Boys wouldn’t go see it . . .

Here’s what John Carter director Andrew Stanton (WALL-E, Finding Nemo) told journalists recently about changing the title of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ original 1917 novel from A Princess of Mars to John Carter of Mars and, finally, simply John Carter:

“Here’s the real truth of it. I changed ‘Princess of Mars’… because not a single boy would go.  And then the other truth is, no girl would go to see [a movie called] ‘John Carter of Mars’. So I said, ‘I don’t want to do anything out of fear, I hate doing things out of fear, but I can’t ignore that truth.’” 

Stanton didn’t mention Mars Needs Moms, the huge 2011 flop with “Mars” in the title (also Disney). Or John Carter’s whopping (rumored) $250 million budget!