Alice in Wonderland (2010 film)

Alice in Wonderland is a 2010 American dark fantasy adventure film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay written by Linda Woolverton and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The film stars Mia Wasikowska in the title role, with Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Matt Lucas, Helena Bonham Carter, and Crispin Glover, while featuring the voices of Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, and Timothy Spall. A live-action adaptation and re-imagining of Lewis Carroll's works, the film follows Alice Kingsleigh, a nineteen-year-old who accidentally falls down a rabbit hole, returns to Wonderland, and alongside the Mad Hatter helps restore the White Queen to her throne by fighting against the Red Queen and her Jabberwocky, a dragon that terrorizes Wonderland's inhabitants.
Alice in Wonderland began development in December 2007, when Burton was asked to direct two 3D films for Disney, including the remake of Frankenweenie. Production began in September 2008 and concluded within three months, and was shot in the United Kingdom and the United States. It was followed by an extensive post-production and visual effects process where filming included live-action and motion-capture sequences. Burton's frequent collaborator Danny Elfman composed an original theme for the film, which premiered in London at the Odeon Leicester Square on February 25, 2010, and was released in the United Kingdom and the United States through the Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D formats as well as in conventional theaters on March 5.
The film generated over $1.025 billion in ticket sales and became the fifth highest-grossing film during its theatrical run, and it is also the second-highest-grossing film of 2010. Amongst Disney's live-action adaptations, the film is tied for third-most-expensive, alongside Mulan, and fourth-highest-grossing readaptation to date. It received three nominations at the 68th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. At the 83rd Academy Awards, it won Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design, and was also nominated for Best Visual Effects, while the film received numerous other accolades.
While not the first such film in its genre, Alice in Wonderland is credited with starting a trend of live-action fairy tale and fantasy films being green-lit, particularly from Walt Disney Studios. A follow-up film, titled Alice Through the Looking Glass, was released on May 27, 2016.
Nineteen-year-old Alice Kingsleigh, having mourned the recent loss of her father, is troubled by strange recurring dreams and the stifling expectations of the society in which she lives. After receiving an unwanted marriage proposal from Hamish Ascot at his father's British garden party, Alice spots a familiar white rabbit wearing a waistcoat and carrying a pocket watch. She follows it to a rabbit hole and accidentally falls in. She shrinks after drinking from a bottle labeled 'Drink Me' (called a Pishsalver), meaning she cannot reach a key on a table, and then eats a cake labeled 'Eat Me' (called an Upelkuchen), transforming into a giantess. After drinking from the bottle again to fit through a tiny door, she enters the forest of a fantastical world called Underland. There, she is greeted by the White Rabbit, a Dormouse, a Dodo, Talking Flowers, and identical twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee, who all apparently know her.
Alice asserts that she is dreaming, but learns from Absolem the Caterpillar that she is destined to slay the Jabberwocky and end the tyranny of the Red Queen. The group is ambushed by the ravenous Bandersnatch and the Red Queen's knights, led by the Knave of Hearts. All are captured except Alice, who escapes, and the Dormouse, who takes one of the Bandersnatch's eyes. The Knave informs the Red Queen of Alice's return, and is ordered to find her immediately.
The Cheshire Cat guides Alice to the Mad Hatter, March Hare, and Dormouse's tea party. The Red Knights and the Knave of Hearts disrupt the party, but Alice manages to hide in a teapot. The Hatter then takes her to a safe place. The Hatter explains that the Red Queen took over Underland, usurping her sister the White Queen. While in the woods, the Red Knights find the two, but the Hatter gives himself up so that Alice can escape. She is found by the Knave's Bloodhound, named Bayard, who is allied with the resistance. He takes Alice to the Red Queen's castle, where she accidentally outgrows her clothes after eating another Upelkuchen.
Infiltrating the palace as a courtier named "Um", Alice learns that the vorpal sword, the only weapon capable of killing the Jabberwocky, is locked inside the Bandersnatch's den. The knave makes advances to Alice, which she rebuffs, but the jealous Red Queen orders her beheading. Alice obtains the sword and returns the Bandersnatch's eye. He gratefully helps her escape the castle and delivers her to the White Queen, who gives Alice a potion that returns her normal size. The Cheshire Cat uses his shapeshifting powers to free the Mad Hatter, who incites rebellion amongst the Red Queen's subjects. Meanwhile, Absolem, who is turning into a pupa, finally gets Alice to remember that she visited Underland when she was a little girl, and called it "Wonderland". Just before his chrysalis closes, he advises her to fight the Jabberwocky, save Underland, and stop the Red Queen for good.
The Queens gather their armies on a chessboard-like battlefield and send Alice and the Jabberwocky to decide the battle in single combat. Alice beheads the Jabberwocky with the vorpal sword, and the red knights gratefully turn against their ruler. The White Queen banishes her sister and the Knave into exile together, then gives Alice a vial of the Jabberwocky's purple blood, which can fulfill one wish. Alice says farewell to her friends, then wishes to return home.
Alice awakens and escapes the rabbit hole, dirty and scratched from her fall. When she returns to the gazebo at the garden party, she refuses Hamish's proposal and impresses Lord Ascot with her idea of establishing trade routes to Hong Kong, inspiring him to take her on as his apprentice. As Alice prepares to set off on a trading ship, Absolem, in his new butterfly form, lands on her shoulder.
Marton Csokas makes a cameo appearance as Alice's deceased father in the film's opening scene and Alice's mother is played by Lindsay Duncan. Lord and Lady Ascot are played by Tim Pigott-Smith and Geraldine James, respectively. Eleanor Tomlinson and Eleanor Gecks play the Chattaway sisters, Fiona and Faith, who bear a strong resemblance to Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Jemma Powell appears briefly as Alice's sister Margaret while Margaret's unfaithful husband Lowell is played by John Hopkins.
Frank Welker provided additional voices and vocal effects; including roars of the Jabberwocky and Bandersnatch, squawks for the Jubjub bird, and Bayard's barking. Rickman, Windsor, Fry, Gough, Lee, Staunton and Carter each took only a day to record their dialogue.
Development on Alice in Wonderland began in 2006, when Joe Roth, Jennifer and Suzanne Todd approached Linda Woolverton for ideas for a large fantasy movie; Woolverton proposed them a concept of grown-up Alice (from Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its 1871 sequel Through the Looking-Glass) returning to Wonderland, which she had in her head for a while. Roth then pitched the idea to Walt Disney Pictures, which greenlit the project, with Woolverton commissioned to write the script. The first draft, titled Alice, was finished on February 23, 2007, and then it was submitted to Tim Burton, who agreed to helm the project. According to Oren Aviv (then president of production at the Walt Disney Studios), Burton was the only choice as the film's director because of his "unique vision and voice that would really give the project that special look and memorable characters." In April of that year, it was revealed that the film would be a blend of live-action and motion-capture, and by November 2007, Burton was officially on board to direct both Alice in Wonderland and a feature-length remake of his 1984 short film Frankenweenie.
Burton developed the story despite experiencing a "weird" connection to the original book. He explained "the goal is to try to make it an engaging movie where you get some of the psychology and kind of bring a freshness but also keep the classic nature of Alice." On prior versions, Burton said "It was always a girl wandering around from one crazy character to another, and I never really felt any real emotional connection." His goal with the new film is to give the story "some framework of emotional grounding" and "to try and make Alice feel more like a story as opposed to a series of events." Burton focused on the poem "Jabberwocky" as part of his structure, and refers to the described creature by the name of the poem rather than by the name "Jabberwock" used in the poem. Burton also stated that he does not see his version as either a sequel to any existing Alice film nor as a "re-imagining".
Burton wanted to cast an unknown actress in the role of Alice, which was supported by the Disney studio. According to Burton, he was searching for someone who would have "emotional toughness… standing her ground in a way which makes her kind of an older person but with a younger person’s mentality." He originally planned to offer the role to Frances Bean Cobain, but she turned it down because she wanted to focus on her college studies. In February 2008, Lindsay Lohan expressed interest in playing Alice. Actresses such as Jennifer Lawrence, Cara Delevingne, and Jessica Brown Findlay would later reveal that they also auditioned for the title role, with Brown Findlay being down to the last three. Dakota Blue Richards planned to audition as well, but she was much younger than required for the role. Mia Wasikowska was eventually cast as Alice in July 2008. She sent an audition tape in February of the same year and ended up coming over to the United Kingdom and doing four more auditions with Burton before she was chosen. Burton said that he picked Wasikowska because of "a simple kind of power to her that he really liked. Not flamboyant, not very showy, but just somebody that's got a lot of internal life to her."
A few days after the announcement of Wasikowska's casting, Johnny Depp was reported to be signing up for the role of the Mad Hatter. His casting was officially confirmed in September 2008, marking Alice in Wonderland as Depp's seventh collaboration with Burton since Edward Scissorhands (1990). Later that month, during his appearance on BBC's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Matt Lucas announced that he had joined the film as Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and a few days later, Variety reported that Michael Sheen had been cast in an undisclosed role, which was later revealed to be the White Rabbit. Tim Pigott-Smith, Geraldine James, and Frances de la Tour were also confirmed to appear in the film in then-unnamed roles.
By October 2008, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway were cast as the Red and White Queens, respectively. Like Depp, Bonham Carter had been Burton's frequent collaborator and had previously worked on five of his films. She was also Burton's first choice for the Red Queen, with his early sketches of the character made specifically with Bonham Carter in mind. Bonham Carter, who was then Burton's domestic partner, recalled that after he formally asked her to come to a meeting at his office, she thought Burton was going to propose marriage to her until he showed one of his character sketches and offered her the role. Before Burton was attached to the project, Hathaway, who had previously starred in The Princess Diaries (2001), was approached by Disney to portray Alice, but she refused as she was more interested in playing the White Queen. After Burton came on board, he considered another actress for the role, but she was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts, and the studio suggested Hathaway instead. Later that month, Crispin Glover was set to portray the Knave of Hearts, with Alan Rickman and Eleanor Tomlinson announced to play the Blue Caterpillar and Fiona Chattaway, respectively, while Christopher Lee was cast in undisclosed role, which was later revealed to be the Jabberwocky.
This film was originally set to be released on March 19, 2010, but was moved up to March 5, 2010. Principal photography was scheduled for May 2008, but did not begin until September and concluded in three months. Scenes set in the Victorian era were shot at Torpoint and Plymouth from September 1 to October 14. Two hundred and fifty local extras were chosen in early August. Locations included Antony House in Torpoint, Charlestown, Cornwall and the Barbican; however, no footage from the Barbican was used. Motion-capture filming began in early October at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, though the footage was later discarded. Filming also took place at Culver Studios. Burton said that he used a combination of live-action and animation, without motion-capture. He also noted that this was the first time he had filmed on a green screen. Filming of the green screen portions, comprising 90% of the film, was completed after only 40 days. Many of the cast and crew felt nauseated as a result of the long hours surrounded by green, and Burton had lavender lenses fitted into his glasses to counteract the effect. Due to the constant need for digital effects to distort the actors' physical appearances, such as the size of the Red Queen's head or Alice's height, visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston cited the film as being exhausting, saying it was "The biggest show I've ever done, [and] the most creatively involved I've ever been."
Sony Pictures Imageworks designed the visual effects sequences. Burton felt 3D was appropriate to the story's environment. Burton and Zanuck chose to film with conventional cameras, and convert the footage into 3D during post-production; Zanuck explained 3D cameras were too expensive and "clumsy" to use, and they felt that there was no difference between converted footage and those shot in the format. James Cameron, who released his 3D film Avatar in December 2009, criticized the choice, stating, "It doesn't make any sense to shoot in 2D and convert to 3D."
Danny Elfman composed the musical score for Alice in Wonderland, after regularly scoring for Burton's films. Elfman did not want to use period music and instead blended orchestral, classical and pop music, to highlight the internal score, and had used symphony orchestration for the visual style of Burton, incorporating the same methods by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Max Steiner, Franz Waxman and Bernard Hermann. The score album was released by Walt Disney Records on March 2, 2010, and debuted at number 89 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart.
A concept album titled Almost Alice is a collection of various artists' music inspired by the film. It was released by Walt Disney under the Buena Vista Records imprint, the same day as the score album's release. The lead single, "Alice" by Avril Lavigne, premiered on January 27, 2010, on Ryan Seacrest's radio program. Other singles include "Follow Me Down" by 3OH!3, "Her Name Is Alice" by Shinedown, and "Tea Party" by Kerli.
On June 22, 2009, the first pictures of the film were released, showing Wasikowska as Alice, Depp as the Mad Hatter, Hathaway as the White Queen, Bonham Carter as the Red Queen and Lucas as Tweedledee and Tweedledum. In July, new photos emerged of Alice holding a white rabbit, the Mad Hatter with a hare, the Red Queen holding a pig, and the White Queen with a mouse.
On July 22, 2009, a teaser trailer from the Mad Hatter's point of view was released on IGN but was shortly taken down because Disney claimed that the trailer was not supposed to be out yet. The teaser was also planned to premiere along with a trailer of Robert Zemeckis' film adaptation of A Christmas Carol on July 24, 2009, for G-Force. The following day, the teaser trailer premiered at San Diego Comic-Con but the trailer shown was different from the one that leaked. The Comic-Con version didn't have the Mad Hatter's dialogue. Instead, it featured "Time to Pretend" by MGMT, and the clips shown were in a different order than in the leaked version. The leaked version was originally to be shown to one of the three Facebook groups used to promote the film that had the most members. The groups used to promote the film are "The Loyal Subjects of the Red Queen", "The Loyal Subjects of the White Queen" and "The Disloyal Subjects of the Mad Hatter".
Also at Comic-Con, props from the film were displayed in an "Alice in Wonderland" exhibit. Costumes featured in the exhibit included the Red Queen's dress, chair, wig, glasses, and scepter; the White Queen's dress, wig and a small model of her castle; the Mad Hatter's suit, hat, wig, chair and table; Alice's dress and battle armor (to slay the Jabberwocky). Other props included the "DRINK ME" bottles, the keys, an "EAT ME" pastry and stand-in models of the White Rabbit and March Hare.
A nighttime party area at the Disney California Adventure theme park was created, called "Mad T Party".
On July 23, 2009, Disney Interactive Studios announced that an Alice in Wonderland video game, developed by French game studio Étranges Libellules, would be released in the same week as the film for the Wii, Nintendo DS, and Microsoft Windows. The soundtrack was composed by video games music composer Richard Jacques. The Wii, DS, and PC versions were released on March 2, 2010.
Disney Interactive released in 2013 the game Alice in Wonderland: A New Champion for iOS.
Alice in Wonderland was theatrically released in United Kingdom and United States, in Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D and IMAX 3D, as well as regular theaters on March 5, 2010. Prior to the release, the film was premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on February 25, 2010, for the fundraiser The Prince's Foundation for Children and The Arts where the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall attended.
On February 12, 2010, major UK theater chains, Odeon, Vue, and Cineworld, had planned to boycott the film because of a reduction of the interval between cinema and DVD release from the usual seventeen-week period to twelve. Disney's pretext for cutting short Alice's theatrical run, is possibly to avoid the release of the DVD clashing with the 2010 FIFA World Cup. However, exhibitors protested that Alice would be less threatened by the World Cup than other titles. A week after the announcement, Cineworld, who has a 24% share of UK box office, chose to play the film on more than 150 screens. Cineworld's chief executive Steve Wiener stated, "As leaders in 3D, we did not want the public to miss out on such a visual spectacle. As the success of Avatar has shown, there is currently a huge appetite for the 3D experience." Shortly after, the Vue cinema chain also reached an agreement with Disney, but Odeon had still chosen to boycott in Britain, Ireland, and Italy. On February 25, 2010, Odeon had reached an agreement and decided to show the film on March 5. It also did not affect their plans to show the film in Spain, Germany, Portugal, and Austria.
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released a three-disc Blu-ray combo pack (which includes the Blu-ray, DVD and a digital copy), single-disc Blu-ray and single-disc DVD on June 1, 2010, in North America and July 1, 2010, in Australia. The DVD release includes three short features about the making of the film, focusing on Burton's vision for Wonderland and the characters of Alice and the Mad Hatter. The Blu-ray version has nine additional featurettes centered on additional characters, visual effects and other aspects of the film's production. In some confusion, a small number of copies were put on shelves a week before schedule in smaller stores, but were quickly removed, although a handful of copies were confirmed purchased ahead of schedule.
In its first week of release (June 1–6, 2010), it sold 2,095,878 DVD units (equivalent to $35,441,297) and topped the DVD sales chart for two continuous weeks. By May 22, 2011, it had sold 4,313,680 units ($76,413,043). It failed to crack the 2010 top ten DVDs list in terms of units sold, but reached 10th place on that chart in terms of sales revenue.
Alice in Wonderland grossed $334.1 million in North America and $691.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $1.025 billion against a budget of $200 million. Worldwide, it is the second-highest-grossing film of 2010. It is the third-highest-grossing film starring Johnny Depp, the highest-grossing film directed by Tim Burton, and the second-highest-grossing film of Anne Hathaway. It is also the 50th-highest grossing film ever made. (subject to regular change.) Additionally, it is the second-highest-grossing children's book adaptation (worldwide, as well as in North America and outside North America separately).
On its first weekend, the film made $220.1 million worldwide, marking the second-largest opening ever for a movie not released during the summer or the holiday period (behind The Hunger Games), the fourth-largest for a Disney-distributed film and the fourth-largest among 2010 films. It dominated for three consecutive weekends at the worldwide box office. On May 26, 2010, its 85th day of release, it became the sixth film ever to surpass the $1 billion mark and the second film that had been released by Walt Disney Studios that did so.
In North America, Alice in Wonderland is the forty-fourth-highest-grossing film out of the top 100 when adjusted for inflation. It is also the second-highest-grossing film of 2010, behind Toy Story 3, the second-highest-grossing film starring Johnny Depp and the highest-grossing film directed by Tim Burton. The film opened on March 5, 2010, on approximately 7,400 screens at 3,728 theaters with $40.8 million during its first day, $3.9 million of which came from midnight showings, ranking number one and setting a new March opening-day record. Alice earned $116.1 million on its opening weekend, breaking the record for the largest opening weekend in March (previously held by 300), the record for the largest opening weekend during springtime (previously held by Fast & Furious), the largest opening weekend for a non-sequel (previously held by Spider-Man) and the highest one for the non-holiday, non-summer period. However, all of these records were broken by The Hunger Games ($152.5 million) in March 2012. Alice made the seventeenth-highest-grossing opening weekend ever and the fifth-largest among 3D films. Opening-weekend grosses originating from 3D showings were $81.3 million (70% of total weekend gross). This broke the record for the largest opening-weekend 3D grosses but it was later topped by The Avengers ($108 million). It had the largest weekend per-theater average of 2010 ($31,143 per theater) and the largest for a PG-rated film. It broke the IMAX opening-weekend record by earning $12.2 million on 188 IMAX screens, with an average of $64,197 per site. The record was first overtaken by Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($15.2 million). Additionally, it had the biggest opening weekend for a film starring Tim Burton, smashing the previous record held by Planet of the Apes. Alice remained in first place for three consecutive weekends at the North American box office. Alice closed in theaters on July 8, 2010, with $334.2 million.
Outside North America, Alice is the thirteenth-highest-grossing film, the highest-grossing 2010 film, the fourth-highest-grossing Disney film, the second-highest-grossing film starring Johnny Depp and the highest-grossing film directed by Tim Burton. It began with an estimated $94 million, on top of the weekend box office, and remained at the summit for four consecutive weekends and five in total. Japan was the film's highest-grossing country after North America, with $133.7 million, followed by the UK, Ireland and Malta ($64.4 million), and France and the Maghreb region ($45.9 million).
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 51% of 277 critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's consensus is: "Tim Burton's Alice sacrifices the book's minimal narrative coherence—and much of its heart—but it's an undeniable visual treat." According to Metacritic, which calculated a weighted average score of 53 out of 100 based on 38 reviews, the film received "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average rating of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.
Todd McCarthy of Variety praised it for its "moments of delight, humor and bedazzlement", but went on to say, "But it also becomes more ordinary as it goes along, building to a generic battle climax similar to any number of others in CGI-heavy movies of the past few years." Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter said "Burton has delivered a subversively witty, brilliantly cast, whimsically appointed dazzler that also manages to hit all the emotionally satisfying marks", while as well praising its computer-generated imagery (CGI), saying "Ultimately, it's the visual landscape that makes Alice's newest adventure so wondrous, as technology has finally been able to catch up with Burton's endlessly fertile imagination." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said, "But Burton's Disneyfied 3-D Alice in Wonderland, written by the girl-power specialist Linda Woolverton, is a strange brew indeed: murky, diffuse, and meandering, set not in a Wonderland that pops with demented life but in a world called Underland that's like a joyless, bombed-out version of Wonderland. It looks like a CGI head trip gone post apocalyptic. In the film's rather humdrum 3-D, the place doesn't dazzle—it droops." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film three out of four stars and wrote in his review that "Alice plays better as an adult hallucination, which is how Burton rather brilliantly interprets it until a pointless third act flies off the rails." Danny Elfman's score received particular praise by critics, with Jonathan Broxton wrote "What is even more impressive, however, is the knowledge that Elfman's the composer of intellectual authority is as much in play here as Elfman the enthusiastic newcomer; the vibrancy of the work, the structure of the themes, the cleverness of the orchestrations and harmonies, combined with the flavors of the past, make this score indispensable. Even by his own recent high standards, it's the best Elfman score in many years, and even at this early stage a contender for the best score of 2010."
Several reviews criticized the decision to turn Alice into a "colonialist entrepreneur" at the end of the film setting sail for China. Given Britain's role in the First and Second Opium Wars during the Victorian era and the foreign domination of China through "unequal treaties", China expert Kevin Slaten writes, "Not only is it troubling imagery, for a female role model in a Disney movie, but it's also a celebration of the exploitation that China suffered for a century."
Game developer American McGee, best known for creating Alice and Alice: Madness Returns, was asked in a 2011 interview about Tim Burton's interpretation of the title character since both versions share a similar dark and twisted tone of Wonderland. McGee praised the film's visuals and audio but criticized the lack of screen time Alice had compared to the other characters. He felt Alice did not have any purpose in the story and that she was merely used as a "tool".
At the 83rd Academy Awards, the film received three nominations: Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design and Best Visual Effects and won the former two. At the 64th British Academy Film Awards, the film received five nominations and won two awards for Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hair. The film received three nominations at the 68th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Johnny Depp, but did not win any. It further received nominations for five Satellite Awards and Saturn Awards each (winning two of them), four Critics' Choice Movie Awards (winning two), and a Grammy Award nomination.
Following its release, the film drove about $1.6 billion in retail sales for Disney, including home video and merchandise sales.
After the release and success of the movie, Walt Disney Pictures has announced the development of several live-action adaptations of their Animated Classics series.
Walt Disney Theatrical was in early talks with Burton and screenwriter Linda Woolverton, who had previously written stage adaptions of The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Aida, and Lestat, to develop the property as a Broadway musical set to premiere in London. Rob Ashford was attached to direct and choreograph. As of 2013, no further developments had been made.
A sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass, was released on May 27, 2016, directed by James Bobin. Linda Woolverton returned to write a screenplay. Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, and Helena Bonham Carter reprised the roles in the film, with the addition of Rhys Ifans and Sacha Baron Cohen.