John Carter

Disney's John Carter had a disappointing opening weekend at the box office. The movie is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' novels about a human soldier who was transported to Mars, fought weird creatures, and won the hand of a Martian princess. It would seem to be the perfect action adventure sci fi special effects tale for today's Hollywood.

So, why the struggle selling tickets? Maybe the movie Mars doesn't ring true. Burroughs wrote his novels in the early twentieth century, when many people-- including many astronomers-- believed an advanced civilization existed on Mars. Readers, therefore, were willing to accept the premise of the stories as something like plausible. Today's moviegoers, however, have seen Mars up close, and they know it's not the world of the film.

Perhaps Disney would have been wiser to update the story and transport Carter to a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri, where they could have created a fresh, stunning world.