanton. His interactions with the studio appear to highlight the level of ineptitude that the film was subject to – even when it was obvious that the direction taken with media and fan engagement wasn’t delivering, almost nothing changed. Bravo to Sellers for believing that he could prompt a rethink and generate marketing improvements, but it’s quite clear that all doors were closed to external suggestions.
Unfortunately, the book is marred by numerous typos and punctuation errors, and often repeats the same basic facts or stats many times, as if they were never previously stated. A thorough final edit should have identified all of these issues, and they did detract from my enjoyment of reading this unfolding drama. If you’re a fan of ERB or Stanton, and don’t know the details of how the film came to be and how it failed to find a large enough audience, then it’s certainly worth a look.
May 17, 2018
Anyone who is interested in pulp speculative fiction, film-making, or the influence of media and advertising, this is a great book to read. It's an engaging story of the 2012 film "John Carter," covering a brief history of the original novel "A Princess of Mars," the various early attempts at bringing it to the silver screen, the creation and execution of director Andrew Stanton's vision of Barsoom, and the various advertising and promotional calamities that deeply affected the release and perception of the final film. I freely admit that when I saw "John Carter," I was not impressed. Parts of the movie were very good (I loved spending time in the Thark society) and the special effects and look of the film were great. But other parts of the execution, like the three beginnings, the lack of chemistry between the leads, and other glaring gaps in logic kept me from endorsing it. But after reading this book, I wonder if maybe I too was influenced by the negative buzz. I doubt I can ever love it as much as some of the fans mentioned in the book do, but there's a lot that wasn't really the film's fault. It was a horse that was hobbled before the starting gates even opened due to a mixture of poor social media coverage, spotty oversight, upheavals and changeovers in the Disney corporation, and just plain old bad luck. It really makes you think about how important perception is and how easily it can be made or broken, and I wonder how many other films suffered from a similar plight as "John Carter" did. Here's hoping for a better sequel (or even better, a reboot!)
July 12, 2021
I picked this book up almost a decade ago, shortly after Disney's John Carter was declared "Cinema Non-Grata" by the Hollywood Hoi-Palloi. I read the first several chapters and set it back on the shelf. Mostly 'cause it was still too soon. The wound was still to fresh.
Despite the juvenile nature of the text and the relatively linear plot, I remain a fan of Burroughs' work. (When I die, however, I will be happy to need never read again how incomparable is the august person of Dejah Thoris.) It's escapist wish-fulfillment adventure; but I like that from time to time. So it's understandable why I was disappointed the official film version (which took 100 years to get to the silver screen) was so maligned.
Sellers' text goes through Disney's logic, step by step describing what they did right and what they did wrong. The cast of characters includes film-makers, corporate marketers and executives.
If you saw the film, you know it's not at all a stinker. But it meant something radically different to each of the main players. Film makers lovingly crafted the cinema version of a well-loved franchise. Marketers applied lessons from previous media events. Executives worried that it upset the delicately balanced apple cart of corporate organization.
Sellers is definitely biased by his love of the source material, but describes peoples' motivations clearly enough to make the outcome understandable.
How does a decent film get a bad reputation? Well... you have to read the book to find out.
Despite the juvenile nature of the text and the relatively linear plot, I remain a fan of Burroughs' work. (When I die, however, I will be happy to need never read again how incomparable is the august person of Dejah Thoris.) It's escapist wish-fulfillment adventure; but I like that from time to time. So it's understandable why I was disappointed the official film version (which took 100 years to get to the silver screen) was so maligned.
Sellers' text goes through Disney's logic, step by step describing what they did right and what they did wrong. The cast of characters includes film-makers, corporate marketers and executives.
If you saw the film, you know it's not at all a stinker. But it meant something radically different to each of the main players. Film makers lovingly crafted the cinema version of a well-loved franchise. Marketers applied lessons from previous media events. Executives worried that it upset the delicately balanced apple cart of corporate organization.
Sellers is definitely biased by his love of the source material, but describes peoples' motivations clearly enough to make the outcome understandable.
How does a decent film get a bad reputation? Well... you have to read the book to find out.
May 22, 2022
A very interesting subject and for the most part, a story well-told. If you’re interested in how decisions get made in Hollywood and how giant blockbusters reach the screen - and how precarious their chances of success really are - this is for you. Though it comes up short in a few areas which I personally found frustrating, it remains interesting and engaging throughout.
Personally, I feel the book misses a big opportunity by not really managing to include the voices of internal studio staff or individuals with first-hand experience of the film’s production. Their absence lends the book a feeling of being on the outside, wondering, “what’s going on in there?”. This is understandable but I definitely feel that hearing the stories of those who had a hand in some of the decisions would lend greater weight to the story.
The baffling corporate shenanigans which appear to be the real villain of this story remain frustratingly out of reach and while the author does their best to ask the right questions, the answers provided remain assumptions, made from a distance.
As noted by others, the reading experience is hampered by poor editing - simple errors in grammar and repeated words throughout the book which make it feel like you’re reading a less-than-final draft. I’ve seen this in several other books and as baffling as it is, at least in this case the author’s prose is of a high standard and these issues aren’t due to a lack of skill or ability. A new edition with these errors corrected would be good to see.
Personally, I feel the book misses a big opportunity by not really managing to include the voices of internal studio staff or individuals with first-hand experience of the film’s production. Their absence lends the book a feeling of being on the outside, wondering, “what’s going on in there?”. This is understandable but I definitely feel that hearing the stories of those who had a hand in some of the decisions would lend greater weight to the story.
The baffling corporate shenanigans which appear to be the real villain of this story remain frustratingly out of reach and while the author does their best to ask the right questions, the answers provided remain assumptions, made from a distance.
As noted by others, the reading experience is hampered by poor editing - simple errors in grammar and repeated words throughout the book which make it feel like you’re reading a less-than-final draft. I’ve seen this in several other books and as baffling as it is, at least in this case the author’s prose is of a high standard and these issues aren’t due to a lack of skill or ability. A new edition with these errors corrected would be good to see.
May 25, 2025
I was most interested in reading this to learn the path of the books, which I love, to the screen. It has that to a reasonable detail. In fact, I learned there was an early proposal by Bob Clampett for an animated version. There's a brief clip available on YouTube that's totally worth checking out. Also there is a pitch video for Paramount that looks pretty awesome but was never made.
After that, the book is really a case study in exactly what to do wrong with a movie project that all the potential of a blockbuster but studio heads who were involved in petty disputes and cluelessness. The book really could have used a better editor. There is so much repetition and detail in numbers that it gets mind numbing after a while. Far, far too much inside baseball, it could have been 100 pages shorter and lost nothing. It would have been much better to give an example or two of the numbers and push the rest to the already voluminous end notes. This sort of detail would make for a good business school case study, and it may be for all I know.
Technically, this is a poorly proofread eBook with typos all over the place. It looks like someone globally replaced "not" with "nor". And there are several other examples of that sort of thing. I don't know if these appear in the printed text, but it's very distracting.
Worth the read, especially for those who are either Burroughs or film fans.
After that, the book is really a case study in exactly what to do wrong with a movie project that all the potential of a blockbuster but studio heads who were involved in petty disputes and cluelessness. The book really could have used a better editor. There is so much repetition and detail in numbers that it gets mind numbing after a while. Far, far too much inside baseball, it could have been 100 pages shorter and lost nothing. It would have been much better to give an example or two of the numbers and push the rest to the already voluminous end notes. This sort of detail would make for a good business school case study, and it may be for all I know.
Technically, this is a poorly proofread eBook with typos all over the place. It looks like someone globally replaced "not" with "nor". And there are several other examples of that sort of thing. I don't know if these appear in the printed text, but it's very distracting.
Worth the read, especially for those who are either Burroughs or film fans.
November 10, 2019
The only reason I rated this book four stars instead of five is because it was in desperate need of a good editor. The author repeats the same information several times and there were plenty of typos.
However, the passion with which this book was written makes that a minor issue, really. It is astounding how badly Disney hijacked this movie's chances for success. I'm not the biggest fan of the film and think the story behind its making is more interesting than the movie itself, but it was overall a fun adventure movie whose chief sin was a slightly sagging middle more than anything else, certainly not deserving the title of Ishtar 2012.
This book goes into the long history of efforts to bring the John Carter books to the screen and how by the 21st century, so much of it had been strip-mined that it would be a hard sell to a public more familiar with what John Carter inspired than with JC itself. Creative, passionate marketing could have made the film, if not a smash, at least enough of a hit to recoup costs, but a combination of a change in leadership at Disney, the cultural divide between animation and live-action filmmaking, and the purchasing of Marvel all conspired to help sink this film before release.
However, the passion with which this book was written makes that a minor issue, really. It is astounding how badly Disney hijacked this movie's chances for success. I'm not the biggest fan of the film and think the story behind its making is more interesting than the movie itself, but it was overall a fun adventure movie whose chief sin was a slightly sagging middle more than anything else, certainly not deserving the title of Ishtar 2012.
This book goes into the long history of efforts to bring the John Carter books to the screen and how by the 21st century, so much of it had been strip-mined that it would be a hard sell to a public more familiar with what John Carter inspired than with JC itself. Creative, passionate marketing could have made the film, if not a smash, at least enough of a hit to recoup costs, but a combination of a change in leadership at Disney, the cultural divide between animation and live-action filmmaking, and the purchasing of Marvel all conspired to help sink this film before release.
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October 29, 2017If ever a studio set out to sabotage a movie, Disney sure did it with this one. "John Carter" was half way into production when the PTB at Disney decided to take the company in a totally different direction. Instead of producing new and exciting entertainment they wanted to acquire and distribute proven box-office entertainment. While the movie was being made Disney acquired Marvel and were in the process of acquiring Star Wars. They had no time or interest in producing the book that was the father of those genres. Edgar Rice Burroughs in his "John Carter of Mars" series invented super heroes and scifi action adventure! Every scifi and comic book story or movie owes its very self to ERB's invention that was first published one hundred and five years ago --- and no-nothing critics of the movie accused Stanton of copying Star Wars and Avatar! Oy. Disney made no significant attempt at marketing the movie. I didn't hear about it until it was out on DVD. That's where my family saw it and LOVED it. I've watched it several time already. I'm also going to read the books. I ready Tarzan, Pellucidar and the Venus books in the 60's and 70's. I don't know how I missed ERB's Mars books.
January 13, 2019
Pretty interesting story of the development and marketing of what is considered one of the biggest Hollywood flops. There is a lot of information here; maybe too much. Many of the claims made are supported by several snippets of articles, blogs and/or internet comments inserted into the text, as opposed to footnotes or an appendix. A lot of the data, numbers, and conclusions are repeated constantly throughout the book. While I'm glad he has the data to back up what he's saying, I found myself skipping/skimming large parts of the second half due to repetition/lack of interest in the hard data. Regardless, it is as much a labor of love as the movie itself, and it provides a fascinating, in-depth look at what goes into releasing a Hollywood movie. With so many hands in the pot, it's amazing there aren't many more tales like the one of John Carter. Luckily, there isn't much here that changes my view of the movie, which I found to be very well done.
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