The first trailer has arrived for Walt Disney’s John Carter, formerly John Carter of Mars. While set photos have been popping up here and there online, this is our first long look at this eagerly anticipated film. Based on Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burrough’s classic novel A Princess of Mars, John Carter is the story of a Confederate war veteran who finds himself mysteriously transported to the surface of Mars, known as Barsoom by its inhabitants. After meeting Martian princess Dejah Thoris, Carter becomes embroiled in war between several of the planet’s intelligent races, including the savage, four-armed Green Martians.
After seeing the studio single-handedly bring pirates to the forefront of popular imagination with the popular Pirates of the Caribbean series, could Walt Disney do the same for the Sword & Planet genre? Once a staple of the pulp market, S&P literature depicted strong men and beautiful women fighting for their lives on savage alien planets. The advent of modern space exploration all but killed such romantic notions, but with the sudden interest in steampunk maybe the time is right for a revival. Look for John Carter in 2012.
This being a Disney flick, where’s the comic-relief sidekick?