Dream Huntress wrote:What is with Disney and their inabbility to create a new franchise? Tron, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Prince of Persia, now John Carter, I mean c'mon, Johnny Depp can't keep making the Pirates movies forever.
Aren't they still planning to continue on with Tron and Sorcerer's Apprentice? That was the latest word I'd heard on the subjects. I wouldn't mind seeing more of both. Sorcerer's Apprentice did seem like such an obvious attempt to jump on the Potter and Potter-wannabes bandwagon (despite that most if not all Potter wannabes have failed), but I still found it pretty enjoyable for something so contrived.
I realize they were not Blockbusters or Pirates-level successes, but Pirates-level is asking a lot. Of course, I think the big problem with trying to start a new franchise is that it is so obvious now. Pirates of the Caribbean's first film was like the first Star Wars. It was just a good movie all by itself, even if no sequels followed. These other films they are making, you can tell from the get-go they are made for the purpose of being a franchise, and that's an instant turn-off for a lot of people, I think. Not really talking about John Carter here, which I haven't had the chance to go see yet, but stuff like Sorcerer's Apprentice and all those other movies, like Percy Jackson, Golden Compass, Series of Unfortunate Events, Vampire's Assistant, and all sorts of even less notable ones. Some of these I actually enjoyed, but it's kind of a turn off to go into a film expecting to not be fully satisfied until you've seen the whole as yet unmade saga, which really might never get made (and almost never does).
Stuff like John Carter and Prince of Persia though, which is clearly more in the Pirates vein than the Potter vein, going into them I am not immediately thinking of franchise material (probably because I am not very familiar with the source material), but reading here I can see that everyone else immediately knew they were a franchise attempt. I suppose, in truth, these days all movies hope to be a franchise unless they are dramas, in which they just hope to win Oscars.
Anyway, myself, like I said, I haven't seen John Carter. I would say the reason people didn't rush out to see it is that this is an age of big, sci-fi/action blockbusters, so it just seems to the eyes of people who are unfamiliar with the source material to be just one more of many. The trailers for the film were rather unremarkable. The only reason I am interested personally is because it is a Disney film and because I know the tiniest bit about the source material (not really any of the stories, which I've never read, but I knew OF the John Carter stories). If this film were released in a time when people were hungry for some new sci-fi/action adventure stuff, it would probably have a better chance, if the trailers did more to set it apart from the other action/effects extravaganzas being released all the time.
As for Prince of Persia, I saw that one in theaters and I really loved it. I knew nothing about the source material at the time, but someone told me it was a video game. I haven't purchased it yet, but I look forward to doing so.