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This article is about the film. For the trading card series, see Mars Attacks.
Mars Attacks!
[[Image:Mars attacks ver1.jpg|200px|]]
Directed by Tim Burton
Produced by Larry J. Franco
Tim Burton
Written by Jonathan Gems
Uncredited:
Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski
Tim Burton
Starring Jack Nicholson
Glenn Close
Pierce Brosnan
Sarah Jessica Parker
Annette Bening
Michael J. Fox
Music by Danny Elfman
Cinematography Peter Suschitzky
Editing by Chris Lebenzon
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) December 13, 1996
Running time 106 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $75 million
Gross revenue $101.37 million
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Mars Attacks! is a 1996 science fiction satire film based on the Topps trading card series of the same name. Directed by Tim Burton, the film includes an A-list ensemble cast, starring Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Annette Bening, Michael J. Fox and many others. Mars Attacks! tells the story of an invasion of Martians on Earth, and those trying to survive the attack. These groups include government and media associates in Washington, D.C., a stereotypical redneck family from Kansas, and employees from a casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Contents

[edit] Cast and characters

[edit] Washington, D.C.

[edit] Las Vegas

  • Jack Nicholson as Art Land: An obnoxious Las Vegas real-estate developer. Art is the husband of Barbara, but enjoys flirting with waitresses at casinos.
  • Jim Brown as Byron Williams: Former heavyweight champion, organized a fight with the Martians to trick them in order to let Barbara and Tom escape.
  • Annette Bening as Barbara Land: Former alcoholic, wife of Art Land. She likes the Martians at first, but changes her mind after a Martian massacre.
  • Tom Jones as Himself: Famous singer who assists Byron and Barbara during their escape from Las Vegas.
  • Danny DeVito as Rude Gambler: An obnoxious lawyer who fails to negotiate with a martian over a Rolex wristwatch. He is then incinerated by a raygun.

[edit] Kansas

[edit] Production

In June 1994, Jonathan Gems purchased the sets Mars Attacks and Dinosaurs Attack!. Gems brought both sets to Tim Burton, thinking they would make a great film. A few months later, Burton, a childhood fan of Mars Attacks, had Gems write a script for Mars Attacks!, feeling Dinosaurs Attack! was too similar to Jurassic Park.[1][2] Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, Earthquake were used to influence the storyline.[3] Burton became attached to various scripts, most notably the long-in-development Catwoman by Batman Returns writer Daniel Waters. Burton dropped out of various projects to enter pre-production of Mars Attacks! in 1995.[1]

Burton, who had then directed bio-pic Ed Wood, felt Mars Attacks! would be "a perfect opportunity to do something Ed Wood would have done. I wanted to do a tribute to the science fiction B movies of the 1950s". Gems' original script was budgeted by Warner Bros. at $280 million, which would be unacceptable.[4] The first draft had 60-leading characters, and the worldwide destruction scenes included China, the Philippines, Japan, Europe, Africa, India, Russia, Manhattan and the Empire State Building. Gems explained, "Warner Bros. wanted to make it for no more than $60 million."[5] After turning in numerous drafts in an attempt to lower the budget, Gems was replaced by Ed Wood writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, but Gems would later return. In the end, 12 drafts were written by Gems.[4] At this stage in production, the studio was planning for a mid-1996 release.[5]

Although Gems is credited with both screen story and screenplay, he dedicated the novelization to Burton, who "co-wrote the screenplay and didn't ask for credit".[3] The final budget came to $75 million. A large percentage went to visual effects. However, Burton and Gems planned the visual effects "to look as cheap as possible. Rather than Star Wars we were going for Target Earth.[4] Burton origianlly planned his trademark stop motion effects to create the Martians. A team of animators were hired, headed by Ian Mackinnon and Peter Saunders, with a department in Burbank, California.[6]

Burton was curious about computer-generated imagery as he was unfamiliar with the technology. Industrial Light & Magic was then hired.[6]

The A-list ensemble cast was chosen as a homage for the Irwin Allen disaster films.[7] Burton cast Jack Nicholson since Nicholson was very supportive of Burton during the difficult filming of Batman. Warren Beatty was set for President Dale with Nicholson as Art Land.[8][9] Beatty dropped out and Paul Newman was cast. Newman then considered playing another role, but dropped out over concerns about the film's violence. Ultimately, Nicholson ended up playing both roles.[10]

Susan Sarandon was set to portray Barbara Land, Meryl Streep and Stockard Channing were considered for First Lady before Glenn Close was cast.[10]

Hugh Grant was the original choice for Professor Donald Kessler before Pierce Brosnan was cast. Warner Bros. was hoping for filming to start in mid-August 1995, but shooting didn't begin until late 1995.[11]

It almost wasn't any kind of movie when Warner balked at Burton's initial $100 million budget. Why so pricey? In part because he wanted stop-motion puppet animation for his aliens, a la Nightmare Before Christmas, to get the quality of those old Ray Harryhausen movies. But then George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic did a test reel that persuaded Burton to go with computer-graphics animation. The cost dropped $30 million, and Warner gave the green light. Live-action filming wrapped in June. But as ILM works at warp speed to conjure invasion antics that the actors only imagined.[12]

The chihuahua belonging to Sarah Jessica Parker's character, onto which her head is grafted, belonged to Burton and Lisa Marie.[13] Danny Elfman reunited with Burton to compose the film score. Elfman and Burton experienced creative differences when working on The Nightmare Before Christmas, and didn't work with Burton on Ed Wood.[14]

[edit] Reception

"It was a coincidence. Nobody told me about it. I was surprised how close it was. It almost seemed like we did a Mad Magazine version of Independence Day."
—Tim Burton on the similar release of Independence Day[14]

Mars Attacks! was released on December 13, 1996, earning $9,384,272 in its opening weekend in 1,955 theaters. The film would eventually make $37.8 million in North America and $63.6 million in foreign countries, earning $101,371,017 worldwide.[15] Mars Attacks! was deemed a financial failure. It was not helped by a marketing campaign that failed to grasp the film's anarchic approach and ignored its obvious appeal to kids. Burton blamed Warner Bros. for the film's finical failure in North America. However, Burton deemed Mars Attacks! as a success in Europe.[14] The film received mixed reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes holding a 49% approval rating out of 45 reviews.[16] Mars Attacks! was more balance with Rotten Tomatoes's "Top Critics" poll, receiving a 27% approval rating.[17] By comparison Metacritic calculated a 52/100 with 19 reviews.[18]

Roger Ebert believed, "Ed Wood himself could have told us what's wrong with this movie: The makers felt superior to the material."[19] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times found similarities with Independence Day. "Mars is all '90s cynicism and disbelief, mocking the conventions that Independence Day takes seriously. And while Independence Day wanted you to notice its hot new special effects, most of Mars' computer-generated work intends to capture the visual spirit of the '50s." Turan still felt the film didn't have a right balance of satire and comedy.[20] James Berardinelli was disappointed, feeling it "should have been a whole lot hipper and funnier. If you've seen the two-minute theatrical trailer, you've seen nearly everything that's worthwhile in the feature."[21]

Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader gave a mostly positive review. Rosenbaum found the humor to be reminiscent of Dr. Strangelove and Gremlins.[22] Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle enjoyed the film but was critical of the computer-generated imagery. However, Stack explained that "Mars Attacks! has a silly, adolescent satirical appeal in its manic attacks on pop culture. And it occasionally shows brilliant insight into humankind's cloddish approach to the cosmos."[23] David Ansen of Newsweek praised the slapstick comedy, calling Mars Attacks! "a tribute to schlock sci-fi and a deconstruction of it. This sleekly cheeseball $70 million production is all attitude. It's not Burton's best by a long shot, but I came out smiling."[24]

The film was nominated for seven categories at the Saturn Awards. Danny Elfman won an award, while Burton, Jonathan Gems, Lukas Haas, Colleen Atwood and the visual effects department at Industrial Light & Magic received nominations. Mars Attacks! was also nominated for Best Science Fiction Film but lost out to Independence Day.[25] The film was also nomianted for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.[26]

Get info from two other books. Take production notes, external links, finish cast sections and write a plot. Do a final observation. Then put the lead.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Salisbury, Burton, p.145
  2. ^ Christine Spines. "Men are from Mars, Women Are from Venus", Premiere, January 1997, pp. 66—75. Retrieved on 2008-05-31. 
  3. ^ a b Salisbury, Burton, p.148
  4. ^ a b c Salisbury, Burton, p.146
  5. ^ a b Anthony C. Ferrante. "Hidden Gems", Fangoria, March 1997, pp. 53-57. Retrieved on 2008-05-31. 
  6. ^ a b Salisbury, Burton, p.149
  7. ^ Salisbury, Burton, p.152
  8. ^ Salisbury, Burton, p.78
  9. ^ Salisbury, Burton, p.151
  10. ^ a b Jeff Gordinier. "Jack's Back", Entertainment Weekly, 1996-02-23. Retrieved on 2008-05-30. 
  11. ^ "Target Hollywood", Entertainment Weekly, 1995-07-28. Retrieved on 2008-05-30. 
  12. ^ "Fall Movie Preview: December", Entertainment Weekly, 1996-08-23. Retrieved on 2008-05-30. 
  13. ^ Salisbury, Burton, p.161
  14. ^ a b c Salisbury, Burton, p.153
  15. ^ Mars Attacks! (1996). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-05-22.
  16. ^ Mars Attacks! (1996). Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-05-22.
  17. ^ Mars Attacks! (1996): Top Critics. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-05-22.
  18. ^ Mars Attacks! (1996): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-05-22.
  19. ^ Roger Ebert. "Mars Attacks!", Chicago Sun-Times, 1996-12-13. Retrieved on 2008-05-22. 
  20. ^ Kenneth Turan. "Mars Attacks!: Tim Burton's Plan 9", Los Angeles Times, 1996-12-13. Retrieved on 2008-05-22. 
  21. ^ James Berardinelli. "Mars Attacks!", ReelViews, 1996-12-13. Retrieved on 2008-05-22. 
  22. ^ Jonathan Rosenbaum. "Flirting With Disaster", Chicago Reader, 1996-12-13. Retrieved on 2008-05-31. 
  23. ^ Peter Stack. "Intelligent Life Scarce in Mars", San Francisco Chronicle, 1997-06-20. Retrieved on 2008-05-30. 
  24. ^ David Ansen. "Aliens, Angels and Artiness", Newsweek, 1996-12-23, pp. 26—28. Retrieved on 2008-05-31. 
  25. ^ Saturn Awards: 1997. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
  26. ^ Hugo Awards: 1997. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.

[edit] External links