Disney+ is off to a hot start so far. Fans are loving the combination of classic movies and shows as well as the debut of new original material, like The Mandalorian. The intergalactic series takes place in the Star Wars universe and has been a huge hit since its first episode, which is causing executives to consider introducing yet another TV show set in outer space as well.
This time, however, Disney wouldn’t rely on the public’s love of one of their biggest franchises. Instead, they’d be trying to resurrect one of their most disappointing projects ever.
According to our sources – the same ones who told us Ewan McGregor was returning as Obi-Wan, that an Aladdin sequel was in the works and that a She-Hulk show was happening, all of which turned out to be true – the company is looking into rebooting John Carter as a TV series. The plan would be to adapt the storylines from the Barsoom books by Edgar Rice Burroughs and give the project a sizable budget to ensure it has a cinematic feel.
It’s unclear who would star and which writer(s) might pen the scripts, but we’re told it’s now in the early stages of development and our sources expect it to reach the streaming service in 2022. And while the details we’ve been given end there, all we can say is that we hope this attempt is better than the last one.
After all, John Carter is often recognized as a big-time miss for a studio that rarely drops the ball. The film flopped at the North American box office, but still managed to haul in $284 million worldwide. With a total cost of $350 million attached to it though, including an estimated production budget of $263 million, it’s one of the most expensive movies ever made.
Executives believed that the flick was going to be the beginning of a blockbuster trilogy, too. After the poor box office numbers however, they cancelled plans for any additional installments. Disney is clearly hoping that a potential TV series can capture the magic of the novels in a way that the film was never really able to though and given that they’ve got a ton of great source material to work with, we’ll keep our fingers crossed that John Carter finds more success on the small screen than he did in theaters.
