Finding Nemo and WALL-E director Andrew Stanton is venturing into live-action with the upcoming Disney production, John Carter (formerly titled John Carter of Mars) and while it is not a Pixar film, we will be covering the sci-fi film since we figured that many fans of Pixar films are anxiously awaiting to see Stanton’s vision once again. After all, WALL-E was Pixar’s foray into a science-fiction inspired story, and it was easily one of the studio’s most original pieces of work. Considering the man who brought us that unique perspective is the one in charge of John Carter, and looking at the fantastic concept art for the film that has been released, this certainly has the potential to be a great film.
iTunes Movie Trailers exclusively debuted the teaser poster:
©Walt Disney Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
Looks like there will definitely be a dark tone to this film. In the poster, you have the titular character, John Carter (played by Friday Night Lights star Taylor Kitsch), accompanied by a possible logo for the film (JCM), though it will be interesting to see if the ‘M’ disappears sometime in the future after the recent shortening of the film title to simply John Carter.
Amidst a lengthy interview with director Andrew Stanton, The Los Angeles Times exclusively shared the following two striking concept art pieces.
UPDATE (7/11/11): The concept art pieces have been updated to hi-res images, courtesy of iTunes Movie Trailers.
©Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.
The city of Helium, also referred to as “The Jewel of Barsoom (Mars),” is the home of Princess Dejah Thoris.
©Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.
In Burrough’s books, massive airships sail on rays of light on Mars.
If you weren’t interested in this film before, the concept art might just help convince your interest bar to shoot up a hair. We are expecting another visually beautiful film from Stanton.
Here is the most recent official synopsis of the film:
From Academy Award®–winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton comes John Carter — a sweeping action-adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). John Carter is based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose highly imaginative adventures served as inspiration for many filmmakers, both past and present. The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.
John Carter is directed by Andrew Stanton with a screenplay by Andrew Stanton & Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon and stars Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Daryl Sabara, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston, Thomas Hayden Church and Willem Dafoe.
Take a look at that synopsis and you may find another reason to get excited. Mark Andrews, who directed the Pixar short One Man Band and is currently directing Brave, worked on the screenplay for the film with Andrew Stanton. It makes sense for Stanton to surround himself with those he feels comfortable working with, so it would not surprise us to see other Pixar employees in the credits.
John Carter is set to debut in theaters on March 9, 2012!
Sources: iTunes Movie Trailers, The Los Angeles Times
[twitter-follow screen_name=’ThePixarTimes’ show_count=’yes’ button_color=’grey’ link_color=’FF0000′ text_color=’00ccff’]
