11 Movies Too Big To Fail (That Did Anyway)
6. John Carter
It's no secret that Disney know how to earn those big sci-fi bucks, as evidenced by their acquisition of Lucasfilm and the resulting Star Wars trilogy, but before all of that came John Carter, the 2012 adaption of Edgar Rice Burroughs' 1917 sci-fi novel, A Princess of Mars.
In sci-fi circles, Burroughs' Barsoom series is well regarded and served as an inspiration for sci-fi greats such as Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke, and a big screen adaptation seemed like a win-win: fans of the novels would get a cinematic representation of the series, and Disney acquired the rights to a sci-fi classic that had passed into relative obscurity.
With a massive budget and a cast containing some big names, John Carter seemed set to be one of the next big franchises, but a mixed critical reception and a lukewarm fan reaction led to Disney cancelling the planned trilogy before it could get off of the ground.
John Carter resulted in a loss of $200 million for Disney, ranking it among the biggest Hollywood flops of all time.