Alice In Wonderland

[picolas]

But everyone saw Sweeney Todd, and you can feel people really wanting to like that one despite being practically an impossible film to like on any level.

don't use Sweeney Todd as an example of bad Burton. there are so many better examples. Sweeney is fantastic.

[OrHowILearnedTo]

When I told my non-film friends about how much I liked Where The Wild Things Are, they responded with "You only liked it because it was a Tim Burton movie." There wasn't enough time to explain how much was wrong with that statement so just gave em one of these:


and slowly walked away.

[modage]

[Alexandro]

But everyone saw Sweeney Todd, and you can feel people really wanting to like that one despite being practically an impossible film to like on any level.

don't use Sweeney Todd as an example of bad Burton. there are so many better examples. Sweeney is fantastic.

Well,  think I need to explain this. For us moviefreaks there was a lot to like in Sweeney Todd. Speaking only for myself I enjoyed a lot of things, even though the music was pure torture to my ears. However, normal people went to see it in mass and most opinions I've heard are more than negative. People really wanted to like it but were turned off by it. No one is seeing it again ever. This is what I've heard around. The consensus on Charlie and Corpse Bride is way more positive than what I've sensed for Todd. It is of course just something I'm saying without statistic proof, but it's the vibe I get.

In any case, to me personally, watching Charlie and Corpse Bride (two films that were desecrated in xixax) was infinitely more enjoyable than sitting through Sweeney Todd.

[picolas]

it's hard to defend a movie on the grounds of whether or not most other people like it. all i can say is i've watched it four times, i own the dvd, and the soundtrack is on my ipod. i don't know what everybody else thinks but i'm pretty sure it was well-reviewed.

[socketlevel]

I like "Bret in Hollywood" or "Bret in Hollywoodland"

just a suggestion.

[MacGuffin]

New Trailer here.

[socketlevel]

naw i take it back, i just read my last post after seeing mac's post

should be

"A Rat in Hollywoodland"

[MacGuffin]

Johnny Depp explains how he picked his poison with the Mad Hatter
Source: Los Angeles Times

We have big plans here at the Hero Complex for covering "Alice in Wonderland" and today we have an early exclusive as Rachel Abramowitz talks with star Johnny Depp about the very specific madness of the Mad Hatter.

When he takes on a role, Johnny Depp often paints a watercolor portrait of the still-forming character to help find his face and personality. After putting the finishing touches on his painting for "Alice in Wonderland," Depp looked down at the Mad Hatter staring back at him from the canvas and giggled.

"I was thinking," the actor said, "'Oh my God, this one will get me fired!'"

It's hard to imagine any pink slips in the future for Depp, who arguably reigns as the biggest movie star in the world at the moment. But his version of the Mad Hatter for Tim Burton's interpretation of "Alice in Wonderland" has stirred both interest and, early on, some skepticism from literary purists who say it's a far cry from the character as described in Lewis Carroll's 19th century writings or from images in the collective public imagination shaped by years of stage productions and the 1951 Walt Disney animated classic.

Depp's extreme vision for the character -- who arrives in theaters on March 5 -- creates yet another vivid screen persona for the Hollywood chameleon who has played Sweeney Todd, Willie Wonka, Edward Scissorhands and a certain scoundrel named Jack Sparrow. The 46-year-old actor said his Hatter's springy mass of tangerine hair became a particularly important detail because of one of the suspected origins of the term "Mad as a hatter."

In the 18th and 19th centuries, mercury was used in the manufacture of felt, and when used in hats it could be absorbed through the skin and affect the mind through maladies such as Korsakoff's syndrome. Hatters and mill workers often fell victim to mercury poisoning which, in Carroll's time, had an orange tint -- hence Depp's interest in adding brushstrokes of that particular watercolor to his portrait.

"I think [the Mad Hatter] was poisoned  -- very, very poisoned," Depp said. "And I think it just took affect in all his nerves. It was coming out through his hair and through his fingernails, through his eyes"

Depp's research also took him down some unexpected literary rabbit holes with the writings of Carroll.

"There's a great line in the book where the Hatter says, 'I'm investigating things that begin with the letter 'M,'" Depp said. "So I started kind of doing a little researching, reading a bunch. And you start thinking about the letter 'M' and Hatters and the term 'Mad as a hatter' and 'mercury.'"

Depp was also intrigued by one of the Mad Hatter's nonsense questions during a dizzying tea party: "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" "I think he is referencing Edgar Allan Poe," Depp said, referring to the haunted author of "The Raven," which was published in 1845, two decades before Carroll's surreal tale reached the public. Depp let the two ideas germinate in his head and it informed his own Hatter concoction.

Burton, whose background in art and animation is well known, also draws his characters, and when he and his star compared their handiwork they grinned like the Cheshire Cat. "They were," Depp says, "very close."

[MacGuffin]

'Alice' might get shorter U.S. theatrical run
Disney has asked theater owners about smaller window
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Bob Iger wasn't bluffing.

The Disney CEO has been telling Wall Street for months that he's going to have studio executives begin fiddling with traditional movie release windows, and it appears the time has arrived for the first grand experiment.

A day after the revelation that U.K. exhibitors are being asked to accept a tightened theatrical window on Disney's spring tentpole "Alice in Wonderland," The Hollywood Reporter has learned that U.S. theater owners have been similarly approached.

Normally, movies play in first-run theaters for up to 16 weeks. Disney is talking about a theatrical run of just under 13 weeks on "Alice," a 3D motion-capture/live-action fantasy helmed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp.

The studio would benefit by truncating the film's theatrical run as the title is a near sure shot for big success in home entertainment with its family-friendly subject matter and well-known cast. So the quicker Disney can get it into DVD and Blu-ray Disc release the better.

It's likely that Disney also will accelerate the availability of "Alice" on VOD, which home-entertainment execs have come to view as less of a threat to DVD/Blu-ray income and more as a complementary revenue stream.

Exhibitors have made it clear that they need a compensating upside from the moves. Less clear is how the Burbank studio will provide such a benefit, but film-rental terms are always subject to some negotiating.

These days, most releases come with "aggregate" terms. In such cases, distributors and exhibitors agree to split boxoffice by a set percentage of a film's entire run, with up to 55% going into studio coffers on pricey tentpole releases.

But on some pics, studios still pencil in a growing split for exhibs during the course of a run. So it's possible that Disney will use such an approach to offer a sweeter-than-usual early taste of the receipts for exhibs agreeing to book the film for a truncated theatrical run.

In any event, exhibs are getting assurances that Disney will proceed cautiously in broadening its experiment to future movie releases.

Disney's sales job in the U.K., where it sought to lop up to five weeks from its regional run, was a bit easier. European theater owners know the theatrical market will be squeezed greatly when the soccer World Cup kicks off in June.

Meanwhile, another benefit of the shorter theatrical run for "Alice" -- set to unspool worldwide March 5 in a combination of 2D and 3D venues -- would be its freeing up 3D screens for other big extra-dimensional releases including Warner Bros.' April 2 opener "Clash of the Titans."

For Iger, who's been trying to reinvigorate the Disney film studio through a major executive shuffle, changes to traditional release windows simply are a matter of maximizing studio profits. As recently as Tuesday, the Disney topper mused during an earnings conference that window experiments might be a way of improving the studio's bottom line.

[tpfkabi]

I've seen the trailer several times on TV.
I'll probably skip this one.

[Pozer]

just last night i was laying in bed wondering if bigideas would be into this or not.

[tpfkabi]

just last night i was laying in bed wondering if bigideas would be into this or not.

and participating in self gratification.

[MacGuffin]

AMC digging in over Disney's plans for 'Alice in Wonderland'
Source: Los Angeles Times

The protest by movie theater companies against Disney's plans to accelerate the DVD release for its upcoming 3-D film "Alice in Wonderland" is rippling across the Atlantic.

Disney wants to shorten the window between the movie's theatrical debut and its DVD release to 12 weeks from 17 weeks, in hopes of boosting DVD sales. But exhibitors fear that this would cut into their business.

Two British theater companies and a majority of cinema operators in the Netherlands have already vowed to boycott "Alice" when it debuts March 5. Now, a major U.S. theater chain may follow the lead of Vue Entertainment and Odeon Cinemas in not carrying the movie.

AMC Entertainment, the nation's second-largest theater operator, is digging in its heels over the issue. Less than two weeks remain before "Alice's" release, but the Kansas City, Mo.-based company, which has more than 4,500 screens worldwide, has not yet agreed to screen it, according to three people familiar with the matter.

If AMC refuses to show "Alice," that would be a major blow to the film's box-office returns. However, the two sides are expected to reach a compromise that would avert such an outcome -- even if negotiations go down to the wire, sources said.

Representatives of AMC and Disney declined to comment.

Britain's Cineworld Cinemas announced this week that it would carry "Alice."

[modage]

This sucked.