Exclusive: New John Carter image

Check out this brand new exclusive image from forthcoming Disney epic John Carter .

Based on the books by Tarzan’ s Edgar Rice Burroughs, it’s directed by Andrew Stanton ( Finding Nemo ) and tells the story of American Civil War soldier John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) mysteriously transported to Mars and unwilling charged with becoming the planet’s saviour with the help of great green warrior Tars Tarkas (William Dafoe) and beautiful princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins).

New footage shown at D23 last month showed Carter discovering his new surroundings and an ability to jump great distances, while meeting a range of Martians great and small.

“It’s a period film of a period we don’t know anything about,” says Stanton, who has Harry Potter -sized hopes for a possible franchise of Burrough’s “pulp Shakespeare” epic.

Though despite the scale, Stanton’s adamant the human element is key, with JC “Fighting something that happened to him in the past. I think that makes him more real” he affirms. “We all have ghosts that we’re chasing.”

Rosie is the former editor of Total Film, before she moved to be the Special Edition Editor for the magazine group at Future. After that she became the Movies Editor at Digital Spy, and now she's the UK Editor of Den of Geek. She's an experienced movie and TV journalist, with a particular passion for horror.