Marketwatch: Analysts Shrug off Disney’s $250m Flop

“John Carter” misadventure Tuesday after the company warned that it expects to take a $200 million loss on the film.

Animation director Andrew Stanton took on the $250 million live-action film, which stars Taylor Kitsch, best known for his role on NBC’s CMCSA “Friday Night Lights.”

Kitsch stars as a Civil War veteran who finds himself on Mars battling giant apes and a city on legs. The film is based on a series of books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, who also created the “Tarzan” books.

Reviews of “John Carter” have been decidedly mixed, with many critics finding it rather likable but echoing the sentiments of New York Times critic A.O. Scott, who called the movie a “potpourri of arcane and familiar genres” and a “hectic hybrid.”

Analysts weren’t surprised that Disney would have to take a writedown on “John Carter.” But by the size of the loss did prove startling. Disney now expects its movie and TV studio unit to post an operating loss between $80 million and $120 million in its fiscal second quarter. Michael Nathanson of Nomura Securities was expecting operating earnings of $38 million for the segment.

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