From X-Men to Mars?

From ComingSoon.net:

"Walt Disney Pictures has announced that Wolverine stars Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins will reteam for John Carter of Mars, the live-action debut of WALL•E and Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton.

Kitsch will play the title character, a damaged Civil War veteran who finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars where his involvements with warring raced of the dying planet force him to rediscover his humanity. Collins will play Dejah Thoris, the heir to the throne of Mars' Helium kingdom.

The screenplay for the sci-fi action-adventure, based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs classic series of fantasy/sci-fi novels, was written by Stanton and Mark Andrews with a polish by Michael Chabon. Jim Morris (WALL•E) and Colin Wilson (upcoming Avatar, Munich, War of the Worlds) are producing the film, which will start production early next year."

More info:

"It will be the first live-action movie directed [Andrew Stanton], as well as the first live-action movie produced in conjunction with Pixar Animation.... Disney•Pixar is scheduled to start the film in November and will shoot in Utah for 45 days. Disney and Pixar, makers of classic animated movies such as Toy Story and the recent hit Up, are expected to partly film the pulp science-fiction adventure John Carter of Mars in Utah from November to July 2010. Portions of the Beehive State will double as Mars, including Lake Powell (where the original Planet of the Apes was partially filmed), Moab, and Kane and Wayne counties. In exchange for filming here, the production will receive a tax credit through the state's film incentive program. On Thursday, the Governor's Office of Economic Development board approved an application for the credit submitted by the movie's production company. 'It's the biggest movie we've ever used incentives on,' said Utah Film Commission executive director Marshall Moore. 'We haven't seen these kinds of numbers since doing a TV series for a year.' The San Rafael Swell already doubled as the planet Vulcan in this year's summer blockbuster Star Trek, but second-unit crews only shot for four days in Utah."

Well, I admit (sadly) that I haven't seen X-Men Origins: Wolverine but maybe Andrew Stanton is further along in production of John Carter than previously thought. I thought Carter was meant to be an old man.

UPDATE:

Yeah, I finally did my research and it turns out that John Carter is a Civil War veteran but that does not necessarily make him old. My bad, my bad.

For more information, "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carter_of_Mars_(film)", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carter_(character)", and "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Princess_of_Mars"