Barsoom! John Carter arrives March 9

Taylor Kitsch as John Carter

My first memory of the John Carter series was crystalized forever by the amazing  book covers by Frank Frazetta.

Now the sword-wielding adventurer hits big screens March 9 in a new Disney film directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E).

John Carter brings this captivating hero to the big screen in an adventure epic set on the wounded planet of Mars, a world inhabited by warrior tribes and exotic desert beings.

Lynn Collins as Dejah Thoris

Frazetta's vision

Based on the first of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Barsoom Series," the film chronicles the journey of Civil-War veteran John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who finds himself battling a new and mysterious war amidst a host of strange Martian inhabitants, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins).

John Carter also stars Mark Strong, Bryan Cranston, James Purefoy, Samantha Morton, and Thomas Haden Church. -- Janet Hetherington