Wall-E and Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton is already hard at work on the script for John Carter: The Gods of Mars, according to producer Jim Morris at this week’s John Carter junket in Arizona. But don’t get ahead of yourselves. It’s not like it’s actually getting made yet.
The film, which we have no seen and have agreed under penalty of gladiatorial death not to discuss yet (damn it), opens March 9, and is based on the highly influential series of John Carter novels by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs. The first film focuses on the events of the original novel, and cherry picks a few other elements throughout the series. The sequel sounds like it would be based on the second novel, titled (fittingly enough) The Gods of Mars, but Morris was hesitant to specify how much would be taken from that specific book, since it’s still in the early, early planning stages. Stanton will reportedly be joined by his John Carter co-writer, Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Chabon, for the follow-up.
Quoth the Morris: “We actually did outlines and treatments for three films, based on the first three books. Which has always been seen as ‘the trilogy,’ even though there’s lots of other books. But most people get through at least three books of this, if they’re interested in it. We weren’t presuming that we’d get to make another one, but we didn’t want to box ourselves into a corner if we did, with something worked for one film but sort of cut off the possibilities of where you could go with the second film. So wanted to have them beat it out, and in fact Michael Chabon and Andrew [Stanton] are writing it, the second film, now.
Morris was quick to add, however, that “We haven’t been great lit to make a sequel or anything, but as is the case in Hollywood, if we are they will want it as quickly as possible to stay ahead of the curve. And if not, we have more writing practice!”
CraveOnline will be back with more John Carter news after we apply to Mars University.
