Andy Weir Thinks These Sci-Fi Flops Almost Stopped The Martian Movie From Getting Made

Audiences hate Mars, it seems. 

Back in 1996, Tim Burton's chaotic sci-fi/comedy "Mars Attacks!" was panned by critics and didn't do very well at the box office, making only about $101 million on a $100 million budget. 

In 2000, there was a one-two punch of Martian flops in the form of Anthony Hoffman's "Red Planet" and Brian De Palma's "Mission to Mars." Both of those films were giant productions, and each one took place partially on the fourth rock from the sun. The former was a noticeable bomb, making a mere $33.5 million on an $80 million budget. The latter, based on a ride at Disneyland, made $111 million on a $100 million budget. Hollywood took three sizeable gambles on the planet Mars, and audiences stayed away. 

Of course, who could forget the infamous stinkers "Mars Needs Moms" and "John Carter" from 2011 and 2012, respectively? Both films were also set mostly on Mars, and they are among the biggest bombs in Disney history. According to a retrospective in the Wrap, "John Carter" was originally going to be called "John Carter of Mars," but Disney changed the title after so many of their Mars movies tanked. It didn't help.

In an interview with Lightspeed Magazine, author Andy Weir, writer of the hit novel "The Martian," expressed some understandable trepidation. His novel was adapted by Ridley Scott into a feature film in 2015, also titled "The Martian." Eek. Weir was well aware of the Hollywood taboo surrounding Mars movies, and he recalled his fear that "The Martian" might not be made because of the planet Mars' bad B.O. track record. Luckily, "The Martian" bucked the trend. It made $630 million at the box office and was nominated for seven Oscars. 

To catch you up, "Red Planet" starred Val Kilmer as an engineer on a mission to Mars in the near future. For 20 years, astronauts have been terraforming Mars, but something is going awry. On the mission, he and his fellow astronauts (Tom Sizemore, Carrie-Anne Moss, Benjamin Bratt) discover that Mars has a breathable atmosphere, but also that their helper robot, AMEE, has gone haywire and started attacking people. "Mission to Mars," meanwhile, starred Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins, Connie Nielsen, and Don Cheadle. It's about astronauts who go to Mars and find benevolent aliens. It's really, really boring. 

Andy Weir had seen both of these movies and was well aware of how badly they did at the box office. He had to cite a movie from 1990 to find the last instance of a Mars-set movie being a hit. Weir said: 

"When you talk about Mars movies, there's what they call 'The Mars Curse' in the movie industry; that was actually something that was going to, potentially, be a problem in getting 'The Martian' greenlighted. The last significant commercial success that took place on Mars was 'Total Recall' with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I might be wrong; there may be something in the middle there. And it's also that some things people don't like were also commercial successes. I actually liked 'Mission to Mars,' with Gary Sinise. Didn't like the one with Val Kilmer as much."  

Weir was right. There is no Mars-set movie between "Total Recall" and "The Martian" that was a big hit. 1997's comedy "RocketMan" didn't move the needle, and John Carpenter's 2001 flick "Ghosts of Mars" wasn't exactly well-liked, "Doom" bombed, and the Flaming Lips movie "Christmas on Mars" was seen by about 50 people.

Andy Weir was diplomatic, though. Although Martian movies didn't do well overall, there was no reason, in his mind, why they shouldn't. He noted that the various Mars movies, even going back to a glorious cult classic from 1964, are all different and tend to bomb for different reasons. The planet Mars is not the culprit. Weir noted:

"I think Mars is a big topic. 'The Martian,' 'John Carter,' 'Mars Needs Moms,' and 'Santa Claus Conquers the Martians' all took place on Mars, but those movies are not, in any way, similar. I think comparing movies that take place on Mars is not that productive. It's like saying 'Cloverfield' took place in New York City and so does the TV show 'Friends'; let's compare them." 

Although, to be fair, there are fewer people living on Mars than in New York City (as far as we know). 

It should be noted that Ridley Scott's "The Martian" has the look, texture, and scientific knowledge to feel authentic. When Matt Damon gets stranded on Mars, his survival techniques seem plausible. Both Weir and the Lightspeed Magazine interviewer noted that "Red Planet" was bad because the astronauts didn't behave like astronauts. They yelled at, punched, and killed one another. Weir noted that real astronauts don't get into screaming matches like in the movies, because they have to work as a team to survive in space. Weir said that astronauts are psychologically vetted and wouldn't be getting into action-packed fights if they were in space. Fighting is a movie thing. 

And maybe that's the lesson here. If you want to set a movie on Mars, don't do action movie things. Do astronaut things instead. Your movie just might be better.