Why John Carter failed.

Disney estimates that it will lose $200 million on their science fiction blockbuster John Carter. But how could a film that ostensibly has all the elements for success flop so badly? To understand why John Carter flopped, you need to look at it in context. First of all, John Carter is based on a series of novels written over 40 years ago. Most of the ideas have been shamelessly copied by other authors and filmmakers. This has the effect of making John Carter just look...bland. We've seen it all before. In fact, we've seen it quite recently too - in James Cameron's Avatar. It's likely that audiences are suffering from a "post-Avatar fatigue".

Another factor is the film's marketing. Disney's marketing campaign has been notoriously bad, with audiences left confused by incoherent trailers and "uninformative billboards". Another Disney film, "Mars needs Moms", was blamed for Disney's decision to remove "of Mars" from the title. The film's original title "John Carter of Mars" was also said to be too "overtly sci-fi" and was likely to repel female movie fans. Having a relatively unknown lead actor probably doesn't help either.

John Carter

The most probable reason for the film's underperformance is simply that it failed to connect with audiences. Many people are reporting that the film is "dull", "unimaginative" and just plain boring. The director, Andrew Stanton, is a newcomer to directing live action films, having previously directed animated films such as WALL·E and Finding Nemo. It's possible that he couldn't handle a large real life production, or maybe the studio interfered with his vision. Either way, the film has been called a "mess" by critics and audiences were left unimpressed.

Andrew Stanton has stated in interviews that he doesn't pay attention to box office figures. After costing Disney $200 million, it's likely that he won't need to any time soon.