Disney's $250M John Carter Set to Lose ... $200M

Science-fiction epic John Carter looks set to go down in history as one of Hollywood's biggest-ever money losers. Disney says it expects the movie—which cost more than $250 million to make, and another $100 million to market—to lose some $200 million, putting its movie studio up to $120 million in the red for its second fiscal quarter. The studio recorded a $77 million profit in the same quarter last year, despite another expensive flop, Mars Needs Moms, the Wall Street Journal notes.

John Carter, based on Edward Rice Burroughs' books about a Civil War veteran battling aliens on Mars, received mixed reviews, and only earned some $53 million during its first 10 days in US theaters. On its second weekend, it fell to third place behind 21 Jump Street and the Lorax. It performed somewhat better outside the US and Canada, but it "certainly didn't meet the expectations of what I wanted or what I needed," Disney Studios chief Rick Ross says. (More John Carter stories.)