This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Not daunted by the first movie's utter failure at the box office, a fan group has gone online to campaign for a sequel to Disney's "John Carter."
"Let's take John Carter Back to Barsoom!" begins an online petition to Disney. There's also a Facebook page and a letter-writing campaign to Disney executives.
There seems to be some traction. As of this writing, the petition has 1,540 signatures, and the Facebook page has 8,083 members.
It will take more than that, though, to convince Disney to take another flyer on Edgar Rice Burroughs' epic hero. "John Carter," directed by Andrew Stanton, cost an estimated $250 million to make — and has so far earned $69,219,949 in North America (according to Box Office Mojo). Disney took a $200 million writeoff on the film, and Walt Disney Studios chairman Rich Ross resigned in April because of the movie's failure.
Stranger things have happened, though. Today the movie-loving parts of the Internet were buzzing with this story, broken by Pajiba, Guillermo Del Toro is working on a new "Van Helsing" movie - blithely ignoring the awful 2004 "Van Helsing" that starred Hugh Jackman.