Disney really wants you to remember the name "John Carter." They made the contentious decision to drop "Of Mars" from their adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, and are now stuck marketing an epic, enormous sci-fi film with a generic title that could mean just about anything. And with a pricey advertising spot during the Super Bowl, the studio decided not to elaborate so much on the movie's plot or themes, but make sure that you knew the movie's title at all costs. See what I mean when you watch the Super Bowl spot below.
You get some new footage in the later half of the commercial, but I swear that part didn't air when I saw it-- am I the only one who thinks it was just the letters of the name getting bigger and bigger and then fading to black? But while the effects and the visuals of the film continue looking great, I'm still not feeling invested in this story at all, and the Super Bowl spot seemed like a good opportunity for them to do something a little more creative, get us invested in the characters a little bit, and make us curious. Instead they're just trying to impress us with more spectacle, even in the middle of the Super Bowl, when there's plenty of spectacle to spare. It looks better than the Battleship trailer, but that's not really saying much.
I remain firmly optimistic about John Carter, largely because it's the directorial debut of Pixar genius Andrew Stanton, but mediocre ads like this don't help me build my case. Let us know in the comments if you want to defend this ad, or if you're still excited about the movie anyway. For the full list of Super Bowl movie trailers, you can go here, and for more on John Carter, visit our Blend Film Database.
