Tons of trailers in the lead-up to Comic-Con this week. Today, it’s Andrew Stanton’s live-action debut, “John Carter” (which won’t have a presence at Comic-Con because Disney wants to be competitive with its D23 event). I’m not too sure about this one, and I think the reasoning for diminishing the brand appeal by shortening the title from “John Carter of Mars” is flimsy at best. But this will certainly be unique against the fray next year. Check out the new teaser trailer, via Apple, by clicking the image below, or watch an embed after the jump.
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20 responses to “‘John Carter’ teaser trailer”
The trailer is put together really shoddily and kind of confusing, but the film also looks too simple and dumb from this short look. For some reason I get a “Conan the Barbarian” vibe from it. I’m really hoping Stanton is just misleading us, but I’m still cautious.
Stanton showed undeniable greatness with Wall-E. Wall-E is his masterpiece, the film which even allowed him to make this, and he showed visionary directorial flair and tremendous humanity and compassion with that film. I would hope he has at least some of that in this film.
The teaser does look extremely derivative, like someone said, a mix of Conan, Cowboys & Aliens and Avatar – not flattering to say the least. And it looks like a normalish blockbuster, not something you expect from the director whose last film was hailed by many as the best film of the decade.
Prince of Persia again?
It’s not a particularly good trailer (what’s the connection between the opening bit and the rest of it?), but I’m interested to see what Stanton does with this. It’s one of the grandfathers of sci-fi adventure (for people comparing it to Conan, Burrough’s work has a huge influence on Howard, so that makes sense).
Michael Chabon and Andrew Stanton. That’s all I need. I’m not too sure about the lead actor before – he doesn’t have a great resume from what I’m familiar with.
I’ve got a feeling many of those Pixar directors are choosing their live action properties very poorly. Mission Impossible looked awful, and this just looks campy at best. Oh and the name change is truly false advertising, the original title is one of the hottest properties ever and I can’t understand them changing it.
Prince of Persia meets Avatar meets crap… what is up with the opening segment.
I do think the full title would help sell it, but is john carter from mars truly, “one of the hottest properties ever”?
You all are too harsh. Teasers aren’t about structure or money shots. They’re about mood. This has an excellent mood. Doesn’t give off a Conan or Prince of Persia vibe at all. On the surface, visually? Yes. But it’s only the surface.
I assume John is supposed to be Burroughs’ uncle, hence the opening scene announcing his death when he was in reality transported to Mars.
Trailer seemed hastily-edited, yes, but I guess that’s the nature of a teaser. Hopefully a longer trailer will look more coherent at first glance. Loved WALL-E and I’ve been anticipating this for a long time.
All this talk of Prince of Persia …
That’s a movie with an awful screenplay, but I loved the visuals, and enjoyed it, overall.
This movie? This trailer? I don’t know.
I admit, I was thinking “Prince of Persia” too, but even before that, I was amazed by how closely some of the shots were to “Cowboys and Aliens”. Really, really close.
And heck, the trailer didn’t blow me away but it did look good.
“Mission Impossible looked awful”
No, no it’s didn’t.
“the original title is one of the hottest properties ever and I can’t understand them changing it.”
Wait a second? Are you *actually* from Mars??? That would explain a lot.
“The teaser does look extremely derivative, like someone said, a mix of Conan, Cowboys & Aliens”
But how can it derivative of something that hasn’t even come out yet? I understand what you are saying though, the look of the film seems generic (which is less harsh) and maybe not quite as imaginative as that famous book cover.
Music was terrible. Sounded like an orchestra practicing all at the same time.
Maxim, you must agree the MI trailer was pretty awful and ridiculous with its choice of music, but granted, we haven’t seen the film yet.
John Carter (Of Mars) has been around for exactly a century now. That’s pretty hot if you ask me.
John G, it’s a cover of the epic awesome My Body Is A Cage by Arcade Fire… However not a very good one at that. I wanna know who did it, haha.
Anyone know?
It does look like Prince of Persia, which isnt so good.
It has some nice shots and costumes but i dont really think it goes farther. I’ll hope it has some kick ass cinematography and screenplay to keep audiences interested.
“Maxim, you must agree the MI trailer was pretty awful and ridiculous with its choice of music, but granted, we haven’t seen the film yet.”
I’m not sure why you chose to throw around words like “must” but I disagee. The MI trailer was anything but awful. Yes, the music was off but I can get past that and enjoy the rest.
“John Carter (Of Mars) has been around for exactly a century now”
I’m not trying to downplay it’s popularity but how exactly does its age correspond with it being one of “the hottest properties ever “?
The cover was done by Peter Gabriel. He has worked with Stanton is the past and contributed Academy award nominated music to Wall-E.