Last week, the trades were full of stories about how Brad Bird was getting ready to make his live action debut. How the director of “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille” would soon be helming the big screen adaptation of James Dalessandro’s “1906.”
Now some animation fans had initially assumed that this disaster pic (Which will recreate the Great San Francisco Earthquake) would be Pixar’s initial foray into live action. Well, not quite. “1906” will actually be a co-production, with Warners and Disney / Pixar splitting this sure-to-be-expensive movie’s production costs.
Mind you, Pixar Animation Studios is getting ready to put its first really-for-real live action project into production. Don’t believe me? Okay. Then check out the batch of domain names that the Walt Disney Company registered this past Friday:
Copyright 1999 Frank Frazetta. All Rights Reserved
These titles – coupled with the …
… domain names that the Mouse snagged back on August 18, 2007 as well as that
Copyright 1999 Frank Frazetta. All Rights Reserved
… name that Mickey registered back in November suggest that what Andrew Stanton supposedly told the staff at Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. back in October of last year is true. That Disney / Pixar definitely is gearing up to do a trilogy of films based on the “John Carter of Mars” books.
According to what Mouse House insiders recently told me, Mark Andrews (i.e. the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of “Ratatouille”) has allegedly already completed a first pass on a screenplay for the first film in the proposed “Mars” series. And given that both Pixar and Disney execs have reportedly responded very enthusiastically to Andrews’ script … Well, both companies are now anxious to put this project in the development pipeline ASAP.
“So what sort of timetable are we talking about here?,” you ask. Well, really serious work on the first “Mars” movie can’t get underway 'til this Fall. Which is when Stanton will finally be through with all of his “WALL * E” -related promotional obligations (i.e. First Andrew has to spend several weeks this spring helping to promote the domestic & international release of Pixar’s latest. Then – after a short break – Stanton has to jump right back in and begin promoting the DVD version of “WALL * E”).
But all of this actual selling-of-“WALL-*-E” work is completed … Andrew is then expected to sit down with Mark & Jim Morris (i.e. A Lucasfilm Digital vet who made the jump to Pixar back in 2005. He’s reportedly been tapped to be the producer on the “Mars” project) and map out a battle plan for “John Carter of Mars.” Which is now tentatively slated to be release in 2012 … or possibly earlier.
Copyright 2008 Disney / Walden Media. All Rights Reserved
“Why earlier?,” you ask. Well … From what I’ve heard, studio suits seem to be cooling to the idea of producing movie versions of all seven of C.S. Lewis’s “Narnia” books. And unless “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” does truly huge box office once it’s released to theaters in May of this year … Disney & Walden Media (i.e. Mickey’s partner on the “Narnia” film series) will probably still go forward with production of the already-in-development “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” But after that … The Mouse would then mostly likely pull the plug on the rest of the proposed “Narnia” film series.
And were that to happen … That would then leave Walt Disney Pictures with a very big hole in its release schedule for 2011 and beyond. And given “Narnia” was initially supposed to have been this on-going franchise, with the Mouse once envisioning releasing a brand-new chapter in the “Chronicles” to theaters every May from 2008 through 2013 … Well, Mickey would love to be able to fill that hole with another film franchise.
Which explains some of the urgency that now surrounds the “John Carter” films. Should “Prince Caspian” stumble once it hits theaters this Spring, Disney may be looking for Pixar to begin its mission to “Mars” pretty damned quick.
So what do you folks think? Are you ready for Pixar to move into live action? Or are you more troubled by the idea that Disney seems to losing its nerve just two books into the “Chronicles of Narnia” film series?
Just letting you know. I’d edit the part where you added the WHOLE article though, that defeats the purpose of linking.