Or the low-budget Z-movie (not even good enough to be a B-movie) that went direct to cable TV?
No movie studio was interested in backing the project.
Most told Clampett that their audiences has no interest in "realistic" animation!
(The Fleischer Brothers proved them wrong with Superman several years later...)
In 2004, Kerry Conran pitched a John Carter movie done in almost total CGI...
...like the movie he just completed, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow!
If Sky Captain had done better at the box office, Kerry undoubtedly would have been given the green light.
But, it didn't, and he wasn't.
There was a low-budget "updated to the present day" version, Princess of Mars, which went direct-to-video/cable/satellite TV just before the big budget flick opened!
It was so low-budget the Tharks didn't even have four arms, and were the same height as John Carter!
(Plus, Dejah Thoris was an ex-porn star!)
The mega-budget film that finally was produced after years of delays, rewrites, and changes in writers, directors, and cast, did poorly, though it was, in fact, damned good...
Because of its' poor performance at the box office, we're unlikely to see another attempt to bring Barsoom to life anytime soon...
