After playing directorial musical chairs, the Harry Knowles produced adaptation of “John Carter of Mars” looks like it finally has a stable director. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised to discover that it’s Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow director Kerry Conran, with someone like AICN’s Knowles pulling strings.

Based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs series of books, the movie will tell the story of John Carter, a Civil War officer who is transported to Mars through indeterminate means. Burroughs Mars is not the bleak place we know it to be today, but a wild world of beautiful women and bizarre lifeforms. Carter’s superior Earthman strength enables him to escape captivity, find love, and become the greatest warrior on Mars.

By today’s standards, a lot of Burroughs' thinly constructed ideas seem pretty silly, so it’ll be interesting to see if Conran adapts the material into something more modern audiences can stomach. If he doesn't, I predict a tremendous a Knowles sized belly flop.

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