This is a chapter from John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood. As introduction, I would just mention that one of the themes that the book explores is the role of the “influencer media” — those entertainment sites, and their readers/commenters, who follow a film like this from the earliest announcements and who lay the buzz foundation through both the articles that are written, and the comments that the active readers leave. There is some foundation-laying about all this that goes ahead of this chapter — but I think the chapter reads reasonably well as a standalone so I’m going to put it out there as some Sunday reading matter. By the way — footnotes are indicated like this | <123> | and can be found if you scroll to the bottom.
By the way, there are a few interesting things going on in the background regarding the promotion and release of JCGOH (positive thing) which I will update on separately in the next few days. I don’t mean to be mysterious — but they can’t quite be announced yet.
The First Marketing Blunder: The Title
After the announcement on January 19, 2011 that John Carter of Mars would move its release date forward from June 8 to March 9, 2012, Disney went silent once again on the publicity front. One reason was that MT Carney and her team were preoccupied first with the looming disaster that was Mars Needs Moms, and secondarily with Carney’s efforts to come to grips with both the brand misalignment she saw in JCOM, and because of the larger problem she saw — which was that in order for her to properly bring into play the kind of “brand marketing” strategies that she espoused, the title “John Carter of Mars” was a liability.
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This is a mystery piece of John Carter Fan art ….. have searched high and low and can’t find the creator. Does anyone know? Can you find out? By the way, a useful tool for identifying images is TinEye.com where you can upload a picture and it will search the web and usually get a hit. But in this case … nothing.
The Facebook Back to Barsoom Group has announced a special screening of John Carter on December 1,2012, at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, California. The event begins at 1:00PM with fan art, books, and items displayed in the lobby and culminates in a screening of John Carter that begins at 2:30. The group has already confirmed that all the members of the “Council of Helium” from the opening scenes of the movie will be in attendance; other VIPs include Jim Sullos, President of Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. The group has an event listing at Indigogo.com where tickets and other items can be purchased.
Here is the full public announcement:
The 11,000 member strong John Carter Back to Barsoom Facebook Group is having a screening of John Carter at the Aero Theator in Santa Monica on December 1st to show our support for the film and let Disney know WE STILL LIVE!
Join us for an amazing afternoon — we’ll be screening the film, there will be fan art exhibits, we’ll be joined by everyone from Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc and we are working on having special guests from the cast and crew. [UPDATE: The full "Council of Helium" from the opening scenes wil definitely be there."] [2nd UPDATE: Amanda Clayton, who plays Mrs. Carter, will be there as well.]
We need to raise $4,000 to cover the cost of renting the theater, the print, plus putting on a great show that includes lobby displays, art exhibits, and more.
We want a FULL HOUSE and you can help us do it!
And if you’re not in Los Angeles — never fear, you can participate as a supporter and patron from anywhere in the world. Just choose the “Patron” option and that way you’ll be listed as a supporter on the souvenir program and on our websites.
Let Disney know we are a global group of committed fans and we’re not going away!
Help us spread the word — use the social sharing options and let your friends know.
Together we can turn this into a wonderful event that sends a message!
And here is how the group announced it on the group’s Facebook group page.
WE ARE HAVING A SPECIAL SCREENING OF JOHN CARTER!
The Back To Barsoom Group is very proud and pleased to announce: A John Carter Screening at the Aero Theater, in Santa Monica, California on Saturday, December 1, 2012. Disney has approved the screening so we are all set to go and will be signing the contract any day now. The actual title for this screening will be: “Back To Barsoom Celebrates: 100 Years of JOHN CARTER of Mars. Presented By The Back To Barsoom Campaign Group.” We are all very excited about this event. We have a guest list we are working on – and whomever you are thinking of right now, they are probably already on our “to be invited” list from the cast/actors, producers, directors, crew, ERB family & friends, and more!
We will have fan-art displays from members of our group; presentations on Edgar Rice Burroughs/JohnCarter, and from what I hear, all the Council members from the movie are already attending! We will of course be raising monies for this screening – see IndieGoGo link below. The theater holds 425 people. 300 seats will go on sale for regular seating, and 100 for VIP seating. You will also be able to help by purchasing virtual seats to help us pay for the cost of the screening. This is a private screening and will not be open to the public off the street. The the confirmed costs for the screening are:
$1,000 for theater — 25% down, balance 3 days prior
$450 for film print – to Disney
$350 for projectionist — paid to projectionist ‘on the day’
$600 cleaning deposit (refundable) — paid 3 days prior
Other Costs for “special guests’
The site and link to purchase tickets for the John Carter Screening is at www.indiegogo.com/backtobarsoom1?a=1102759 You have the choice of purchasing a $10.00 ticket for a seat, a $10.00 non-resident Virtual ticket, or a VIP $25.00 ticket.
I’m working on the DVD disk art for the ERB Centennial and I’m looking at an absolutely gorgeous 62MB Tiff scan of Robert Abbett’s cover art for Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ A Princess of Mars. It’s incredible how much better this looks than anything I’ve ever seen on the internet, or the book cover itself. I can’t upload 62MB but even a much, much smaller file is still way more beautiful than anything that’s available on the web. Here it is — enjoy. Look at Dejah Thoris’ face …. it’s just stunning. I’ve known this art since I was 12 and this is the first time I’ve been able to really see it. I’m wowed.
Click to see larger
And here is what I’m working on with it. It’s still work in progress regarding the text and foreground images but I’m happy with the background image and alignment on the disk:
by John Martin for Recoverings Blog
When Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote of Tarzan and Jane, it was because some great adventure had come into their lives, and so the idyllic times spent upon the Greystoke estate in British East Africa are seldom recorded, except to set the stage for that which will soon disrupt that tranquility.
And so, we must be satisfied with mere glimpses of what the normal life there was like, and we get these glimpses in The Eternal Lover, The Son of Tarzan, Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar, Tarzan the Untamed, Tarzan and the Golden Lion and Tarzan and the Ant Men.
The Waziri tribe was a part of that Greystoke estate life, in both peace and war.
What a wonderful relationship has existed between this tribe and their mentor and leader emeritus, Tarzan of the Apes, from the time their paths first crossed in The Return of Tarzan when John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, became their white chief and led them in avenging themselves upon their enemies.
Read the full post at The Back Flap Blog at Recoverings
I just want to mention that one of the reasons I’ve not been “feeding the beast” of the blog as much the last few days is that I’m jamming trying to finish what has turned out to be a very cool thing — the ERB Centennial DVD. It’s going to be a two disc set and is VERY nice …..plus the other thing that’s in the works is there is going to be a “Back to Barsoom” screening later this fall in Los Angeles that is going to have a number of very, very exciting elements attached to it. I will be posting official announcements about both these things in the coming days. Meanwhile, back to the editing of this two disc collectors DVD……..thanks for your patience and check back soon for more news on these and other things that are happening.
Our friend Al Bohl, the film-maker (along with daughter Alison) behind Tarzan, Lord of the Louisiana Jungle, has a nice article in the Fall Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas. Check it out. Tarzan,Lord of the Louisiana Jungle. Thanks to Bill Hillman and Erbzine for the heads up on this.
When we read and think about Barsoom, Amtor, and the there worlds created by Edgar Rice Burroughs it’s easy to look at the creations from the perspective of 2012 …. but a lot more interesting to look at them from the perspective of the time in which they were written. Take Pellucidar — the world within the Earth discovered by David Innes and Abner Perry. Burroughs began writing “At the Earth’s Core” in January 1913 at a time when there was a substantial body of belief that a world existed within our world — a “hollow earth” theory in which there were entrances to the inner world at one or the other (or both) of the poles.
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