Mars. The planet Mars. Barsoom. With his John Carter series, which began in 1912 with the serialised novella Under the Moons of Mars and was later collected as a novel and renamed A Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs presented a treasure trove of spectacle and sci-fi fantasy awe. Despite multiple attempts, even as Burroughs' other most famous character, Tarzan, became the focus of television serials and a flood of film adaptations, the foundational sci-fi novel remained strangely unexplored by Hollywood, despite numerous attempts.

Disney took up the project, and John Carter was premiered in theatres ten years ago this week. John Carter carried the studio's ambitions and dreams on his massive shoulders in a big way.

As part of a 100-year celebration of the character's legacy and impact on the genre, John Carter finished its script and began preproduction in 2009, with a 2012 release date set. The ideal success tale had been written in the stars, only for everything to fall apart.

When we think of films that have altered the industry, we usually think of success stories, and John Carter was anything but, at least monetarily.

Carter, as portrayed by Burroughs, is a blank slate, a powerful heroic white man onto whom readers can project themselves. Kitsch, on the other hand, gives a slyness to the performance, in which Carter's seeming naivete conceals a vigilant intelligence. Similarly, Collins recasts Dejah Thoris as a damsel in distress who is nearly naked.

Richard Newby writes that John Carter changed the film landscape, just not in the way anyone intended it to. For what it’s worth, I find Stanton’s film to be incredibly entertaining, far more than its 52 percent Rotten Tomatoes score would suggest. Stars Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins are compelling as John Carter and Dejah Thoris, respectively, employing the kind of classic movie-star charm that would have made them breakout performers only two decades earlier.