As of this moment, John Carter of Mars, The Hobbit, Conan, Conan: Red Nails, Jonah Hex, and Pirates of Venus are all still on track for movie releases.
But Pirates of Venus is now puzzlingly renamed Carson Napier (after its protagonist). Note that the synopsis on the studio website now bears only a passing resemblance to the novel, and that it that oddly avoids any reference to space travel (though the background of the poster does at least show a Venus-looking planet). The project’s own website, by contrast, still lists the original title.
I know it’s nitpicking, but one of the things I can’t stand about movie studios is their frequent idiotic insistence on retitling movies made from books. There seem to be 2 examples of that here.
This “Carson Napier” is starting to look absolutely craptastic, if you don’t mind my saying.
John Carter UPDATE: Not having seen Wolverine I don’t know what to think about this casting; but this guy is certainly not my image of Carter.
Yeah, I’m extremely pessimistic about Carson Napier and (for reasons I discuss here) Conan. I’m moderately pessimistic about Jonah Hex and Red Nails; cautiously optimistic about The Hobbit; and a mix of hopeful and uneasy about John Carter.