Civil War vet John Carter is transplanted to Mars, where he discovers a lush, wildly diverse planet whose main inhabitants are 12-foot tall green barbarians. Finding himself a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, who is in desperate need of a savior.

a half animation/half live action project

Movie History
'Robert Rodriguez' had originally been signed and announced as director and had begun pre-production in 2004 (it would have been his largest project to date with starting budget reported at $100 million). However, when Rodriguez resigned from the Directors' Guild of America (DGA) the same year (due to a dispute over his film Sin City (2005)), Paramount was forced to replace him. The studio has a long-standing arrangement with the DGA in which only the organization's members may direct Paramount films.

Like "Lord of the Rings" and "Dune", there have been numerous failed attempts at filming Edgar Rice Burroughs' "A Princess of Mars" since its first publication in 1917.

In 1931, animation legend Robert Clampett approached Burroughs himself with the idea of making the book into an animated film, to which Burroughs was enthusiastic. The author's son, John Coleman Burroughs, helped Clampett create an extensive array of sketches, sculptures and production notes while the rights to the project were picked up by MGM. However, Clampett and the two Burroughs soon clashed with the studio over the direction to take the film - the creators wanting to make a serious sci-fi drama, the studio wanting a slapstick comedy with a swashbuckling hero. Eventually, the studio pulled the plug on the entire project. Originally planned for a 1932 release, it would have been the first feature-length animated film (the honour of which is held by Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)). When Clampett toured and lectured at universities in the 1970s, he would often screen some of the uncompleted animation footage for enthusiastic audiences.

Stop-motion animation legend Ray Harryhausen attempted to spearhead a live action version of the book on the heels of his success with 7th Voyage of Sinbad, The (1958). He, like Clampett, created an extensive cachet of sketches and models to be used on the film. However, the sheer scale of the project (as well as Harryhausen's admitted lack of enthusiasm for the book) forced the animator to end his work on the film. In his memoir, "An Animated Life", he goes into detail of the would-be project as well as revealing some of the unused sketches.

During the 1980s, Disney optioned the rights with Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna (Carolco) brought on as producers. John McTiernan (I), fresh off the sucess of Die Hard (1988), had been hired to direct a screenplay by Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott with William Stout hired as production designer. Tom Cruise had been rumored to be in talks for the role of John Carter. However, the sheer scale of the project, coupled with what McTiernan saw the "limitations" of special effects at the time, kept the project from being fully realized. The pre-production financing alone contributed to the eventual bankrupture of Carolco. After numerous attempt to reinvigorate the project in the 1990s, Disney finally pulled the plug and attempted to sell the rights to the film. After several years, they were finally acquired by Paramount. It is rumored Paramount optioned the rights to this series two years ago from the Burroughs estate for $300,000 against $2 million.

In 2007, Disney reaquired the rights to all 11 books in the series and appears to be tackling it once again. Pixar Animation studios will be producing it as an CG animated feature film.