19 comments

  • Obviously, Disney pays no attention to the fans or this website. They’re still neglecting the main attraction of JC. How about a simple: “Own a piece of history” or “Celebrating the 100 year anniversary of a sci-fi classic”?

  • Well, the trailer is somewhat better than most of the theatrical marketing campaign. BUT, it still weighed down by the sluggish mindset that sank the theatrical marketing.

    C’mon that same White Ape jumping scene? Really? The white apes are barely in the movie; I’d much rather see Carter, sword in hand, leaping up toward Tal Hajus (a more impressive scene I think, even cut down to a couple seconds).

    Some poor schmoe must have been blown away by the white apes for them to get featured as much as the creatures have been. Sure they’re neat, but I would have limited the white apes’ appearences in any of the trailers to a clip of the one charging into the arena — better to leave the rest to audience’s imagination.

    Fortunately, there is still time for us to clue Disney in for the home video marketing and get this swapped for something better. While only semi-official, the sizzle reel is still the best piece to advertise the movie and even that had to come from the crew working on the film (specifically Erik Jessen, one of the editors). Pretty much all the unofficial trailers, beat the snot out of Disney Marketing’s paltry attempts.

  • I’ve said this many time and i’ll say it again, I’m definitely buying this film on day one! On A side note I just saw the Avenger’s today and it was amazing!!! Not as amazing as John Carter but a great film in it’s own right.

  • Bob Page

    I apologize to all for my atrocious spelling and left out words of my previous post. Oh, pray for a re-edit option. I was excited to spit out what was in my head and in a hurry to not miss lunch.

    No worries. Fixed the ones I saw……it’s fine now, I think. Might be something that I missed but nothing egregious.

  • not so sure this is a bad thing, John Carter did very poorly with teenager/young adult audiences and all that cgi and special effects attratcs them. I actually know alot of people that were intriqued by the movie but not enough to buy a ticket, said they would wait to watch this on dvd and blu-ray. maybe disney didn’t want to change the marketing plan at this point because so many people are already planning on renting the movie. And it’s a good film so all those people that rent it will be clamoring for a sequel like we are.

  • I apologize to all for my atrocious spelling and left out words of my previous post. Oh, pray for a re-edit option. I was excited to spit out what was in my head and in a hurry to not miss lunch.

  • This is not specifically in reply to any one comment. I intentionally posted the trailer without commentary and with as upbeat a vibe as I could muster so as not to inadvertently cause the comments (as if my opinion would do so) to skew negative, then I went to bed. Woke up this morning to a a significant haul of comments and if you’re reading this, you probably read the others.

    I will have more to say but for now, I’m just heartbroken that after all that has happened, THIS — another ape-jumping, character-less, relationship-less, soul-stripped effort–is what you come up with?

    Heartbreaking, is what it is.
    DS

  • I didn’t find the emotional moments of The Avengers weakest than in John Carter. They’re just not the same, but both movies have plenty of heart. I think it’s rare enough in movies of these calibers to be celebrated.

  • It is a little better than their previous efforts. It clearly sets up the location and the main dramitic narrative, it stays away from the arena apes for the most part and does show better takes on the epic action type scenes. Whoever said it down below though is right in that it shows none of the character beats that are the real heart of this story (more on this in a second) and most certainly not enough of the romance with Lynn Collins. They are so firmly intrenched in the idea that this film is a “boys” film that they are totally blind in not telling half the potential audience that there is something in this for the ladies too.

    Speaking of Heart, this is gonna sound like heresy to some people, but I saw the Avengers last night and for all the boom, bang and more than a few laughs, there is not one moment in that movie that comes even close to let’s say, Dejah and her father arguing over the marriage proposal, the intercutting in the Warhoon stand off, or the heartbreak of the “Yes, I am alone ” moment.

    I realized very clearly why Stanton made some of the choices he did make. If he made JC the stand up ERB version he would have played as a kind of super hero, what with the kinds of exciting visual jumps he was going to give him. We are over saturated with these comic book movies and superheros in our culture right now. Folks, there ain’t no Jesus in spandex that is going to come down from the sky and save our population or our planet for that matter, it is up to us people to make conscious decisions and choices.

    I believe this is also why he choose the design asthetic that he did. This doesn’t look like a green screen spectacular it looks plausibly real. The early old west sequences are technicolor spectacular but Mars although the same landscape, is enhanced with colorations, little added details of ancient civilizations and exaggerations to landscape forms done in a painterly beautiful style. It sets it apart and above the green screen spectacles of transformers and comic book movies.

  • Rotten Tomatoes is really a weak rating system. Most reviews are not good/bad, they’re nuanced.

  • Two drive-ins I could find in my area have the same Avengers/John Carter double bill. I think that is a great pairing – and a Marvel tie-in to boot! Got to see about the first half of Avengers…found the tone and style similar to JC…RotTomataoes has a plethora of positive Avengers reviews, yet-as you read through them- they don’t all sound as enthusiastic as the ratings lead you to believe. It’s all a weird shell game.
    Make Mine Barsoomian!!

  • MCR, thanks for the FYI… I don’t know of any drive-ins around here any more… most were turned into shopping centers that kept the name of the drive-ins, but there may be others around Michigan. I know its been showing at a cheap theater in Battle Creek.

    My guess is this trailer was put together around the same time as the last movie trailers and was ready to go for the DVD release.

  • I guess the two fan trailers would actually help sell the movie and we cannot have that can we?!
    Nice to see they made a good effort here once again.

  • Ah more white apes. Oh joy (sarcasm intended).

    I don’t know if this is a right place or not but I thought I would share this. Where I live there are three working drive-ins that show two movies, an A-film (first run or new) and the B film (an older film, out for two or three months). Well all three are showing The Avengers as the A film and the B film is John Carter. I don’t know if other drive-ins across the country are doing it this way or not but that might at least have more people see JC than did previously. Just FYI.

  • Again, another weak, disinterested effort on Disney’s part. And not even a note of the beautiful soundtrack…sigh…John Carter will live on, and remain the vision that we know it is….BARSOOM

  • It is obvious from this trailer that Disney has NOT learned anything over the last 55 days about how to market John Carter. This is trailer is just as lame as the original. You would think that someone in authority at Disney (or at least one of their underlings) would have been following the internet to see the reaction to their dismal marketing debacle. They certainly were NOT following this web site! Otherwise, they would have used the “John Carter Fan Trailer 2 Heritage” (above). The continued incompetence of their management never ceases to amaze me. Disney stock holders should be outraged by their mismanagement of the film studio.
    I thought with the international success of the film and then the DVD / Blu-ray sales the $200M loss they originally boasted about would be whittled down. Now, with this piece of tripe, I’m more convinced than ever that they want JC to be as big a failure as possible. Maybe, to show a stark contrast to their projected success of “the Avengers” . . . “See, we’re the come-back-kids! Don’t worry about us, we’ve got our act together now!” What a bunch of morons.
    This will give Dotar Sojat more ammunition for his book and documentary. Show no mercy, Dotar!
    Ken

  • Am I definitely biased or is it the same uninspired marketing that lead to “The Flop”? They still sell it as a CGI-fest without highlighting the true wonder of the movie: character work. No ERB mention, no “from the director of Finding Nemo and Wall-E”… They never learn…

Leave a Reply