David Yates Committing to Tarzan at Warner Bros. By Claude Brodesser-Akner (VULTURE)

David Yates, the director of the last four Harry Potter films, has finally committed to his next project — and we’re told it will be a big-screen adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan at Warner Bros. Pictures.

No word on its cast — Yates only committed to the project on Monday — but we hear that Yates is meeting with up-and-coming actors like Man of Steel's Henry Cavill, Pacific Rim headliner Charlie Hunnam, and True Blood's Alexander Skarsgård.

(We also hear that the studio is keen to get a meeting with Tom Hardy, who has put in his time on Warner Bros. blockbusters like The Dark Knight Rises and Inception, but less clear is whether Hardy shares the studio’s enthusiasm for that part.)

THANKS AGAIN TO HENRY CAVILL FANPAGE

READ MORE: http://www.vulture.com/2012/11/david-yates-committing-to-tarzan-at-warner-bros.html

Downton Abbey: OOOPS! and John Carter flops (LOS ANGELES TIMES)

DOWNTON ABBEY
Oops? Did NBC blow an opportunity to have "Downton Abbey," the British import that has been a hit in the U.S. on PBS?

The Philadelphia Inquirer notes that the show is produced by NBC sister company Britain's Carnival Films, and says the network passed on it, "believing that American audiences wouldn't have the appetite for a very British historical drama set in a country manor in Edwardian England."

That said, the story offers little evidence that NBC ever considered the show. A spokesperson at NBC told the Inquirer that the decision not to air the show was made by a previous administration. Beyond that there are no comments in the story -- on the record or on background -- from anyone from the previous administration or at Carnival saying it had been shopped to NBC at all.

JOHN CARTER
John Carter" a non-starter. Walt Disney Co.'s "John Carter" -- one of the biggest bets in movie history -- opened with a disappointing $30.6 million at the box office, finishing a distant second behind Universal's "The Lorax," which earned almost $40 million in its second weekend of release.

"John Carter" is projected to lose as much as $165 million, according to one Wall Street analyst. The only good news for Disney is that "John Carter" wasn't the only flop of the weekend. The horror movie "Silent House" and the comedy "A Thousand Words" also bombed. Box office coverage from the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Movie City News.


READ MORE:  http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2012/03/the-morning-fix-john-carter-box-office-.html

Movie Review: John Carter (FIREFOX NEWS)

By Aubrey Ward III
Published Yesterday


Look Out Luke Skywalker. There's A New Galactic Savior In Town.

John Carter opens with a brief overview of Barsoom (aka Mars) and the civil war that has raged between the righteous city of Helium and the tyrants of Zodanga. The scales are tipped in Zodanga's favor when “Zodangan” Prince Sab Than (Dominic West) is given a powerful weapon by a mysterious figure named Matai Shang (Mark Strong). With new technology and Matai Shang's remarkable resources Sab Than's conquest of Barsoom looks promising.

We then head back to Earth, circa 1800's, where John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) has passed away and left his fortune to his nephew, Edgar Rice Burroughs (Daryl Sabara). Edgar begins to read John's memoir that explains how John managed to get to Mars and his adventures there upon his arrival.

I'm not an Edgar Rice Burroughs expert so I don't know how faithful this film adaptation was to the original series of novels. I watched the film as a total virgin to the John Carter saga so my view is of someone who likes Disney films, special effects extravaganzas, and science fiction adventures.

I found John Carter to be interesting. It's easy to say the plot is familiar because there have been plenty of flicks that featured a human being as the unlikely savior of an alien race. Then I have to put into perspective that the source material for this film was written in the early 1900s. So it's probably a more fitting claim that films like Avatar (2009), The Last Starfighter (1984) and Green Lantern (2011) were actually inspired (unintentionally or not) by Mr. Burroughs' works.

Nevertheless, the theme has been done before so John Carter is the same kitchen sink but with a different polish; new guy lands on foreign soil through extraordinary circumstances, quickly learns the customs and then becomes the unlikely hero that rallies the troops into a victorious frenzy. Despite the familiarity of the basic plot I enjoyed John Carter's adventures both off and on Mars. John's efforts to escape from his military duties leads to some thrilling yet amusing episodes with Colonel Powell (Bryan Cranston) and his troops.

Then comes the trip to Barsoom where John gets a crash course on Martian etiquette from a tribal race known as the Tharks. The green skinned, four-armed peoples are pretty brutal and aggressive but have a strong sense of honor when it comes to religion and customs. Thankfully, the Tharks are much closer in concept to the Navi in Avatar (2010) than the Gungans in Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace (1999). The Tharks are presented in a mostly serious tone. They are a tough, rugged people and the combination of CG and voice acting is done well enough to make the Thark people a very natural part of the cast rather than just a dazzling gimmick.


READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW;  http://firefox.org/news/articles/3674/1/Movie-Review-John-Carter-2012/Page1.html