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News
Zemeckis & Lasseter to Deliver CG "John Carter of Mars"?
by Scott Weinberg | February 09, 2007
Discuss Article
OK, a whole bunch of bloggers are falling all over each other to report this "speculation," but if they're on to something, it's a pretty big story. Well, a big story for movie geeks, anyway. Not an important news story like a fire or a basketball game, obviously.

Film ick is reporting that Robert Zemeckis and Disney's John Lasseter will collaborate to present Edgar Rice Burroughs' "John Carter of Mars" as a full-bore motion-capture CGI project -- not unlike the movie magic you enjoyed in "The Polar Express" and "Monster House."

You'll recall that "Carter" has long been discussed and attached to a variety of studios and filmmakers. (I believe Jon Favreau only came pretty close to getting it off the ground.) But obviously the CG arena is one where a movie like this could really flourish. So take it all as speculation at this point, but if it turns out to be true, score another one for the movie geek bloggers of the world.

Related Items
Movie: Monster House
Celeb: Robert Zemeckis
John Lasseter
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Comments (1-7 of 7 posts) | Reply
privatepilesleftnipple
privatepilesleftnipple writes:
on Feb 09 2007 06:49 AM

THE HILLS ARE ALive with the sound of music.....

(Reply to this)
rockstarfrank
rockstarfrank writes:
on Feb 09 2007 07:01 AM

[b]AMAZING![/b]
Wow, this is great news! Thanks RT!


(Reply to this)
Zen Bullet
Zen Bullet writes:
on Feb 09 2007 07:14 AM

I HATE, HATE, HATE the motion capture look when applied to realistic human characters. On the other hand, I'd be upset if the John Carter books were taken in a cartoony direction.

The stories really should be live action . . . (not doing so is simply money talking)

However, Zemekis is a great director and Lasseter is well aware of the Uncanny Valley effect.

On the other hand, this sounds like completely speculative rumor. I'll believe it when I see an official press report.

In fact, I quite wonder why it's so difficult to adapt the book series. When I read them as a kid I imagined all sorts of ways to treat them cinematically(as a sort of cross between Dances with Wolves and Forbidden Planet). I just hope the series is treated with the dignity it deserves; not like the pathetic Robert E Howard character adaptations or the frequently numb renditions of Burroughs' Tarzan.


(Reply to this)
Count_Vertigo
Count_Vertigo writes:
on Feb 09 2007 09:39 AM

I think Zemekis should take it in another direction. With the success of Sin City and the impending success of 300 (you gotta admit it looks amazing) why don't they do live action on an entirely CG background? The creatures and settings could be done properly while using live actors instead of the not quite realistic looking motion capture.

(Reply to this)
Kid_Ikarus
Kid_Ikarus writes:
on Feb 09 2007 10:29 AM

Zemekis hasn't done anything in a minute, interesting to see how this will turn out.

(Reply to this)
Zen Bullet
Zen Bullet writes:
on Feb 09 2007 12:29 PM

In reply to this comment (#855288)
I agree completely.

You're right, live-action against blue/greenscreen is the way to do this.

The controled environment would help attain better shots. And besides, there are so many creatures in the books; actors would probably still be staring at tennis balls . . . even if it was a live action shoot.

When you see how well a fantasy world can be fabricated today(King Kong, for example), there's really no excuse anymore for avoiding greenscreen. The Star Wars prequels suffered because Lucas isn't an actors'-director and didn't know how to work within those constraints.

But as Sin City, 300, and King Kong show, it's all possible now.

But if Zemekis brought his versatility to the live-action shoot and Pixar dipped its golden toes into the arena of realistic creatures/environments . . . . now THAT would be something!


(Reply to this)
mojodaddy
mojodaddy writes:
on Feb 10 2007 07:20 AM

Polar Express children scare me.....

*huddles up and sobs in the corner*


(Reply to this)
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