Walt Disney (DIS) CEO Bob Iger is trying to transform its huge box-office bomb "John Carter"into a teachable moment where nobody will lose their jobs. What a pity.

There's plenty of blame to go around for this turkey of a sci-fi mega-flick, as The New York Times notes. First, the script -- based on a forgotten story by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs -- was a mess. Then there was the $350 million price tag, expensive even by current Hollywood standards.

Director Andrew Stanton, whose credits include animation hits "Finding Nemo" and "Wall-E," had never helmed a live-action picture before. His inexperience showed in this confusing mess of a film, according to critics.

"The movie eagerly sells itself as semitrashy, almost-campy fun, but it is so lavish and fussy that you can't help thinking that it wants to be taken seriously, and therefore you laugh at, rather than with, its mock sublimity," wroteTimes film critic A.O. Scott.

Disney will need to take a quarterly write-down of as much as $160 million because of the poor "John Carter" performance, according to the Times. The film was so expensive, by the way, that it needed to gross an estimated $600 million just to break even -- a feat that seems impossible.

Shares of Disney have barely budged over the past year and have underperformed peers such as Comcast (CMCSA) because of concerns about its movie business.

As the Times notes, Iger is refusing to pin blame for the "John Carter" fiasco on one person. It's a huge miss, Iger reportedly told executives, but it's the company's miss and no individual should be blamed. That's sound management because companies succeed and fail as a team. Unfortunately for Disney shareholders, though, there are no signs that the company has learned from other mistakes made in its film business.

"Cars 2" received such a critical drubbing that director John Lasseter took the unusual step of publicly defending his picture, which was less of a hit than its predecessor. Disney also reportedly sunk $175 million into "Mars Needs Moms," another critical and box-office failure. Disney's box-office market share plunged about 15% in 2011 to 12.2%, finishing in 4th place behind Viacom's (VIA) Paramount, Time Warner's (TWX) Warner Bros. and Sony's (SNE) Columbia, Box Office Mojo says.

Another test for Disney studio head Rich Ross, a company veteran who started his current job in 2009, will come next year with the release of "The Lone Ranger." The film, which has a reported budget topping $200 million, was almost canceled once already because of soaring costs. If The Lone Ranger is as big of a bomb as John Carter and Disney's stock continues to tread water, both Iger and Ross may be out of a job.

Ross has angered at least one Hollywood hotshot already. Legendary director Steven Spielberg was furious with him about not being consulted before Disney replaced well-known marketing chief MT Carney, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Tinseltown executives anger important players such as Spielberg at their own peril.

Disney shares have finally shown some life, gaining almost 13% this year and trading at a price-earnings ratio of 15.97, near their five-year high, according to Reuters. Wall Street analysts have an average one-year price target of $45.62 on Disney, about 8% above where it currently trades. The stock, though, should be avoided until the cloud over the studio Mickey built lifts.

–Jonathan Berr does not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

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