Critically-panned fantasy adventure film “John Carter” is expected to lose $200 million for makers Disney, dragging its whole movie budget into the red, the studio said.
Disney said it would take the huge operating loss on the movie, made by Oscar-winning director Andrew Stanton about a Civil War veteran transplanted to Mars, in its second fiscal quarter.
Starring Taylor Kitsch and Willem Dafoe, the movie cost an estimated $250 million, but was met with a chorus of derision from critics when it was released earlier this month.
The respected Rotten Tomatoes website said: “While ‘John Carter’ looks terrific and delivers its share of pulpy thrills, it also suffers from uneven pacing and occasionally incomprehensible plotting and characterization.”
It was the first live action movie for Stanton, who won best animated film Oscars in “Finding Nemo” in 2004 and “Wall-E” in 2009. He also wrote for all three “Toy Story” movies as well as “Monsters, Inc.”
But Disney insisted the embarrassing loss can be turned around by upcoming projects, including “The Avengers” and “Brave.”