‘John Carter’ is now officially a flop of galactic proportions. The Walt Disney Co. said it expects to book a loss of $200 million on the movie in the quarter through March. That ranks it among Hollywood’s all-time biggest money-losers. Directed by Pixar’s Andrew Stanton, the 3-D effects-laden movie about a Civil War veteran transplanted to Mars was already headed to the “Red Ink Planet”. The movie was based on a series of books written by the late Edgar Rice Burroughs, starting with ‘A Princess of Mars’ in 1912 and ending with ‘John Carter of Mars,’ published posthumously in 1964. There was plenty of material for sequels and prequels but they seem highly unlikely now. The poor reception was a shock given Stanton’s directing success with movies like ‘Finding Nemo’ and ‘Wall-E,’ each of which won an Oscar for best animated feature.
