Studios Arena Presentation at the D23 Expo 2011
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With the animation portion of the event finished, it was time to move on to live action. Rich Ross introduced the producer of TRON: Legacy, Sean Bailey, Disney's head of production. Bailey ruefully began, "I had no idea I was supposed to bring baked goods." He went on to say he was honored to be at D23. The Disney Studio was the first lot he had ever walked onto as a producer.

"I do not make films primarily for children. I make them for the child in all of us, whether we be six or sixty." With these words from Walt Disney, Bailey began to enumerate upcoming films from the Walt Disney Studios.

The first film introduced was John Carter, based on the stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Jim Morris, producer, was brought out, and expressed his excitement about working with Burroughs' science fiction book series. After showing a trailer, he brought out director Andrew Stanton. Morris lauded Stanton as a great storyteller, reminding the crowd he had directed Pixar's Finding Nemo.

Stanton claimed to be an unabashed fan of John Carter, going back to his first discovery of the character in the Marvel comic book adaptation in the 1970s. This led him to the 11 books in the original series.

The casting of John Carter was the next order of business. Playing the title role is Taylor Kitsch. Love interest Dejah Thoris is played by Lynn Collins. Playing lead alien Tharks are Willem Dafoe as Tars Tarkas and Samantha Morton as Sola. Tharks are nine-foot tall aliens; requiring the actors to perform on stilts, with motion capture cameras trained on their faces.

Burroughs' books tell the story of John Carter. A damaged Civil War veteran, Carter enters a mysterious cave, which, unbeknownst to him is a portal to the planet Mars. To explain more about Carter's adventures, Stanton introduced stars Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins and Willem Dafoe.

Kitsch expressed his pleasure at working with the cast and crew of John Carter, adding that he hoped to see them all again for the sequel. He discussed the character of John Carter, and set up an exclusive clip that detailed Carter's first meeting with the Tharks, as well as an unexpected special ability, made possible by Martian gravity: jumping.

Willem Dafoe talked about how his interest in the film and his character led him to stay on the set during every day of filming. Playing a nine-foot tall, green, four-armed man proved quite a challenge, particularly on three-foot stilts.

Another exclusive clip was seen, in which Carter meets Woola, a large, dog-like lizard that first seems quite threatening, but later becomes a close companion. Afterward, Lynn Collins shared about the scene in which Carter first meets Dejah Thoris.

After providing more details about the world of John Carter, with an emphasis on the visual effects, director Stanton concluded the presentation saying, "I've got one, last, cool clip!" John Carter is scheduled to open in theaters in March, 2012.