Hollywood megastar Tom Cruise was apparently offered the main role in John Carter, which could have possibly saved Disney's failed franchise. The film is one of the most famous box office bombs in recent years, with its failure not only shifting the series but Disney itself. While many obstacles were in the way of John Carter's path to success, having Tom Cruise's name attached may have helped avoid them.
John Carter is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom series which started in 1912, with the first novel being titled A Princess of Mars. The Disney film follows the titular Civil War veteran as he is transported to Mars, known to its inhabitants as Barsoom. There, he gets swept into a conflict between the various sects of Mars, and only he can save the planet.
John Carter was originally planned as a trilogy and was set to be Disney's first big sci-fi series. It was an ambitious project, having spent years in development and garnering an incredibly high budget. However, it didn't pay off. There are many reasons for this, but one of the biggest was the film was hard to market, and having a star as big as Tom Cruise may have helped alleviate some of these troubles.
Of all the projects stuck in development hell, John Carter was probably there the longest. Filmmakers had been trying to adapt A Princess of Mars for decades, with the first attempt occurring all the way back in 1931. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies creator Bob Clampett first approached Burroughs then, with him trying to get it made several times after that. After that, for a time it was in development by Ray Harryhausen in the 1950s, then Disney in the 1980s, then Paramount in the early 2000s, then finally Disney again in the late 2000s. After nearly 80 years in development, John Carter finally entered production. However, it still had a lot to overcome.
The main issue with the film was its budget. The film is incredibly CGI heavy, meaning that it was not cheap to produce. The production budget was around $263 million, and when the marketing budget is added, the total budget Disney had to pay was $350 million. This made it one of the most expensive films ever made, meaning it had to be a smash hit in order for John Carter not to be a flop. For a franchise that didn't garner much interest in the past, it would require Disney's marketing campaign for John Carter to be almost perfect.
Disney's marketing campaign for John Carter was a mess. One of the biggest reasons was the title. The original stories came out in the early 1900s, and the series doesn't have near the recognition that Burroughs' other works like Tarzan of the Apes does. However, due to the recent failure of Mars Needs Moms, Disney felt that the word "Mars" was bad for marketing, and shortened the original title from John Carter of Mars to simply John Carter. This, along with failing to mention many elements of the original stories in the film's marketing campaign, led to many not knowing it was connected to a pre-existing property. This was not the only thing that went wrong with John Carter, though. For some reason, the head of Disney's marketing department was insistent on the use of billboards to market the film, a medium that tends not to resonate well. Even worse, the film was going up against The Lorax, another film targeted at families, except it was recognizable and had a notoriously massive marketing campaign. On top of all that, the final nail in the coffin was that it did not have any marketable cast members, as it stars Taylor Kitsch, featured in movies like Battleship and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
During the development of Disney's John Carter, Tom Cruise campaigned hard for the title role. He apparently has a history of the material, being a fan of the series. Tom Cruise is the star of Mission: Impossible, an incredibly popular action series, so it is surprising the actor didn't get the role that he wanted. However, director Andrew Stanton already had his mind set on Taylor Kitsch. As he says in an interview with The Wrap, "I had Taylor already in mind by the time Tom made his interest known... We agreed to talk further if I were to pass on Taylor, but I obviously didn’t." This single decision may have been key in saving or dooming the franchise, a choice that's effects are now known.
Having Tom Cruise play John Carter would have several aspects that played into the film's failure. Firstly, if Cruise were in it the film would probably have relied less on CGI. One of the main criticisms of John Carter is its overreliance on technology, something a lot of blockbuster films struggle with. However, Tom Cruise is known for doing his own stunts. If he were to star in John Carter, Disney probably would have relied on Cruise's trademark and made the film a little more practical, fixing this issue.
Tom Cruise's casting probably would've filled more seats as well. Tom Cruise is an incredibly popular star, leading some of Hollywood's biggest franchises. His presence even saved films like The Mummy, so it's hard to doubt that a Disney branded Tom Cruise movie would do good. While Taylor Kitsch has given some good performances, he is not nearly the pull that Tom Cruise is, so relying on Kitsch to sell a little-known property was one of the film's biggest mistakes. Tom Cruise would've made John Carter more practical, more charismatic, and more popular at the box office.
The aforementioned issues killed the film, damaged Taylor Kitsch's career, and cursed any future John Carter sequels that were planned. Although the quality of the film played a role in this, the core issues came down to marketing and production. So, would Tom Cruise have saved the John Carter series? The answer is: probably not.
John Carter's cast was not the only reason audiences didn't respond to the film. The lackluster marketing campaign, the unfamiliarity with the source material, the release date, and more all played roles in the utter failure of a film. Having a better star wouldn't have fixed these issues. Plus, Cruise isn't even a guaranteed success. Tom Cruise has starred in some box office disappointments before, such as American Made, so his record isn't unblemished. Furthermore, while The Mummy did make money, its negative critical response lead to the cancellation of Universal's Dark Universe, something Cruise was set to lead. So, while Tom Cruise certainly would've made the film more bearable, it is unlikely that he would have been able to save John Carter.
