Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with some news on the movement of the JOHN CARTER OF MARS project. TMZ got the scoop on the film being moved from Paramount to Disney, with Jim Jacks, Sean Daniel, Jon Favreau and Harry Knowles no longer involved. TMZ said they "left the project." Knowles tells me nothing, so I asked him about it and he responded with this:

None of us left the project. Paramount's ex-president of production decided not to renew the rights. Jim, Sean and I - along with Jon Favreau were heartbroken when Paramount didn't renew the rights, but that happens. Ultimately I'm just proud to be a part of the long history of people that tried to bring this great story to the screen. We came the closest - I wish, whatever studio gets it the best of luck, it's a great story and deserves to be told the best way possible.

Of course I'm sad for Harry, but I'm also extremely sad for Jon Favreau, who really was aching to do this movie. Click here to read the interview I did with him when he first came to the project!!! He really seemed to understand Edgar Rice Burroughs' worlds and characters.

Stripping all that down and just looking at the source material, Paramount made a big mistake letting this one go. I hope Disney doesn't cartoon the films up and make them Narnia clones. It doesn't have to be hardcore, but look at the balance LOTR struck. It was pretty rough, but still family friendly. It might have crossed that line a few times, but I think people really liked their fantasy taken seriously and not treated like as a simple children's story.

As a fan of Burroughs' books, I'd love to see this series actually come to life. I'll definitely be keeping my ear to the tracks on this one as it moves around Disney.