Disney Expected to Lose $200 Million on “John Carter”

Being billed as a sci-fi film of "Star Wars" proportions, there were a lot of expectations for the film based on the literary character the debuted 100 years ago.  Unfortunately, it looks like the expectations were too high and "John Carter" is failing on the level of "Waterworld", with Disney reporting a $200 million loss.

"John Carter" is about a civil war solider who is transported to Mars, finding that he has super powers given his human strength on Mars' gravity.  So far, the film has brought in $184 million in ticket sales, but the project's budget is estimated at $250 million, with another $100 million spent on marketing.  A loss like this puts "John Carter" up with movies like "Gigli" and "Waterworld" as the biggest box off flops in movie history.

Had the film been successful, sequels were a guarantee, with the character of John Carter appearing in books for for almost 50 years.  This isn't the first Disney film to loose the company millions.  Last year's "Mars Needs Moms" had a price tag of $150 million, but only brought in less than a third of that in ticket sales.  At this point, Disney is hoping to earn back some of its "John Carter" loses with "The Avengers" coming out in May.

via NPR