General Discussion

Rich Ross, the man in charge of Disney's movie studio, has resigned from his post largely due to the poor returns that John Carter had at the box office. He had taken over the position in hopes of cutting budgets and creating new hit movies, none of which worked. It seems that Disney's movie studios continued losing money and investing an estimated $500 million into John Carter (that includes the marketing) wasn't the wisest move. Link.

You would think a studio like Disney could easily thrive but I guess all it took was one big blunder. What can Disney do to improve and begin making some cash again?

What Jack said.

Comic movies are basically guaranteed box office glory these days. And Marvel/Disney has some big plans for comicbook movies. :) I think it'll be a great way to save the company from the John Carter fiasco.

This really sucks. I'm sure a lot of people feel like this is justified as some kind of revenge for the the complete marketing failure that happened around that flick, but I'd say it's pointless. These kind of example firings by studios are a frequent, accepted occurance, but all it does is stifle any kind of creativity from mainstream movies.

Say your head of production friend took a risk, failed, got fired, and became a complete persona non grata for doing so. That means that you, another head of production, are going to do all you can to pump out non-threatening, mindless shit that's guarunteed to bring in the millions.

@FinalDasa said:

You would think a studio like Disney could easily thrive but I guess all it took was one big blunder. What can Disney do to improve and begin making some cash again?

Keep sucking money out of Pixar, and just focus on their inexplicably popular shitty TV stuff. They'll be fine.

Did he have anything to do with Mars Needs Moms, because that would be a second case against his judgment.

@PenguinDust: He's been around 2 and a half years or so I believe. So possibly?

While he was responsible for Mars Needs Moms, I don't think he needed to resign. It isn't his fault the marketing was terrible.

@CrimsonAvenger said:

While he was responsible for Mars Needs Moms, I don't think he needed to resign. It isn't his fault the marketing was terrible.

That may be the case, but both Mars Needs Moms and John Carter, two massive bombs, were produced under his short watch. Despite his only being in the position for two and a half years, his track record was not off to a good start, particularly considering the fact that his biggest success was the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, which was a no-brainer to produce and could have been greenlit by anyone.

I think its hilarious that he was responsible for cutting budgets and produced not only two of Disney's biggest bombs but movies in general. While I won't comment on the quality of either as I sort of want to rent John Carter when its available I love the irony in this

I want to hear the original pitch for John Carter. I understand its history, but was this really a property that Disney thought could become the next Pirates of the Carribean? Was there really enough "built-in" audience familiar enough with the source material to justify the budget?

@Brewmaster_Andy said:

I want to hear the original pitch for John Carter. I understand its history, but was this really a property that Disney thought could become the next Pirates of the Carribean? Was there really enough "built-in" audience familiar enough with the source material to justify the budget?

I can't tell you the specifics, but I've heard of adaptation attempts from all different people/companies since the 70's, so lots of folks have thought it could work for a while now.

It's important to remember without hindsight too, that the "Pirates" series seemed completely ridiculous when it was first announced. Make an entire movie from a fucking ride with no story?!? If they could make that a giant success, adapting a book with a conveniently built-in story must have seemed like a sure thing.

There's a nice write up on the situation over at the LA Times. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-fi-ct-disney-ross-20120421,0,6552565.story

It seems like Mr. Ross was in over his head in terms of film production experience, and tried to blame Pixar for the John Carter loss. Pixar execs went straight to Bob Iger and had Ross canned.

This is probably a good move. Disney is free to hire someone that actually has experience in the film business.