John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood: How the sci-fi classic flopped at the box office but continues to inspire fans and filmmakers - Paperback

by Michael D. Sellers (Author)

It took 100 years to bring Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars to the big screen. It took Disney Studios just ten days to declare the film a flop and lock it away in the Disney vaults. How did this project, despite its quarter-billion dollar budget, the brilliance of director Andrew Stanton, and the creative talents of legendary Pixar Studios, become a calamity of historic proportions? Michael Sellers, a filmmaker and Hollywood insider himself, saw the disaster approaching and fought to save the project - but without success. In John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood, Sellers details every blunder and betrayal that led to the doom of the motion picture - and that left countless Hollywood careers in the wreckage. JOHN CARTER AND THE GODS OF HOLLYWOOD examines every aspect of Andrew Stanton's adaptation and Disney's marketing campaign and seeks to answer the question: What went wrong? it includes a history of Hollywood's 100 year effort to bring the film to the screen, and examines the global fan movement spawned by the film.

Author Biography

Michael D. Sellers grew up as an "Army Brat" living in various cities in the U.S. and abroad, including Stuttgart, Germany where he discovered Edgar Rice Burroughs as a twelve year old. He was a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the University of Delaware in 1975, where he was a Rhodes Scholarship and Danforth Fellowship finalist. He went on to New York University Graduate Film School, then spent 10 years serving as an operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency, serving in Warsaw (1980), Ethiopia (1981-83), Moscow (1984-86), and the Philippines (1986-90). His work as a CIA officer specializing in Soviet operations has been cited in non-fiction books that include The Main Enemy by Milt Beardon and James Risen; Inside the CIA and Moscow Station by Ron Kessler, and The Spy Who Got Away by David Wise. He was awarded the Intelligence Commendation Medal for service in support of President Corazon Aquino during a violent coup attempt in the Philippines in December 1989. He returned to private life in 1990 and since then has worked as a writer, film-maker, and film distribution executive. His films have been selected for more than 100 film festivals and have won multiple awards. Two films released in 2007 and 2010 and financed via a telemarketing organization retained by Sellers in 2007 came under investigation by the Justice Department for fundraising violations. In 2011 Sellers accepted full responsibility in this matter. For more details about Michael D. Sellers visit www.MichaelDSellersAuthor.com, and his blogs: www.TheJohnCarterFiles.com and www.MichaelDSellers.com. He is married to Lorena Llevado Sellers and has four grown children, Patrick, Pilar, Kaitlyn, and Michelle.