The big story

John Carter shot for the stars and came down with a bump on its opening weekend. Disney's adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs's A Princess of Mars - about a Virginian civil war vet magically transported to the surface of the red planet - made only $31 million at the US box office - a fraction of the estimated $300 million the House of Mouse spent on the project.

Was it the cult nature of the source material? Perhaps it was the hoo-hah over the title change? Did Pixar champ Andrew Stanton run out of rocket fuel when it came to his live action directorial debut? Or was the sight of Taylor Kitsch clambering over Barsoom in a tiny loincloth just too out there for us fickle Earth-bound folk? Whatever the reason, on John Carter's current trajectory it might be hard for Disney to justify the sequels that Stanton and Kitsch were plugging last week.

And yet out there in the cold, dark vacuum there's one star still shining bright for JC. Financial expert Tony Wible of Janney Montgomery Scott predicts that the film's strong performance in the international market, where it's made $70 million in a week, could see Disney lose far less than many analysts predict, or possible break even.

"We have been tracking each of Disney's films since 2005 in our database, which helps us analyse the potential fallout from John Carter," Wible wrote in an investor note revealed in the Hollywood Reporter. "While [Wall] Street is anticipating a large impairment on the film, our analysis shows the impairment may not be as bad as feared if the film tracks in line with average performance ratios seen in 2011."

Which in Earth language means "Yay!" for Disney and [fart noise] to the doubters. The next one would have to be cheaper, but there's a chance the man of Mars won't be barred after all.

In the news

Sorry, just busy with something ... Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer in 24

Film version of 24 on hold

Stephen Fry joins The Hobbit pub's fight with Hollywood

Eddie Murphy's A Thousand Words: is this the worst reviewed film of all time?

Paranormal Activity 3 ads slapped with pre-watershed ban

SXSW top film prizes go to Beware of Mr Baker and Gimme the Loot

Iran cancels ceremony to honour A Separation director

The Fighter 2 will put Ward and Gatti back in the ring, says Mark Wahlberg

The Dark Tower film project picked up by Warner Bros

On the blog

The Lone Ranger Photograph: Jerry Bruckheimer Films

The Lone Ranger: first picture of Johnny Depp as Tonto

SXSW 2012: spot the film festival

Will Hollywood ever speak Hispanic audiences' language?

Ken Russell Forever: cinema's outsiders pay raucous tribute to wild man of film

The film festival in exile – Dox Box Global Day celebrates Omar Amiralay

Watch and listen

8 - To celebrate their new love for one another, Dean Moriarty and Kristen Stewart go out for a dance at one of those fancy new jazz clubs. But then Moriarty notices that, when she dances, Kristen Stewart pulls a horrible self-conscious overbite face. Immediately he realises his mistake and runs back to Dunst, leaving Stewart alone and crying and still doing that weird overbite thing out of habit.

Watch the On the Road trailer – will the wheels come off Kristen Stewart's new vehicle?

Gallery: The 10 most expensive film posters

The Hunger Games – watch the trailer

The Devil Inside – watch the trailer

Contraband - watch the trailer

Further reading

Matt Damon in We Bought a Zoo. Photograph: 20th Century Fox Photograph: Neal Preston/20th Century Fox

The Devon zoo that "would have gone bust" without Matt Damon film

Reel history: Spielberg's Munich – earnestly searching for truths that refuse to be found

Harry Potter studio tour: a muggle's-eye view of Hogwarts

Philip French reviews Cleanskin

Clip joint: Can you think of any film clips where newspapers play a vital role?

Cine-files: The Picture House, Uckfield

In the paper

Friday's G2 Film & Music features an interview with the Dardennes brothers discussing their film The Kid With a Bike, and Once Upon a Time in Anatolia gets a very positive reception from Peter Bradshaw. Hugh Grant graces the cover of Saturday's Weekend magazine, Donald Sutherland submits to the Q&A, while the Guide speaks to the cast of Hunger Games, and John Patterson writes on Act Of Valour. And in Sunday's Observer New Review, Jason Solomons interviews John Cusack.

Something to look forward to

The Guardian is throwing open its doors on the weekend of 24-25 March for the epic Open Weekend, with hundreds of events covering ideas, innovation and entertainment. Film highlights include on-stage interviews with Steve "Shame" McQueen and Mike "Leaving Las Vegas" Figgis. Full details of cultural events here.

And finally

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