It took one hundred years to bring “John Carter” to the big screen, and after the movie’s disappointing box office performance this weekend, it may be a lot longer before anyone tries to bring him back.
Disney’s sci-fi epic, based on the 1912 Edgar Rice Burroughs story “A Princess of Mars,” reportedly cost more than $250 million to make – and finished with just $30.6 million in its debut weekend, a distant second behind “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax.”
“John Carter” got some help from elsewhere in this planet as it earned $70.6 million more overseas, according to Hollywood.com, but it’s not enough to save the studio from a massive loss on a very expensive movie with franchise aspirations.
“It could’ve been worse, at least it played well overseas,” says Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com. “Everyone is going to call this a huge disaster ... but if we weren’t looking at the budget, $30 million in March is not a bad opening at all by most movies’ standards.”
Universal’s animated eco-fable, meanwhile, continued to rake in the green at a much higher standard. “The Lorax” finished in the top spot for the second straight week, earning $39.1 million to boost its total past the $120 million mark.
The party also continued for Warner Brothers’ R-rated “Project X” in its second weekend, as the very low-budget comedy finished third with $11.6 million.
There wasn’t much positive to say, meanwhile, about the performance of Eddie Murphy’s “A Thousand Words,” which after being shelved for two years, opened in sixth place with a tepid $6.4 million.
esacks@nydailynews.com
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