Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Pixar mission to Mars

Trailblazing computer animators Pixar (Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Cars) are reported to have concluded a deal with the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs to bring a trilogy of movies to fruition based on the John Carter of Mars novels. It's a concept that has been back and forth through development hell for many years, with any number of attempts made and shelved, but this has got to be the most exciting and yet most worrying to date. Pixar have never tackled anything like this before. This is potentially no kiddie cartoon and it will be interesting to see if they have the nerve to stay true to the source material, which had its fair share of nudity and violence. If they can stick to the spirit of the source material, we can anticipate an extraordinary cinema experience. Reports indicate that representatives of Pixar recently spent a day looking through the huge Burroughs archives for inspiration and have the full support of Burroughs representatives, Danton Burroughs, Sandra Galfas and Jim Sullos. But we've got a long wait: the first movie is expected in 2012.