Thompson on Hollywood

Alice in Wonderland: Early Reviews

Post-London premiere, the early review floodgates have opened on Tim Burton and Linda Woolverton's reimagining of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland in 3-D, which is poised to be a box office monster when it opens wide on March 5. (I will report back after I see the movie next Tuesday.)

By Anne Thompson
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February 25, 2010 10:38 AM
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Avatar to Lose 3-D and IMAX Screens, Still Breaks Records

We all know that Avatar has broken all box office records, unseating former king of the world Titanic. The James Cameron sci-fi epic holds the record for domestic ($690 million) and worldwide ($2.5 billion) gross.

By Anne Thompson
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February 25, 2010 1:55 AM
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Depp Talks Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland Featurette

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is almost upon us. The 3-D Disney fantasy opens March 5. The LAT's Geoff Boucher asks screenwriter Linda Woolverton (The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast) about adapting Lewis Carroll. She based a lot of this "sequel" on The Jabberwocky, one of my favorite poems of all time.

By Anne Thompson
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February 11, 2010 12:04 AM
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Alice in Wonderland: Depp Talks Mad Hatter

"To breathe life into the Mad Hatter is a dream come true," says Johnny Depp in this featurette for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, which according to MovieTickets.com (poll on jump) is the most anticipated 3-D movie of the coming year. Not surprising, when the competition on that list is Toy Story 3 and Shrek 3. Just saying---we haven't seen Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland before.

By Anne Thompson
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January 20, 2010 11:54 AM
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Trailer Watch: Burton's Alice in Wonderland Stars Depp as the Mad Hatter

Tim Burton was born to direct Alice in Wonderland, and Johnny Depp in Tammy Faye makeup isn't bad casting as the Mad Hatter either. Here's the latest trailer. Yes, I know another studio is shamelessly exploiting a brand name. But this "package" I want to see. Burton took elements from both the Lewis Carroll classic and Through the Looking Glass, including lines and imagery from The Jabberwocky. Mia Wasikowska plays Alice, Stephen Fry voices the Cheshire Cat, Anne Hathaway is the White Queen and Michael Sheen is the White Rabbit. On this film, Burton is handling more CG effects and green screen than ever before. He doesn't do much mo-cap, mostly pure animation. Disney releases the film on March 5.

By Anne Thompson
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December 16, 2009 6:50 AM
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Fall Fest Update, Clooney, Burton, Von Trier, Weinsteins

Festival News:The AFI Festival has selected as its opener Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, based on the Roald Dahl book. The fest takes place October 30 - November 7, 2009 in Hollywood. The movie is yet another George Clooney vehicle coming out this fall (along with Up in the Air and The Men Who Stare at Goats). The bad news: the star has to promote them all.

By Anne Thompson
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September 24, 2009 8:27 AM
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Nine Goes to the Movies

Nine is a popular number at the movies these days. Last week I saw Shane Acker's animated dystopian adventure 9, featuring the voice of Elijah Wood, which opens September 9, 2009. Wednesday night I see Neill Blomkamp's alien thriller District 9, produced by Peter Jackson. The German film Cloud 9 opens in New York this Friday and in LA on August 28. This fall I look forward to the Rob Marshall musical Nine. Earlier this year I missed the animated feature $9.99. I count four past movies named Nine, as well as such classics as Nine Months, The Whole Nine Yards, Nine Queens, Nine 1/2 Weeks and Nine to Five. Is any other number as frequently used in movie titles? I guess one and ten are just as common, finally. But why the plethora of nine titles in 2009?

By Anne Thompson
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August 11, 2009 7:51 AM
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Studios Play it Safe

Steven Spielberg is directing a remake of the Universal/Broadway classic Harvey; he's seeking a star like Tom Hanks or Will Smith to star. Fox is partnering with DreamWorks/Reliance to produce the movie about a six-foot, invisible rabbit.

By Anne Thompson
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August 3, 2009 2:47 AM
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Comic-Con: Disney 3-D Panel Showcases Burton, Depp, Zemeckis, Tron Legacy

Thursday was a long day. The official Comic-Con movie program began in Hall H with Disney's 3-D panel. "A lot of you are going to stay here all day," said host Patton Oswalt. The 6000-strong crowd roared. Bob Zemeckis broke his Comic-Con cherry with footage from the start of Christmas Carol, which stars Jim Carrey in five roles. Instead of heavy make-up, it's the Zemeckis brand of motion capture (in 3D and IMAX 3D), which I find stilted. (People tell me that seeing Polar Express in IMAX was transformative.) The audience went "Ooooh" when they first put on their 3D glasses as Scrooge inspected Marley's dead body and was visited by his green, chained ghost. "It's a ghost story," Zemeckis said.

By Anne Thompson
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July 24, 2009 3:12 AM
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Trailer Watch: Alice in Wonderland Heads for #SDCC

You have to hand it to Tim Burton. As crazy awful as Hollywood can be, this canny visual stylist somehow manages to hang onto his imagination and personal imprint while navigating the studio system with aplomb. And most of his films--even art-house opera Sweeney Todd--are accessibly commercial. (Next up: a remake of my fave childhood vampire soap opera, Dark Shadows.)