What happens when you put together aliens, spaceships, and Confederate army soldiers? A Newt Gingrich presidency! One hell of a movie premiere, that’s what! John Carter is an upcoming Disney film about an Earthling (a Civil War veteran, to be exact) who finds himself in Mars thrust right in the middle of an extra-terrestrial conflict. The movie is based on the novel A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

The film features a litany of action scenes with Avatar-like humanoids (seriously, check the pic above) huge beastly animalistic creatures and some killer CGI shots. Featuring Taylor Kitsch as the titular character, John Carter has some seasoned vets in its cast, including Willem Dafoe, Lynn Collins, and Jon Favreau. Here’s the trailer.

Is it just us, or does this movie want to be Avatar really bad? It kind of looks promising, but can we really expect it to deliver in a big way at the box office? For its estimated $250 million dollar budget, it better. Disney doesn’t flop very often, and even if the film is critically panned, it’ll probably have good audience support. Kitsch who is obviously at least a little biased reportedly said that the final sequence is ‘truly spectacular.’

John Carter is slated for a March 9 release in theaters nationwide.

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