John Carter to Lose $200 Million

John Carter, seen here being chased by an investor and a studio executive

After two weeks of disappointing performance at the box office, John Carter is projected to cost Disney around $200 million, the largest movie loss of all time. Estimations of the cost to make and market the movie hover between $350 and $400 million and so far the movie has only earned $180 million. Many people expected John Carter, an adaptation of a series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, to not make much money. It was a work that few people were familiar with, and many people saw it as a cheaper version of Avatar. However, I don't think anyone expect John Carter to be the biggest box office bust of all time. The previous record holder was the Geena Davis vehicle Cutthroat Island which lost (an inflation adjusted) $147 million, and caused the production company Carolco Pictures to go out of business. This lost won't put Disney out of buisness, not by a long shot, and they expect to recoup their losses with the upcoming cash cows The Avengers and Pixar's Brave later this year.

The Lorax Continues to Dominate

Sorry for missing a few days of movie news. I was visiting my parents this weekend, and when I got back my computer was acting weird. Anyway, we've no entered week 2 of The Lorax being the number one movie at the box office. When will this long national nightmare end? Probably next week when 21 Jump Street comes out. Probably. Also released this weekend was John Carter, which despite a lot of bad press managed to come in second place this weekend with $30 million. Although this is ultimately a disappointment as the studio expected a lot more from it, including the number one spot in the box office numbers. The horror movie Silent House and the horrible movie A Thousand Words also were released this weekend, but made no major splashes, losing out to movies like Act of Valor that have been in theaters for several weeks now.