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John Carpenter hasn’t directed a movie in 16 years. That’s a real shame, because the Horror Master gave us some all-time classics such as “Halloween” and “The Thing,” among many others. But at least part of the reason he walked away from directing movies has to do with a colossal flop he directed, starring Jason Statham, titled “Ghosts of Mars.” Released 25 years ago today, it was the beginning of the end for Carpenter’s career as a director of feature films.
The movie takes place in the future, where hundreds of thousands of people now live and work across Mars, mining the planet for its abundant natural resources. One of these mining operations uncovers a deadly secret: a long-dormant Martian civilization whose warriors are taking over human bodies. A rag-tag group of soldiers and prisoners must band together to stop them. Natasha Henstridge (“Species”), Pam Grier (“Jackie Brown”), and Ice Cube (“Friday”) also star.
It was rumored for years that “Ghosts of Mars” was supposed to mark the return of Kurt Russell’s Snake Plissken from “Escape from New York” and “Escape from L.A.” It’s not hard to see why, as Carpenter long threatened to make “Escape from Earth,” but that never came to pass. In any case, Carpenter has debunked this rumor.
What the movie is for Carpenter is the director flexing his sci-fi muscles on a pretty healthy $28 million budget, which is much bigger than the budgets of the movies that made him a star. Unfortunately, bigger doesn’t always equal better. In this case, we got what is generally considered to be one of John Carpenter’s worst movies. And that was very much reflected by its grim fate at the box office.
Ghosts of Mars was a nail in the coffin for John Carpenter
Hailing from Sony Pictures, “Ghosts of Mars” received overwhelmingly negative reviews upon its release. It holds a 23% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That certainly didn’t help when the movie arrived to help round out the summer movie season in 2001 on the weekend of August 24. The competition wasn’t terribly steep, but Carpenter’s ambitious sci-fi actioner still couldn’t garner much attention.
“American Pie” launched an unlikely $1 billion franchise and “American Pie 2” kept that sweet train flowing, topping the domestic charts for a third frame in a row that weekend, pulling in $12.5 million, followed closely by “Rush Hour 2” ($11.5 million), which was in its fourth frame. The biggest newcomer of the week was Kevin Smith’s “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” which opened to $11 million in third place.
Much further down the chart, “Ghosts of Mars” had to settle for ninth place with a mere $3.8 million. It was a disaster. Things got much worse when “Jeepers Creepers” opened the following weekend, ensuring the movie’s grim commercial fate. It ultimately finished its run with $8.7 million domestically and $5.3 million internationally, for a grand total of just $14 million worldwide. That didn’t even come close to covering the budget, let alone marketing costs.
Though the movie has garnered some modern re-appraisal, it was an example of a terrible movie made by a great director, one that was something of a nail in the coffin for Carpenter as a filmmaker. He didn’t direct another feature film for nearly a decade. And the movie that he finally did wind up directing was his very last, at least as we speak.
John Carpenter didn’t direct a movie again until The Ward
John Carpenter didn’t return to the director’s chair until 2010’s “The Ward,” which features a young Sydney Sweeney in a minor role, alongside a then-newcomer Amber Heard. It was similarly met with a lackluster response from critics and didn’t perform well commercially.
It remains the final feature film directed by Carpenter, who has since focused more on his music. In a 2014 interview (via The Flashback Files), Carpenter explained that he was simply burned out after making “Ghosts of Mars,” which accounts for the long break. Here’s what he had to say:
“I had been working since the seventies. I had to stop. And that was a good time to stop. After a while I did a couple of ‘Master of Horror’ things for television and a small independent movie, ‘The Ward.’ And that brings us up to today. And today I’m happily playing video games and enjoying myself.”
It’s not that Carpenter has no interest in directing; it’s just that he doesn’t want to do it in the way that it often needs to be done. Carpenter directed his TV show “Suburban Screams” from his house, which seemed to suit him well. He is willing to direct, but only on his terms.
“I’m open to it, given that it’s honestly budgeted and there’s plenty of time to do it — and that people allow for the basketball season and the playoffs,” Carpenter said in a 2023 interview with Variety.
At this point, it seems far more likely that Carpenter continues to simply enjoy himself, and the burnout from the disappointment that was “Ghosts of Mars” some 25 years ago undoubtedly has something to do with that.
You can grab “Ghosts of Mars” on 4K Ultra HD or DVD from Amazon.
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