14 DAY TRIAL // “John Carter” has been deemed a flop by critics because of its overinflated budget and its box office gross shortly after release. Now, Disney too is rushing to call it just that, saying it will translate into a $200 million (€151.1 million) loss at the end of the quarter.
As we also noted last week, the film was meant to become yet another great and successful Disney franchise, but pre-release hype didn't translate into box office success.
On the contrary, actually: the film opened to lukewarm reviews and rather disappointing first weekend gross in the US, prompting many to say it needed nothing short of a miracle to turn a profit.
This, in turn, generated talk of how Disney would certainly kill the planned franchise and not even consider making a sequel, leaving fans of the original Burroughs books it's based on with no other option than to start online campaigns asking for another movie.
In a statement to Deadline, Disney openly says “John Carter” is a flop – fans be damned, as it were.
“In light of the theatrical performance of John Carter ($184 / €139.06 million global box office), we expect the film to generate an operating loss of approximately $200 / €151.1 million during our second fiscal quarter ending March 31,” Disney says.
While it might seem ridiculous to say that a film that has grossed $184 million (€139.06 million) in a few weeks' time since release is a flop, it's not so if you consider its budget of well over $250 million (€191.3 million).
“John Carter” is yet to make the money Disney invested to have it run on screens worldwide.
“As a result, our current expectation is that the Studio segment will have an operating loss of between $80 (€60.46) and $120 million (€90.69 million) for the second quarter,” Disney continues.
“As we look forward to the second half of the year, we are excited about the upcoming releases of The Avengers and Brave, which we believe have tremendous potential to drive value for the Studio and the rest of the company,” the movie studio adds.
At the same time, it's somewhat disheartening to see a movie studio calling its own film, especially one that was welcomed warmly by science-fiction fans, a flop even before it's out of theaters.
“John Carter” is still running in theaters across many territories, and is yet to see DVD and Blu-Ray release, which will, of course, translate into more money for Disney.
By issuing this statement to say the film would translate into a $200 million (€151.1 million) loss, Disney is basically saying it's a flop and, for the next few years at least, it will not pick up a sequel for it.