John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood

by Sellers, Michael D.

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  85Claudia Eller and Dawn C. Chmielewski, “Disney Studios Chief Rich Ross names Sean Bailey Head of Production,” LA Times, 15 Jan 2010, 5 Nov 2012

  86 Nikki Finke, “Disney Picks Movie Marketing Chief (Her Motto? ‘The Agency Model Stripped Naked’),” Deadline Hollywood, 20 Apr 2010, 4 Sep 2012 < http://www.deadline.com/2010/04/disney-picks-new-movie-marketing-chief/>

  87 Brooks Barnes, “New Team Alters Disney Studios’ Path,” New York Times, 26 Sep 2010, 4 Sep 2012 .

  88 Michael D. Sellers, “Heady Days for Edgar Rice Burroughs Fans: Avatar, ERB, and John Carter of Mars,” Erbzine, 8 Jan 2010, 4 Sep 2012 .

  89 Matt Patches, “John Carter: Andrew Stanton Interview,” UGO, 9 Feb 2012, 4 Sep 2012 .

  90 THR Staff Report, “Director Bill Condon Confirms ‘Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 Reshoots,” The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Apr 2012, 4 Sep 2012 .

  91 Tambay Obenson, “Red Tails Director Anthony Hemingway Talks the Film, George Lucas, Rumors, More ... ,” Indiewire, 3 Aug 2011, 4 Sep 2012 .

  92 Brendan Connelly, “Andrew Stanton Tells Me It’s on his Agenda to Completely Change the Way Movies Are Made,” Bleeding Cool.com, 30 Nov 2011, 3 Sep 2012, .

  93 Jen Yamato, “‘A Complete and Utter Lie’: The Fact, Fiction, and Fury Behind John Carter’s Woes,” Movieline.com, 9 Mar 2012, 4 Sep 2012 .

  94 Devin Faraci, “Andrew Stanton Explains Why It’s Still JOHN CARTER OF MARS ... Technically,” Badass Digest, 29 Feb 2012, 4 Sep 2012 < http://badassdigest.com/2012/02/29/andrew-stanton-explains-why-its-still-john-carter-of-mars-technically/

  95 Faraci.

  96Tad Friend, “Second Act Twist,” The New Yorker, 11 Oct 2011, 4 Sep 2012, .

  97 Anthony Hamp, “Universal, Sony, Others Wrestle With How Social Media Affects Box Office,” Advertising Age, 5 Oct 2009, 2 Sep 2012,

  98 Michael D. Sellers, “A Comparison of Key Entertainment Bloggers and Disney Bloggers,” The John Carter Files, 10 Sep 2012, 10 Sep 2012 . A comparison of 10 Key Entertainment Blogsites shows an average of 53,152 Facebook Likes per Entertainment site and an average Google Page Rank of 6.1; whereas 10 Key Disney Bloggers show an average of 11,957 Facebook likes and an average Google Page Rank of 3.1. See

  99 Ebizmba.com Staff, “Top 15 Most Popular Movie Websites (September 2012),” EBizMBA.com, 9 Sep 2012, 11 Sep 2012 .

  100 Bernard Weinraub, “The Two Hollywoods: Harry Knowles is Always Listening,” The New York Times, 16 Nov 1997, 10 Sep 2012 .

  101 Ebizmba.com Staff, “Top 15 Most Popular Movie Websites (September 2012),” EBizMBA.com, 9 Sep 2012, 11 Sep 2012 .

  102 All Facebook Fan references refer to the number of “Likes” on the publication’s Facebook page as of 11 Sep 2012. Google Page Rank index refers to the Google Page Rank as accessed on 11 Sep 2012 at .

  103 Steve ‘Frosty’ Weintraub, “Collider.com - About Us”, Accessed 12 Sep 2012 .

  104 Annalee Newitz, “i09 -- About Us,” i09, Accessed 12 Sep 2012 .

  105 IMDB Pro, “Taylor Kitsch Lands on Mars,” IMDB Pro 16 June 2009, 4 Sep 2012, ; also 16 June 2009, 4 Mar 2012 http://www.hollywoodnorthreport.com/article.php?Article=7297. Note that this casting announcement came three months before Dick Cook would leave Disney, and two months before Disney would announce the acquisition of Marvel. It was one month after Disney CEO Bob Iger had publicly criticized Dick Cook and Disney studios in a conference call with investors and financial journalists.

  106 These were the final elements of the campaign that unfolded under studio chief Dick Cook, who was fired by Disney CEO Bob Iger on September 18, 2009. Rich Ross replaced Cook on October 5, 2009, three months before JCOM was scheduled to begin principal photography. In the “house-cleaning” that would follow Ross’s arrival, the heads of marketing, production, and the Walt Disney Motion Picture group were all fired.

  107 Michael Fleming, “Disney Docks ‘20,000 Leagues’ Pic,” Variety, 16 Nov 2009, 4 Sep 2012 .

  108 John Carter Official Facebook Page and Timeline, 28 Nov 2010, 4 Sep 2012,

  109 This synopsis was later revised, after the arrival of MT Carney in April 2010, to: From Academy Award®--winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton comes "John Carter"—a sweeping action-adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). "John Carter" is based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose highly imaginative adventures served as inspiration for many filmmakers, both past and present. The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands. The screenplay was written by Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon.

  110 IMDB Pro, “John Carter (2012) MovieMeter: Data Table View,” Internet Movie Data Base, accessed 2 Sep 2012 also available for PDF download at .

  111 John Carter Official Facebook Page and Timeline, 28 Nov 2010, 4 Sep 2012, Note: Facebook’s “Timeline” function chronicles the date the page was created, and includes each post by the page owner throughout the history of the page.

  112 Twitter, John Carter Official Twitter Account, 15 Jun 2011, 4 Sep 2012 .

  113 IMDB Pro, “John Carter (2012) MovieMeter: Data Table View,” accessed 2 Sep 2012 also available for PDF download at . The IMDB Pro Data Table publicity log for John Carter note 22 mentions of John Carter from February 2010 through August 8 2010. Other than the announcement of Giacchino being brought on board to score, all mentions appear to be unrelated to any Disney marketing efforts; for example Bryan Cranston mentioned John Carter during an interview about his appearance in Red Tails; John Carter was mentioned by Universal in its announcements that Taylor Kitsch had been cast for that movie, etc.

  114 John Carter Official Facebook Page and Timeline, 28 Nov 2010, 4 Sep 2012, .

  115IMDB Pro, “John Carter (2012) MovieMeter: Data Table View,” accessed 2 Sep 2012 also available for PDF download at -of-Aug-26-2012.pdf>.

  116 Kim Masters, “Disney hires new marketing guru for ‘Pirates 4’,” Hollywood Reporter, 7 Sep 2010, 3 Sep 2012

  117 Sharon Waxman, “Is Disney’s MT Carney Ready for Hollywood’s Shark-Infested Waters?,” The Wrap, 10 Oct 2010, 3 Sep 2012 .

  118 Sharon Waxman, “Exclusive: Disney’s MT Carney, Grilled -- ‘A Baptism by Fire’,” The Wrap, 10 Oct 2010, 3 Sep 2012 .

  119 Empire Online Staff, “Release Date for John Carter of Mars; also Frankenweenie,” Empire Online, 15 Aug 2010, 3 Sep 2012 .

  120 Brian Gallagher, “John Carter of Mars and Frankenweenie Set Release Dates,” MovieWeb, 15 Aug 2010, 3 Sep 2012 .

  121 Joey Paur, “Disney Sets Release Dates for John Carter of Mars and Frankenweenie,” Geek Tyrant, 15 Aug 2010, 3 Sep 2012 < http://geektyrant.com/news/2010/8/9/disney-sets-release-dates-for-john-carter-of-mars-and-franke.html>.

  122 Mike Fleming, “Disney Moves ‘John Carter of Mars’ to Same Date as Fox’s ‘Prometheus,’” Deadline New York, 19 Jan 2011, 3 Sep 2012 < http://www.deadline.com/2011/01/disney-shifts-release-dates-on-john-carter-of-mars-and-frankenweenie/>.

  123 IMDB Pro, “John Carter (2012) MovieMeter: Data Table View,” accessed 2 Sep 2012 also available for PDF download at . Note that IMDB Pro publicity monitoring noted 6 casual mentions of John Carter in articles principally about other topics between the August 2010 announcement that Principal Photography had wrapped and the January 19, 2011 announcement of the date change. All appear to be incidental mentions by third parties; none appear to have been generated by the John Carter campaign.

  124 Josh Wigler, “‘John Carter of Mars’ Will Be a ‘Historically Accurate’ Martian Film,’ Says Director Andrew Stanton,” MTV Movie Blog, 31 Jan 2011, 3 Sep 2012 .

  125 Germain Lussier, “Andrew Stanton Offers ‘John Carter of Mars’ Update,” Slashfilm, 31 Jan 2011, 3 Sep 2012.

  126 Brooks Barnes, “New Team Alters Disney Studios’ Path,” The New York Times, 26 Sep 2010, 2 Sep 2012 .

  127 Pamela McClintock, “Disney Hiring Marketing Maven Frank Chiocchi (Exclusive),” The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Jan 2011, 3 Sep 2012 .

  128 Devin Faraci, “Andrew Stanton Explains Why It’s Still John Carter of Mars ... Technically,” Badass Digest, 29 Feb 2011, 2 Sep 2012

  129 Both Paramount from 2000-2006, and Disney before that from 1986-2000, had settled on John Carter of Mars as the title for the film.

  130 Garth Franklin, Dark Horizons Twitter Feed, 23 May 2011, 2 Sep 2012, .

  131 Adam Chitwood, “Title Changes: John Carter of Mars Becomes John Carter,” Collider.com, 23 May 2011, 2 Sep 2012, < http://collider.com/john-carter-of-mars-title-in-time/92540/>.

  132 Eric Eisenberg, “John Carter of Mars Now Just John Carter; Andrew Niccol’s Now Retitled In Time,” Cinemablend, 23 May 2011, 2 Sep 2012 .

  133 Joey Paur, “Disney Changes the Title of John Carter of Mars to John Carter,” Geek Tyrant, 23 May 2011, 3 Sep 2012 .

  134 Germain Lussier, “Title Changes for Former ‘John Carter of Mars,’ ‘Now’ and ‘Still I Rise,” Slashfilm, 23 May 2011, http://www.slashfilm.com/title-john-carter-mars-now-still-rise/

  135 Echo Research 2012, 4 Sep 2012 .

  136 It is impractical to cite the comments from all 20 or so of the articles that appeared; however in researching this, each article and the comment threads were examined and the one chosen is typical of the totality of the response.

  137 Meredith Woerner, “Everything You Need to Know about Disney’s John Carter Movie,” i09, 11 July 2011, 2 Sep 2012 .

  138 Ronald Grover and Lisa Richwine, “Disney $4B Lucasfilm Deal Began With Light Sabres in Orlando,” Reuters, 30 Oct 2012, 5 Nov 2012

  139 Walt Disney Company Staff, “Robert Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer,” accessed 5 Nov 2012,

  140 Tad Friend, “Second Act Twist,” The New Yorker, 17 Oct 2011, 3 Sep 2012 < http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/17/111017fa_fact_friend#ixzz1v2uhBVRH >.

  141 Tad Friend, “Second Act Twist,” The New Yorker, 17 Oct 2011, 3 Sep 2012 < http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/17/111017fa_fact_friend#ixzz1v2uhBVRH >

  142 Relativity’s Mirror Mirror, originally scheduled for March 9, was moved to March 30, and Think Like a Man, originally scheduled for March 9, was moved to May.

  143 http:/avatarmovie.com

  144 Geoff Boucher, “ ‘John Carter’: Andrew Stanton on Martian History, Comic-Con and ... Montey Python?,” LA Times, 15 Jun 2011, 4 Sep 2012 < http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/06/16/john-carter-andrew-stanton-on-martian-history-comic-con-and-monty-python/>.

  145 Kevin Jagernauth, “Andrew Stanton Says No ‘John Carter’ at Comic-con, Says Film Will “Gain Nothing” by Showing Early,” Indiewire-The Playlist, 16 Jun 2011, 4 Sep 2012 .

  146 Peter Sciretta, “Interview: Andrew Stanton Talks ‘John Carter,’” Slashfilm, 11 Jul 2011, 4 Sep 2012 . Also, Steve ‘Frosty’ Weintraub, “20 Things to Know About John Carter; Plus an Awesome Interview with Director Andrew Stanton and Your First Look at a Thark,” Collider, 11 Jul 2011, 4 Sep 2012

  147 Sandy Schaefer, “ ‘John Carter’ Poster Reveals Little About the Mars Adventure,” ScreenRant, 15 Jun 2011, 4 .

  148 Kevin Jagernauth, “Deeply Uninteresting Poster for ‘John Carter’ Bows,” Indiewire-The Playlist, 15 Jun 2011, 4 Sep 2012 .

  149 Ethan Anderton, “First Teaser Poster for Disney’s ‘John Carter’ is Dark But Not Thrilling,” FirstShowing.net, 15 Jun 2011, 4 Sep 2012 < http://www.firstshowing.net/2011/first-teaser-poster-for-disneys-john-carter-is-dark-but-not-thrilling/>.

  150 Christopher Rosen II, “Let’s Decode the ‘JCM’ in New John Carter Poster,” Movieline,15 Jun 2011, 4 Sep 2012 .

  151 ComingSoon.Net Staff Report, “The Teaser Poster for John Carter,” Coming Soon.net, 15 Jun 2011, 4 Sep 2012 .

  152 IMDB Pro, “John Carter (2012) MovieMeter: Data Table View,” accessed 2 Sep 2012

  153 Matt Goldberg, “Teaser Trailer for John Carter,” Collider, 14 Jul 2011, 4 Sep 2012 .

  154 Matt Goldberg, “First Tr
ailer for The Avengers,” Collider.com, 11 Oct 2011, 3 Sep 2012 .

  155 It is possible to take historical readings of an event such as this. All but a very few of the articles published that day are still online; the comments are still viewable; and social media monitoring and reputation management software have the ability to take historical “snapshots” covering a given day or date range. Such historical readings for the entirety of the John Carter campaign are available to anyone with the software.

  156 A ‘pay or play’ contract, which is the standard for lead actors in Hollywood, obligates the studio to pay for the contract regardless of whether the film goes into production.

  157 “Above the Line” costs are the costs for the literary property, screenwriters, producers, director, and cast. “Below the Line” costs refer to the actual ‘wind and grind’ of film-making -- crew, equipment, special effects, and so on. The Lone Ranger -- with Depp, Verbinski, and Bruckheimer on board -- had a heavy “Above the Line” load, whereas John Carter did not.