Launch sequence begins for John Carter of Mars

Brad Brevett at Rope of Silicon has a couple of items via /Film and THR about John Carter of Mars ramping up for a November start date.

Finding Nemo and WALL-E director Andrew Stanton will be making his live action feature debut with an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs‚Äô 1917 sci-fi fantasy novel A Princess of Mars. KLS is reporting that Disney has signed a deal to shoot part of the film in Utah…

Utah approved up to $5.5 million in tax credits, as Disney expects to spend $28 million in Utah when production begins in November. Stanton has previously stated that he wants to avoud the look and feel of Star Wars or any of its derivatives, and was seeking a “more naturalistic aesthetic.”

And a followup with casting news:

Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins will star in “John Carter of Mars,” the adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs book series that Andrew Stanton is directing for Disney.

“Carter” centers on a civil war veteran who finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars, where his involvement with warring races of the dying planet force him to rediscover his humanity. Kitsch will play the title character, while Collins is playing Dejah Thoris, heir to the throne of Mars’ Helium kingdom.

Everybody mentions that Disney “hopes the big-budget production will launch a franchise on the scale of Pirates of the Caribbean.”