Mars Attacks!
Encyclopedia
Mars Attacks! is a 1996 American science fiction
film directed by Tim Burton
and based on the cult
trading card series of the same name
. The film uses elements of black comedy
, surreal humour
, and political satire
, and claims to be also a parody
of multiple science fiction B movie
s. Mars Attacks! stars an ensemble cast
, which includes Jack Nicholson
, Lukas Haas
, Annette Bening
, Jim Brown
, Pierce Brosnan
, Sarah Jessica Parker
, Glenn Close
, Martin Short
, Jack Black
, Natalie Portman
, Danny DeVito
, and Christina Applegate
.
Director Tim Burton and writer Jonathan Gems
began development for Mars Attacks! in 1993, and Warner Bros.
purchased the film rights
to the trading card series on Burton's behalf. When Gems turned in his first draft in 1994, Warner Bros. commissioned rewrites from Gems, Burton, Martin Amis
, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski
in an attempt to lower the budget to $160 million. The final production budget came to $80 million, while Warners spent another $20 million on the Mars Attacks! marketing campaign. Filming lasted from February to November 1996. It was made famous for the quirky alien laugh, which was created by reversing the sound ducks make when they quack.
The filmmakers hired Industrial Light & Magic to create the Martians using computer animation
after their previous plan to use stop motion
, supervised by Barry Purves
, fell through because of budget limitations. Mars Attacks! was released on December 13, 1996 to mixed reviews from critics. The film grossed approximately $101 million in box office
totals, which was seen as a disappointment. Mars Attacks! was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
and earned multiple nominations at the Saturn Award
s.
s; whereupon President James "Jimmy" Dale addresses America concerning the historic event, watched by news anchors in New York, employees and guests at the Luxor Las Vegas hotel in Nevada, U.S.A., and a trailer trash
family in Perkinsville, Kansas
. The President's science aides set a first contact
meeting with the Martians in Pahrump, Nevada
.
Using a defective universal translator
the Martians announce they have "come in peace"; but when a hippie
releases a dove
as a symbol of peace, the Martians shoot it down and attack. General Casey, Jason Stone, and Billy-Glenn are among those killed. Believing the reason of this a "cultural misunderstanding", President Dale has Professor Donald Kessler continue negotiations with the Martians, whose ambassador is invited to address the United States Congress
. At this meeting, the Martians destroy the Congress and war is established.
General Decker tries to convince President Dale to retaliate with nuclear warfare
; but the president refuses. After a Martian assassin disguised as a beautiful woman enters the White House and unsuccessfully attempts to kill the President, the other Martians begin a full-scale invasion, in which they destroy Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower
, the Taj Mahal
, Tokyo
, the Washington Monument
, one of the Great Pyramids
, Hawaii
, the Moai
(Easter Island Statues, Chile) and other locations, and rebuild Mount Rushmore
to resemble themselves. The president is killed by a robotic hand during another attempted negotiation. Richie Norris, a Kansas teenager, discovers that the Martians are vulnerable to Slim Whitman
's song "Indian Love Call
", whereupon he and his grandmother use it to destroy the Martians. Richie and his grandmother are thereafter awarded the Medal of Honor
by the president's teenaged daughter, Taffy.
, who had previously written multiple unproduced screenplays for director/producer Tim Burton
, came up with the idea of doing a film adaptation of the Mars Attacks
trading card series in 1993. The writer then pitched both concepts of Mars Attacks and Dinosaurs Attack!
to Burton, and decided that Dinosaurs Attack! would be too similar to Jurassic Park
(1993), but went on to create Mars Attacks!. Burton, who was busy preparing Ed Wood
(1994), believed that Mars Attacks! would be a perfect opportunity to pay homage
to the films of Edward D. Wood, Jr., especially Plan 9 from Outer Space
(1959), and other 1950s science fiction B movies
, such as Invaders from Mars
(1953), It Came from Outer Space
(1953), The War of the Worlds
(1953), Target Earth
(1954), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
(1956).
Burton set Mars Attacks! up with Warner Bros.
and the studio purchased the film rights
to the trading card series on his behalf. The original theatrical release date was planned for the summer of 1996. Gems completed his original script in 1994, which was budgeted by Warner Bros. at $260 million. The studio wanted to make the film for no more than $60 million. After turning in numerous drafts in an attempt to lower the budget, Gems was replaced by Ed Wood writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski
. Martin Amis
also was hired for rewriters' work, but later stated that although he "rather liked [the film], it contained not a word I wrote".
Gems eventually returned to the project, writing a total of 12 drafts of the script. Although he is credited with both the screen story and screenplay of Mars Attacks!, Gems dedicates his novelization
of the movie to Burton, who "co-wrote the screenplay and didn't ask for a credit". Warner Bros. was dubious of the Martian dialogue and wanted Burton to add closed captioning
subtitles, but he resisted. Working with Burton, Gems pared the film's 60 leading characters down to 23, and the worldwide destruction planned for the film was isolated to three major cities. Scenes featuring Martians attacking China, the Philippines, Japan, Europe, Africa, India, and Russia were deleted from the screenplay. "Bear in mind this was way before Independence Day
(1996) was written", Gems commented. "We had things like Manhattan being destroyed building by building, the White House went and so did the Empire State Building. Warner Bros. figured all this would be too expensive, so we cut most of that out to reduce the cost."
ensemble cast
for Mars Attacks! parallels the strategy Irwin Allen
used for his disaster film
s, notably The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno
(1974). Warren Beatty
was the original choice for the role of President Dale, but dropped out. Paul Newman
replaced him, but then considered playing another role, and left the production over concerns about the film's violence. Jack Nicholson
was then approached, who jokingly remarked he wanted to play all the roles. Burton agreed to cast Nicholson as both Art Land and President Dale, specifically remembering his positive working relationship with the actor on Batman
(1989).
Susan Sarandon
was originally set to play Barbara Land before Annette Bening
was cast, who modeled the character after Ann-Margret
's performance in Viva Las Vegas
(1964). Hugh Grant
was the first choice for Professor Donald Kessler, which eventually went to Pierce Brosnan
. Meryl Streep
, Diane Keaton
and Stockard Channing
were considered for First Lady Marsha Dale, but Glenn Close
won the role. In addition to Jack Nicholson
from Batman
(1989), other actors who reunited with Burton on Mars Attacks! include Sylvia Sidney
from Beetlejuice
(1988), Sarah Jessica Parker
(who signed on before reading the script) from Ed Wood
(1994), O-Lan Jones from Edward Scissorhands
(1990), and Danny DeVito
from Batman Returns
(1992), continuing Burton's trend of recasting actors multiple times from his previous works. This is also notable for one of the few times that Johnny Depp
turned down a role in a Burton film. He was originally approached to play reporter Jason Stone. Michael J Fox was cast instead.
was mid-August 1995 but was delayed until February 26, 1996. Director Tim Burton hired Peter Suschitzky
as the cinematographer
because he was a fan of his work in David Cronenberg
's films. Production designer
Thomas Wynn (A Beautiful Mind
, Malcolm X
) intended to have the war room pay tribute to Dr. Strangelove (1962). During production, Burton insisted that the art direction, cinematography
and costume design
of Mars Attacks! incorporate the look of the 1960s trading cards.
On designing the Martian (played by Burton's then-girlfriend Lisa Marie Smith) who seduces Jerry Ross (Martin Short), costume designer Colleen Atwood
took combined inspiration from the playing cards, Marilyn Monroe
, the work of Alberto Vargas
and Jane Fonda
in Barbarella
(1968). Filming for Mars Attacks! ended on June 1, 1996. The film score
was written/composed by Burton's regular Danny Elfman
, to whom Burton was reconciled after a quarrel incurred during The Nightmare Before Christmas
(1993), for which they did not co-operate in producing Ed Wood
(1994). Elfman enlisted the help of Oingo Boingo
lead guitarist Steve Bartek
to help arrange the compositions for the orchestra.
animation to feature the Martians, viewing it as a homage
to the work of Ray Harryhausen
, primarily Jason and the Argonauts. Similar to his own Beetlejuice
, Burton "wanted to make [the special effects] look cheap and purposely fake-looking as possible". He first approached Henry Selick
, director of The Nightmare Before Christmas
, to supervise the stop motion work; but Selick was busy directing James and the Giant Peach
, also produced by Burton. Despite the fact that Warner Bros. was skeptical of the escalating budget (Mars Attacks! had yet to be greenlight
ed by the studio), Burton hired Barry Purves
to shepherd the stop-motion work. Purves created an international team of about 70 animators, who worked on Mars Attacks! for eight months and began compiling test footage in Burbank, California
. The department workers studied Gloria Swanson
's choreography and movement as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard
for inspiration on the Martians' movement.
When the budget was projected at $100 million (Warner Bros. wanted it for no more than $75 million), producer Larry J. Franco
commissioned a test reel from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), the visual effects company he worked with on Jumanji
. Burton was persuaded to change his mind to employ computer animation
, which brought the final production budget to $80 million. Although Purves was uncredited for his work, stop-motion supervisors Ian Mackinnon and Peter Saunders, who would later collaborate with Burton on Corpse Bride
, received character design credit. Warner Digital Studios was responsible for the scenes of global destruction, airborne flying saucer sequences, the Martian landing in Nevada, and the robot
that chases Richie Norris in his pickup truck
. Warner Digital also used practical effects, such as building scale model
s of Big Ben and other landmark
s. The destruction of Art Land's hotel was footage of the real-life night-time demolition of The Landmark Hotel and Casino
, a building Burton wished to immortalize.
, written by writer Jonathan Gems
, was published by Puffin Books
in January 1997. The film was released in the United States on December 13, 1996, earning $9.38 million in its opening weekend. Mars Attacks! eventually made $37.77 million in US totals and $63.6 million elsewhere, coming to a worldwide total of $101.37 million.
The film was considered a box office bomb
in the U.S. but achieved greater success, both critically and commercially, in Europe. Many observers found similarities with Independence Day
, which also came out in 1996. "It was just a coincidence. Nobody told me about it. I was surprised how close it was," director Tim Burton continued, "but then it's a pretty basic genre I guess. Independence Day was different in tone - it was different in everything. It almost seemed like we had done kind of a Mad magazine
version of Independence Day." During Mars Attacks! theatrical run in January 1997, USA Network
purchased the broadcasting rights of the film.
, 51% of the reviewers enjoyed the film, with an average score of 5.6/10. Mars Attacks! was more balanced with the 15 critics in Rotten Tomatoes "Top Critics" poll, receiving a 33% approval rating and a 5.2/10 score. By comparison, Metacritic
calculated an average score of 52/100 from 19 reviews. Roger Ebert
observed the homage
s to the 1950s science fiction B movie
s. "Ed Wood himself could have told us what's wrong with this movie: the makers felt superior to the material. To be funny, even schlock has to believe in itself. Look for Infra-Man
(1975) or Invasion of the Bee Girls
(1973) and you will find movies that lack stars and big budgets and fancy special effects but are funny and fun in a way that Burton's megaproduction never really understands."
Albert Varnish of the Bulgarian Filmi Vreme called it the "biggest bunch of crackpot nonsense I have ever had the misfortune to witness. God help us all if this kind of crap now passes for comedy. Or for a movie."
Kenneth Turan
of the Los Angeles Times
wrote that "Mars Attacks! is all 1990s cynicism and disbelief, mocking the conventions that Independence Day takes seriously. This all sounds clever enough but in truth, Mars Attacks! is not as much fun as it should be. Few of its numerous actors make a lasting impression and Burton's heart and soul is not in the humor". Desson Thomson
from The Washington Post
said "Mars Attacks! evokes plenty of sci-fi classics, from The Day the Earth Stood Still
(1951) to Dr. Strangelove (1962), but it doesn't do much beyond that superficial exercise. With the exception of Burton's jolting sight gags (I may never recover from the vision of Sarah Jessica Parker's head grafted on to the body of a chihuahua
), the comedy is half-developed, pedestrian material. And the climactic
battle between Earthlings and Martians is dull and overextended".
Richard Schickel
, writing in Time magazine
, gave a positive review. "You have to admire everyone's chutzpah
: the breadth of Burton's (and writer Jonathan Gems') movie references, which range from Kurosawa
to Kubrick
; and above all their refusal to offer us a single likable character. Perhaps they don't create quite enough deeply funny earthlings to go around, but a thoroughly mean-spirited big-budget movie is always a treasurable rarity." Jonathan Rosenbaum
from the Chicago Reader praised the surreal humour
and black comedy
, which he found to be in the vein of Dr. Strangelove and Gremlins
(1984). He said it was far from clear whether the movie was a satire, although critics were describing it as one. Todd McCarthy of Variety
called Mars Attacks! "a cult sci-fi comedy
miscast as an elaborate, all-star
studio extravaganza."
chose Independence Day
, Dragonheart
and Twister instead. The film was nominated for seven categories at the Saturn Award
s. Danny Elfman won Best Music
, while director Tim Burton, writer Jonathan Gems, actor Lukas Haas, costume designer Colleen Atwood and the visual effects department at Industrial Light & Magic received nominations. Mars Attacks! was nominated for both the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film
(which went to Independence Day) and the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
film directed by Tim Burton
Tim Burton
Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
and based on the cult
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
trading card series of the same name
Mars Attacks
Mars Attacks is a science fiction trading card series released in 1962. The cards feature artwork by science-fiction artist Wallace Wood and tell the story of the invasion of Earth by cruel, hideous Martians. The cards depicted futuristic battle scenes and bizarre methods of Martian attack, torture...
. The film uses elements of black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
, surreal humour
Surreal humour
Surreal humour is a form of humour based on violations of causal reasoning with events and behaviours that are logically incongruent. Constructions of surreal humour involve bizarre juxtapositions, non-sequiturs, irrational situations, and/or expressions of nonsense.The humour arises from a...
, and political satire
Political satire
Political satire is a significant part of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where such arguments are expressly...
, and claims to be also a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of multiple science fiction B movie
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
s. Mars Attacks! stars an ensemble cast
Ensemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
, which includes Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
, Lukas Haas
Lukas Haas
Lukas Daniel Haas is an American actor, known for roles both as a child and as an adult. His career has spanned more than 25 years during which time he has appeared in more than 36 feature films, as well as a number of television shows and theater productions.-Early life and career:Haas was born...
, Annette Bening
Annette Bening
Annette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
, Jim Brown
Jim Brown
James Nathaniel "Jim" Brown is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News...
, Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years...
, Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...
, Glenn Close
Glenn Close
Glenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...
, Martin Short
Martin Short
Martin Hayter Short, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer. He is best-known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live...
, Jack Black
Jack Black
Jack Black , is an American actor and musician, notably of Tenacious D.Jack Black may also refer to:* Jack Black , late 19th - early 20th Century author and hobo* Jack Black , drummer for 1970s UK punk band The Boys...
, Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman
Natalie Hershlag , better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel...
, Danny DeVito
Danny DeVito
Daniel Michael DeVito, Jr. , better known as Danny DeVito, is an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He first gained prominence for his portrayal of Louie De Palma on the ABC and NBC television series Taxi , for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy.DeVito and his wife, Rhea Perlman,...
, and Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate is an American actress. She is best known for playing Kelly Bundy on the Fox sitcom Married... with Children. Since then, she has established a film and television career, winning a Primetime Emmy and earning Tony and Golden Globe nominations...
.
Director Tim Burton and writer Jonathan Gems
Jonathan Gems
Jonathan Gems is a British playwright and screenwriter mostly known for his work on Mars Attacks!, directed by Tim Burton. He also wrote the film's novelization....
began development for Mars Attacks! in 1993, and Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
purchased the film rights
Film rights
Film rights are the rights under copyright law to make a derivative work—in this case, a film—derived from an item of intellectual property. Under U.S...
to the trading card series on Burton's behalf. When Gems turned in his first draft in 1994, Warner Bros. commissioned rewrites from Gems, Burton, Martin Amis
Martin Amis
Martin Louis Amis is a British novelist, the author of many novels including Money and London Fields . He is currently Professor of Creative Writing at the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester, but will step down at the end of the 2010/11 academic year...
, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski
Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski
Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski are a Hollywood screenwriting team...
in an attempt to lower the budget to $160 million. The final production budget came to $80 million, while Warners spent another $20 million on the Mars Attacks! marketing campaign. Filming lasted from February to November 1996. It was made famous for the quirky alien laugh, which was created by reversing the sound ducks make when they quack.
The filmmakers hired Industrial Light & Magic to create the Martians using computer animation
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
after their previous plan to use stop motion
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
, supervised by Barry Purves
Barry Purves
Barry J.C. Purves is an English animator, director and writer of puppet animation and also a designer and director of stage plays, primarily for the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse in Manchester...
, fell through because of budget limitations. Mars Attacks! was released on December 13, 1996 to mixed reviews from critics. The film grossed approximately $101 million in box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
totals, which was seen as a disappointment. Mars Attacks! was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
and earned multiple nominations at the Saturn Award
Saturn Award
The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...
s.
Plot
Martians surround Earth with an armada of flying saucerFlying saucer
A flying saucer is a type of unidentified flying object sometimes believed to be of alien origin with a disc or saucer-shaped body, usually described as silver or metallic, occasionally reported as covered with running lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly either...
s; whereupon President James "Jimmy" Dale addresses America concerning the historic event, watched by news anchors in New York, employees and guests at the Luxor Las Vegas hotel in Nevada, U.S.A., and a trailer trash
Trailer trash
Trailer trash is a derogatory North American English term for poor people living in trailers or mobile homes, especially in trailer parks.-Television:...
family in Perkinsville, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
. The President's science aides set a first contact
First contact
-In anthropology:* First contact , a first meeting of two previously unknown cultures* First Contact , a documentary by Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson* First Contact , a 2004 book by Mark Anstice-In music:...
meeting with the Martians in Pahrump, Nevada
Pahrump, Nevada
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 24,631 people, 10,153 households, and 7,127 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 82.7 people per square mile . There were 11,651 housing units at an average density of 39.1 per square mile...
.
Using a defective universal translator
Universal translator
A universal translator is a device common to many science fiction works, especially on television. First described in Murray Leinster's 1945 novella "First Contact", the translator's purpose is to offer an instant translation of any language...
the Martians announce they have "come in peace"; but when a hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
releases a dove
Dove
Pigeons and doves constitute the bird family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes, which include some 300 species of near passerines. In general terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used somewhat interchangeably...
as a symbol of peace, the Martians shoot it down and attack. General Casey, Jason Stone, and Billy-Glenn are among those killed. Believing the reason of this a "cultural misunderstanding", President Dale has Professor Donald Kessler continue negotiations with the Martians, whose ambassador is invited to address the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
. At this meeting, the Martians destroy the Congress and war is established.
General Decker tries to convince President Dale to retaliate with nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...
; but the president refuses. After a Martian assassin disguised as a beautiful woman enters the White House and unsuccessfully attempts to kill the President, the other Martians begin a full-scale invasion, in which they destroy Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...
, the Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is a white Marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal...
, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, the Washington Monument
Washington Monument
The Washington Monument is an obelisk near the west end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate the first U.S. president, General George Washington...
, one of the Great Pyramids
Great Pyramid of Giza
The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, the Moai
Moai
Moai , or mo‘ai, are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Chilean Polynesian island of Easter Island between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the...
(Easter Island Statues, Chile) and other locations, and rebuild Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota, in the United States...
to resemble themselves. The president is killed by a robotic hand during another attempted negotiation. Richie Norris, a Kansas teenager, discovers that the Martians are vulnerable to Slim Whitman
Slim Whitman
Ottis Dewey Whitman, Jr. , known professionally as Slim Whitman, is an American country music singer and songwriter, known for his yodelling abilities. He has sold in excess of 120 million albums in unit sales and has had numerous successful recordings...
's song "Indian Love Call
Indian Love Call
"Indian Love Call" is a song from Rose-Marie, a 1924 operetta-style Broadway musical with music by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart, and book and lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II...
", whereupon he and his grandmother use it to destroy the Martians. Richie and his grandmother are thereafter awarded the Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
by the president's teenaged daughter, Taffy.
Cast
- Jack NicholsonJack NicholsonJohn Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
as- James Dale: President of the United StatesPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, who wants peace and friendship with the Martians. He is later killed during a negotiation. - Art Land: A Las VegasLas Vegas, NevadaLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
real estate developer not worried by the invasion, being interested chiefly in the pleasure of his investors. He is the husband of Barbara.
- James Dale: President of the United States
- Lukas HaasLukas HaasLukas Daniel Haas is an American actor, known for roles both as a child and as an adult. His career has spanned more than 25 years during which time he has appeared in more than 36 feature films, as well as a number of television shows and theater productions.-Early life and career:Haas was born...
as Richie Norris: Often ostracized by his family, but loved by his grandmother. When Richie attempts to save her, he discovers the Martians' weakness. - Annette BeningAnnette BeningAnnette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
as Barbara Land: Recovering alcoholic and Art's wife, who is interested in New AgeNew AgeThe New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
philosophy. - Jim BrownJim BrownJames Nathaniel "Jim" Brown is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News...
as Byron WilliamsByron Williams (fictional character)Byron Williams is a fictional character in the 1996 film Mars Attacks!. He is a former heavyweight champion in boxing and escapes the Martians' massacre in the end.- Background :...
: Former heavyweight champion boxer who singlehandedly fights dozens of Martians in unarmed combat, allowing Tom Jones, Barbara, and Cindy to escape Las Vegas. Byron is ultimately overwhelmed by the Martians, but survives. - Pierce BrosnanPierce BrosnanPierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years...
as Donald Kessler: A British anatomy professor, who thinks the Martians are friendly and (therefore) cannot explain their attacks. When he is captured by the Martians, his head is disembodied and kept alive as one of the Martians' experiments. - Sarah Jessica ParkerSarah Jessica ParkerSarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...
as Natalie Lake: Talk showTalk showA talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
host for Today in Fashion. She is Jason's girlfriend and also in love with Donald Kessler. The Martians exchange her head with that of her chihuahuaChihuahua (dog)The ' is the smallest breed of dog and is so named for the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. Chihuahuas come in a wide variety of sizes, head shapes, colors and coat lengths.-History:...
in their experiments. Natalie and Donald are presumed to drown when their spacecraft is submerged underwater. - Sylvia SidneySylvia SidneySylvia Sidney was an American actress who rose to prominence in the 1930s appearing in numerous crime dramas.-Early life:...
as Florence Norris: A senior citizen—supposedly with dementiaDementiaDementia is a serious loss of cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person, beyond what might be expected from normal aging...
—who helps her grandson Richie save the world with her Slim WhitmanSlim WhitmanOttis Dewey Whitman, Jr. , known professionally as Slim Whitman, is an American country music singer and songwriter, known for his yodelling abilities. He has sold in excess of 120 million albums in unit sales and has had numerous successful recordings...
music. - Glenn CloseGlenn CloseGlenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...
as Marsha Dale: President Dale's wife and First Lady of the United StatesFirst Lady of the United StatesFirst Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...
, who is killed by a falling chandelier when the Martians invade the White House. - Pam GrierPam GrierPamela Suzette "Pam" Grier is an American actress. She became famous in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women in prison and blaxploitation films such as 1974's Foxy Brown. Her career was revitalized in 1997 after her appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film...
as Louise Williams: Washington, D.C. bus driver who is worried by her sons' rebellious behavior. She is also Byron's ex-wife. - Martin ShortMartin ShortMartin Hayter Short, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer. He is best-known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live...
as Jerry Ross: White House Press SecretaryWhite House Press SecretaryThe White House Press Secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the government administration....
who is killed after sneaking a disguised Martian, whom he mistakes for a prostitute, into the White House. - Rod SteigerRod SteigerRodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the...
as General Decker: WarmongerWarmongerA warmonger is a pejorative term that is used to describe someone who is eager to encourage a people or nation to go to war.The term may also refer to:* Warmonger, a 2002 novel based on the Doctor Who television series...
United States ArmyUnited States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
General who does not trust the Martians, and advises nuclear warfareNuclear warfareNuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...
. Decker is proven right in his distrust, but is shrunken to a tiny size and intentionally stepped on by the Martian leader while protecting President Dale. - Tom JonesTom Jones (singer)Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
as Himself: Famous singer who assists Barbara, Byron, and Cindy's escape Las Vegas after the Martian attack on it. - Michael J. FoxMichael J. FoxMichael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
as Jason Stone: Network news anchor for GNN. Although jealous of his girlfriend Natalie's show, Jason attempts to save her from the Martians, but is incinerated. - Joe Don BakerJoe Don BakerJoe Don Baker is an American film actor, perhaps best known for his roles as a Mafia hitman in Charley Varrick, deputy sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III in Final Justice, real-life Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser in Walking Tall, brute force with a badge detective Mitchell in Mitchell, James...
and O-Lan Jones as Mr. Norris and Sue-Ann Norris: Trailer trashTrailer trashTrailer trash is a derogatory North American English term for poor people living in trailers or mobile homes, especially in trailer parks.-Television:...
husband and wife and the parents of Richie and Billy-Glen, who hold the aggressive Billy-Glen as an American hero and the placid Richie as the black sheepBlack sheepIn the English language, black sheep is an idiom used to describe an odd or disreputable member of a group, especially within a family. The term has typically been given negative implications, implying waywardness...
of the family. - Jack BlackJack BlackJack Black , is an American actor and musician, notably of Tenacious D.Jack Black may also refer to:* Jack Black , late 19th - early 20th Century author and hobo* Jack Black , drummer for 1970s UK punk band The Boys...
as Billy-Glen Norris: Richie's brother; a U.S. Army soldier killed by the Martians in Nevada. - Ray JRay JWilliam Ray Norwood Jr. , better known by his stage name Ray J, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and actor.-Early life:...
and Brandon HammondBrandon HammondBrandon Hammond is an American former child actor who appeared in a string of high profile projects in the 1990s.Hammond's first film role was in Menace II Society where he played the younger version of the main character Caine...
as Cedric and Neville Williams: Rebellious sons of Byron and Louise who spend most of their time playing Light gunLight gunA light gun is a pointing device for computers and a control device for arcade and video games.Modern screen-based light guns work by building a sensor into the gun itself, and the on-screen target emit light rather than the gun...
games. They help the President escape from a Martian attack at a White House tour, being themselves armed with Martian raygunRaygunRayguns are a type of fictional directed-energy weapon. They have various alternate names: ray gun, death ray, beam gun, blaster, laser gun, phaser, etc. They are a well-known feature of science fiction; for such stories they typically have the general function of guns...
s. - Natalie PortmanNatalie PortmanNatalie Hershlag , better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel...
as Taffy Dale: Daughter of President James Dale and First Lady Marsha. She does not care much about the Martians until they kill both her parents. She survives the invasion and awards Ritchie with a Medal of Honor. - Paul WinfieldPaul WinfieldPaul Edward Winfield was an American television, film, and stage actor. He was known for his portrayal of a Louisiana sharecropper who struggles to support his family during the Great Depression in the landmark film Sounder which earned him an Academy Award nomination. Winfield also portrayed Dr....
as Lt. General Casey: Is sent as the American ambassador in Nevada and becomes the first human victim of the Martian attack. - Danny DeVitoDanny DeVitoDaniel Michael DeVito, Jr. , better known as Danny DeVito, is an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He first gained prominence for his portrayal of Louie De Palma on the ABC and NBC television series Taxi , for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy.DeVito and his wife, Rhea Perlman,...
as Rude Gambler: Obnoxious lawyer vacationing in Las Vegas who is incinerated by a Martian after failing to negotiate over a RolexRolexRolex SA is a Swiss watchmaking manufacturer of high-quality, luxury wristwatches. Rolex watches are popularly regarded as status symbols and BusinessWeek magazine ranks Rolex No.71 on its 2007 annual list of the 100 most valuable global brands...
wristwatch. - Lisa Marie Smith as Martian Girl: A Martian assassin sent to kill President Dale. She is distracted by a parakeetParakeetParakeet is a term for any one of a large number of unrelated small to medium sized species of parrot, that generally have long tail feathers...
and then killed by Secret Service agents. - Brian HaleyBrian HaleyBrian Haley is an American actor and stand-up comedian. His stand-up act is characterized by playing his all-American looks against manic outbursts and absurd situations...
as Mitch: Obedient Secret Service AgentUnited States Secret ServiceThe United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
who sacrifices himself to save President Dale's life. At one point of the Martian invasion, he is shot in the arm with a red raygun; but only suffers a fracture. - Janice Rivera as Cindy: Waitress at the Luxor Las Vegas Hotel. Terrified of the Martians, she escapes from the city with Barbara, Byron, and Tom Jones.
- Christina ApplegateChristina ApplegateChristina Applegate is an American actress. She is best known for playing Kelly Bundy on the Fox sitcom Married... with Children. Since then, she has established a film and television career, winning a Primetime Emmy and earning Tony and Golden Globe nominations...
as Sharona: Billy-Glen's girlfriend. - Jerzy SkolimowskiJerzy SkolimowskiJerzy Skolimowski is a Polish film director, screenwriter, dramatist and actor. A graduate of the prestigious National Film School in Łódź, Skolimowski has directed more than twenty films since his 1960 début Oko wykol...
as Dr. Zeigler: Inventor of a universal translatorUniversal translatorA universal translator is a device common to many science fiction works, especially on television. First described in Murray Leinster's 1945 novella "First Contact", the translator's purpose is to offer an instant translation of any language...
device. Present in Nevada during first contact between Martians and humans. - Barbet SchroederBarbet SchroederBarbet Schroeder is a Franco-Swiss movie director and producer who started his career in French cinema in the 1960s, working together with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Rivette.-Life and career:...
as Maurice: President of France who attempts to negotiate with the Martians and is killed after he believes he has reached an agreement. - Frank WelkerFrank WelkerFranklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
as the voice of the Martians, whose speech appears composed entirely of repeated use of the syllable "Ack". - Roger L. JacksonRoger L. JacksonRoger Labon Jackson is an American voice actor. He is best known for voicing the killer Ghostface in the Scream films, leaving him to keep an unknown identity to withhold the mystery of Ghostface...
as the voice of Dr. Zeigler's Martian-language Translator.
Development
Jonathan GemsJonathan Gems
Jonathan Gems is a British playwright and screenwriter mostly known for his work on Mars Attacks!, directed by Tim Burton. He also wrote the film's novelization....
, who had previously written multiple unproduced screenplays for director/producer Tim Burton
Tim Burton
Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
, came up with the idea of doing a film adaptation of the Mars Attacks
Mars Attacks
Mars Attacks is a science fiction trading card series released in 1962. The cards feature artwork by science-fiction artist Wallace Wood and tell the story of the invasion of Earth by cruel, hideous Martians. The cards depicted futuristic battle scenes and bizarre methods of Martian attack, torture...
trading card series in 1993. The writer then pitched both concepts of Mars Attacks and Dinosaurs Attack!
Dinosaurs Attack!
Dinosaurs Attack! is a trading card series by Topps, released in 1988, and containing 55 cards and 11 sticker cards. The cards tells the story of dinosaurs transported through time into the present day through a freak accident and wreaking havoc on Earth...
to Burton, and decided that Dinosaurs Attack! would be too similar to Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park (film)
Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. It stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Martin Ferrero, and Bob Peck...
(1993), but went on to create Mars Attacks!. Burton, who was busy preparing Ed Wood
Ed Wood (film)
Ed Wood is a 1994 American comedy-drama biopic directed and produced by Tim Burton, and starring Johnny Depp as cult filmmaker Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film concerns the period in Wood's life when he made his best-known films as well as his relationship with actor Bela Lugosi, played by Martin Landau...
(1994), believed that Mars Attacks! would be a perfect opportunity to pay homage
Homage
Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....
to the films of Edward D. Wood, Jr., especially Plan 9 from Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1959 science fiction film written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila "Vampira" Nurmi...
(1959), and other 1950s science fiction B movies
B movies (Transition in the 1950s)
The 1950s mark a significant change in the definition of the B movie. The transformation of the film industry due to court rulings that brought an end to many long-standing distribution practices as well as the challenge of television led to major changes in U.S. cinema at the exhibition level...
, such as Invaders from Mars
Invaders from Mars (1953 film)
Invaders From Mars is a science fiction film directed by William Cameron Menzies, taken from a scenario by Richard Blake, and based on a story treatment by John Tucker Battle who was inspired by a dream recounted by his wife. It was produced independently by Edward L. Alperson Jr. and starred...
(1953), It Came from Outer Space
It Came from Outer Space
It Came from Outer Space is a 1953 science fiction 3-D film directed by Jack Arnold, and starring Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, and Charles Drake. It was Universal's first film to be filmed in 3-D.- Plot :...
(1953), The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds (1953 film)
The War of the Worlds is a 1953 science fiction film starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. It was the first on-screen loose adaptation of the H. G. Wells classic novel of the same name...
(1953), Target Earth
Target Earth (film)
Target Earth is a 1954 science fiction film. It was directed by Sherman A. Rose and stars Richard Denning, Kathleen Crowley, Virginia Grey, and Whit Bissell. The film focuses on a deserted Chicago cityscape and a small group of people who have been overlooked during a mass evacuation due to an...
(1954), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is an American black and white science fiction film, directed by Fred F. Sears and released by Columbia Pictures. The film is also known as Invasion of the Flying Saucers. It was ostensibly suggested by the non-fiction work Flying Saucers from Outer Space by Donald...
(1956).
Burton set Mars Attacks! up with Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
and the studio purchased the film rights
Film rights
Film rights are the rights under copyright law to make a derivative work—in this case, a film—derived from an item of intellectual property. Under U.S...
to the trading card series on his behalf. The original theatrical release date was planned for the summer of 1996. Gems completed his original script in 1994, which was budgeted by Warner Bros. at $260 million. The studio wanted to make the film for no more than $60 million. After turning in numerous drafts in an attempt to lower the budget, Gems was replaced by Ed Wood writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski
Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski
Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski are a Hollywood screenwriting team...
. Martin Amis
Martin Amis
Martin Louis Amis is a British novelist, the author of many novels including Money and London Fields . He is currently Professor of Creative Writing at the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester, but will step down at the end of the 2010/11 academic year...
also was hired for rewriters' work, but later stated that although he "rather liked [the film], it contained not a word I wrote".
Gems eventually returned to the project, writing a total of 12 drafts of the script. Although he is credited with both the screen story and screenplay of Mars Attacks!, Gems dedicates his novelization
Novelization
A novelization is a novel that is written based on some other media story form rather than as an original work.Novelizations of films usually add background material not found in the original work to flesh out the story, because novels are generally longer than screenplays...
of the movie to Burton, who "co-wrote the screenplay and didn't ask for a credit". Warner Bros. was dubious of the Martian dialogue and wanted Burton to add closed captioning
Closed captioning
Closed captioning is the process of displaying text on a television, video screen or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information to individuals who wish to access it...
subtitles, but he resisted. Working with Burton, Gems pared the film's 60 leading characters down to 23, and the worldwide destruction planned for the film was isolated to three major cities. Scenes featuring Martians attacking China, the Philippines, Japan, Europe, Africa, India, and Russia were deleted from the screenplay. "Bear in mind this was way before Independence Day
Independence Day (film)
Independence Day is a 1996 science fiction film about an alien invasion of Earth, focusing on a disparate group of individuals and families as they converge in the Nevada desert and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a last-chance counterattack on July 4 – the same...
(1996) was written", Gems commented. "We had things like Manhattan being destroyed building by building, the White House went and so did the Empire State Building. Warner Bros. figured all this would be too expensive, so we cut most of that out to reduce the cost."
Casting
The decision to hire an A-listA-list
A-list is a term that alludes to major movie stars, or the most bankable in the Hollywood film industry.The A-list is part of a larger guide called The Hot List that has become an industry-standard guide in Hollywood...
ensemble cast
Ensemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
for Mars Attacks! parallels the strategy Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen was a television and film director and producer nicknamed "The Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genre. He was also notable for creating a number of television series.- Biography :...
used for his disaster film
Disaster film
A disaster film is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject...
s, notably The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno
The Towering Inferno
The Towering Inferno is a 1974 American action disaster film produced by Irwin Allen featuring an all-star cast led by Steve McQueen and Paul Newman.A co-production between Twentieth Century-Fox and Warner Bros...
(1974). Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
was the original choice for the role of President Dale, but dropped out. Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
replaced him, but then considered playing another role, and left the production over concerns about the film's violence. Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
was then approached, who jokingly remarked he wanted to play all the roles. Burton agreed to cast Nicholson as both Art Land and President Dale, specifically remembering his positive working relationship with the actor on Batman
Batman (1989 film)
Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Michael Keaton in the title role, as well as Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl and Jack Palance...
(1989).
Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...
was originally set to play Barbara Land before Annette Bening
Annette Bening
Annette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
was cast, who modeled the character after Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret Olsson is a Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer whose professional name is Ann-Margret. She became famous for her starring roles in Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, The Cincinnati Kid, Carnal Knowledge, and Tommy...
's performance in Viva Las Vegas
Viva Las Vegas
Viva Las Vegas is a 1964 American romantic musical movie starring music icon Elvis Presley and actress/dancer Ann-Margret. This movie is regarded by many fans of these actors and by film critics as one of Presley's best movies, and it is noted for the apparent on-screen chemistry between Presley...
(1964). Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
was the first choice for Professor Donald Kessler, which eventually went to Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years...
. Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
, Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton is an American film actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. Keaton began her career on stage, and made her screen debut in 1970...
and Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing is an American stage, film and television actress. She is known for her portrayal of First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing; for playing Betty Rizzo in the film Grease; and for her role as Ouisa Kittredge in the play Six Degrees of Separation and its...
were considered for First Lady Marsha Dale, but Glenn Close
Glenn Close
Glenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...
won the role. In addition to Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
from Batman
Batman (1989 film)
Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Michael Keaton in the title role, as well as Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl and Jack Palance...
(1989), other actors who reunited with Burton on Mars Attacks! include Sylvia Sidney
Sylvia Sidney
Sylvia Sidney was an American actress who rose to prominence in the 1930s appearing in numerous crime dramas.-Early life:...
from Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice is a 1988 American comedy horror film directed by Tim Burton, produced by The Geffen Film Company and distributed by Warner Bros...
(1988), Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...
(who signed on before reading the script) from Ed Wood
Ed Wood (film)
Ed Wood is a 1994 American comedy-drama biopic directed and produced by Tim Burton, and starring Johnny Depp as cult filmmaker Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film concerns the period in Wood's life when he made his best-known films as well as his relationship with actor Bela Lugosi, played by Martin Landau...
(1994), O-Lan Jones from Edward Scissorhands
Edward Scissorhands
Edward Scissorhands is a 1990 romantic fantasy film directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp. The film shows the story of an artificial man named Edward, an unfinished creation, who has scissors for hands. Edward is taken in by a suburban family and falls in love with their teenage daughter...
(1990), and Danny DeVito
Danny DeVito
Daniel Michael DeVito, Jr. , better known as Danny DeVito, is an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He first gained prominence for his portrayal of Louie De Palma on the ABC and NBC television series Taxi , for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy.DeVito and his wife, Rhea Perlman,...
from Batman Returns
Batman Returns
Batman Returns is a 1992 American superhero film directed by Tim Burton. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is the sequel to Burton's Batman , and features Michael Keaton reprising the title role, with Danny DeVito as the Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman.Burton originally did not...
(1992), continuing Burton's trend of recasting actors multiple times from his previous works. This is also notable for one of the few times that Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
turned down a role in a Burton film. He was originally approached to play reporter Jason Stone. Michael J Fox was cast instead.
Filming
The original start dateStart date
The start date of a film refers to the first day of principal photography.A film project which has been green-lit does not typically enter pre-production until it has been assigned a start date, and for this reason a film with a start date is generally regarded as more likely to proceed to...
was mid-August 1995 but was delayed until February 26, 1996. Director Tim Burton hired Peter Suschitzky
Peter Suschitzky
Peter Suschitzky BSC, A.S.C. cinematographer born in Warsaw and raised in London, the son of the cinematographer Wolfgang Suschitzky BSC. Among his most known work as director of photography are Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and the later films of David Cronenberg...
as the cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
because he was a fan of his work in David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg
David Paul Cronenberg, OC, FRSC is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror or venereal horror genre. This style of filmmaking explores people's fears of bodily transformation and infection. In his films, the...
's films. Production designer
Production designer
In film and television, a production designer is the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the...
Thomas Wynn (A Beautiful Mind
A Beautiful Mind (film)
A Beautiful Mind is a 2001 American drama film based on the life of John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics. The film was directed by Ron Howard and written by Akiva Goldsman. It was inspired by a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-nominated 1998 book of the same name by Sylvia Nasar...
, Malcolm X
Malcolm X (film)
Malcolm X is a 1992 biographical motion picture about the Muslim-American figure Malcolm X . It was co-written, co-produced, and directed by Spike Lee. It stars Denzel Washington as the titular character. It co-stars Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, Al Freeman, Jr., and Delroy Lindo...
) intended to have the war room pay tribute to Dr. Strangelove (1962). During production, Burton insisted that the art direction, cinematography
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
and costume design
Costume design
Costume design is the fabrication of apparel for the overall appearance of a character or performer. This usually involves researching, designing and building the actual items from conception. Costumes may be for a theater or cinema performance but may not be limited to such...
of Mars Attacks! incorporate the look of the 1960s trading cards.
On designing the Martian (played by Burton's then-girlfriend Lisa Marie Smith) who seduces Jerry Ross (Martin Short), costume designer Colleen Atwood
Colleen Atwood
Colleen Atwood is an American costume designer.Atwood has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design nine times and won Academy Awards for the movies Chicago in 2002, Memoirs of a Geisha in 2006, and Alice in Wonderland in 2011. Atwood has collaborated several times with...
took combined inspiration from the playing cards, Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, the work of Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas was a noted Peruvian painter of pin-up girls. He is often considered one of the most famous of the pin-up artists...
and Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
in Barbarella
Barbarella (film)
Barbarella is a 1968 Franco-Italian science fiction film based on Jean-Claude Forrest's French Barbarella comics. The film was directed by Roger Vadim and stars Jane Fonda, who was Vadim's wife at the time.-Plot:...
(1968). Filming for Mars Attacks! ended on June 1, 1996. The film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
was written/composed by Burton's regular Danny Elfman
Danny Elfman
Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film. Up until 1995, he was the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band Oingo Boingo, a group he formed in 1976...
, to whom Burton was reconciled after a quarrel incurred during The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Nightmare Before Christmas, often promoted as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, is a 1993 stop motion musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick and produced/co-written by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, a being from "Halloween Town" who opens a portal to...
(1993), for which they did not co-operate in producing Ed Wood
Ed Wood (film)
Ed Wood is a 1994 American comedy-drama biopic directed and produced by Tim Burton, and starring Johnny Depp as cult filmmaker Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film concerns the period in Wood's life when he made his best-known films as well as his relationship with actor Bela Lugosi, played by Martin Landau...
(1994). Elfman enlisted the help of Oingo Boingo
Oingo Boingo
Oingo Boingo was an American new wave band. They are best known for their influence on other musicians, their soundtrack contributions and their high energy Halloween concerts. The band was founded in 1972 as The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, a performance art group...
lead guitarist Steve Bartek
Steve Bartek
Steve Bartek, born in Garfield Heights, Ohio on January 30, 1952, is an American guitarist, film composer, conductor and orchestrator.-Early career:...
to help arrange the compositions for the orchestra.
Visual effects
Tim Burton initially intended to use stop motionStop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
animation to feature the Martians, viewing it as a homage
Homage
Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....
to the work of Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen is an American film producer and special effects creator...
, primarily Jason and the Argonauts. Similar to his own Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice is a 1988 American comedy horror film directed by Tim Burton, produced by The Geffen Film Company and distributed by Warner Bros...
, Burton "wanted to make [the special effects] look cheap and purposely fake-looking as possible". He first approached Henry Selick
Henry Selick
Henry Selick is an American stop motion director, producer and writer who is best known for directing The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach and Coraline...
, director of The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Nightmare Before Christmas, often promoted as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, is a 1993 stop motion musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick and produced/co-written by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, a being from "Halloween Town" who opens a portal to...
, to supervise the stop motion work; but Selick was busy directing James and the Giant Peach
James and the Giant Peach (film)
James and the Giant Peach is a 1996 musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick, based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. It was produced by Tim Burton and Denise Di Novi. The film is a combination of live action and stop-motion animation....
, also produced by Burton. Despite the fact that Warner Bros. was skeptical of the escalating budget (Mars Attacks! had yet to be greenlight
Greenlight
To green-light a project is to give permission or a go ahead to move forward with a project. In the context of the movie and TV businesses, to green-light something is to formally approve its production finance, thereby allowing the project to move forward from the development phase to...
ed by the studio), Burton hired Barry Purves
Barry Purves
Barry J.C. Purves is an English animator, director and writer of puppet animation and also a designer and director of stage plays, primarily for the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse in Manchester...
to shepherd the stop-motion work. Purves created an international team of about 70 animators, who worked on Mars Attacks! for eight months and began compiling test footage in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
. The department workers studied Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...
's choreography and movement as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard (film)
Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 American film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett...
for inspiration on the Martians' movement.
When the budget was projected at $100 million (Warner Bros. wanted it for no more than $75 million), producer Larry J. Franco
Larry J. Franco
Larry J. Franco is an American film producer. He has also served as an actor, Second Unit Director or Assistant Director. He is the father of former Atlanta Braves baseball player Matt Franco and Phronsie Franco. He is the ex-brother-in-law of actor Kurt Russell and Season Hubley and the...
commissioned a test reel from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), the visual effects company he worked with on Jumanji
Jumanji (film)
Jumanji is a 1995 American fantasy-comedy film about a supernatural board game that makes wild animals and other jungle hazards materialize upon each player's move. It was directed by Joe Johnston and is based on Chris Van Allsburg's popular 1981 picture book of the same name...
. Burton was persuaded to change his mind to employ computer animation
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
, which brought the final production budget to $80 million. Although Purves was uncredited for his work, stop-motion supervisors Ian Mackinnon and Peter Saunders, who would later collaborate with Burton on Corpse Bride
Corpse Bride
Corpse Bride, often promoted as Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, is a 2005 stop-motion-animated fantasy musical film directed by Mike Johnson and Tim Burton. It is set in a fictional Victorian era village in Europe. Johnny Depp led an all-star cast as the voice of Victor, while Helena Bonham Carter ...
, received character design credit. Warner Digital Studios was responsible for the scenes of global destruction, airborne flying saucer sequences, the Martian landing in Nevada, and the robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
that chases Richie Norris in his pickup truck
Pickup truck
A pickup truck is a light motor vehicle with an open-top rear cargo area .-Definition:...
. Warner Digital also used practical effects, such as building scale model
Scale model
A scale model is a physical model, a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object, which seeks to maintain the relative proportions of the physical size of the original object. Very often the scale model is used as a guide to making the object in...
s of Big Ben and other landmark
Landmark
This is a list of landmarks around the world.Landmarks may be split into two categories - natural phenomena and man-made features, like buildings, bridges, statues, public squares and so forth...
s. The destruction of Art Land's hotel was footage of the real-life night-time demolition of The Landmark Hotel and Casino
The Landmark Hotel and Casino
The Landmark Tower was a hotel/casino located in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Landmark opened on July 1, 1969 and closed on August 8, 1990.The Landmark played host to famous celebrities such as Danny Thomas, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and Freddy Fender's first appearance.With just 525 rooms, the...
, a building Burton wished to immortalize.
Release
Warner Bros. spent $20 million on the movie's marketing campaign; together with $80 million spent during production, the final combined budget came to $100 million. A novelizationNovelization
A novelization is a novel that is written based on some other media story form rather than as an original work.Novelizations of films usually add background material not found in the original work to flesh out the story, because novels are generally longer than screenplays...
, written by writer Jonathan Gems
Jonathan Gems
Jonathan Gems is a British playwright and screenwriter mostly known for his work on Mars Attacks!, directed by Tim Burton. He also wrote the film's novelization....
, was published by Puffin Books
Puffin Books
Puffin Books is the children's imprint of British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s it has been the largest publisher of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world.-Early history:...
in January 1997. The film was released in the United States on December 13, 1996, earning $9.38 million in its opening weekend. Mars Attacks! eventually made $37.77 million in US totals and $63.6 million elsewhere, coming to a worldwide total of $101.37 million.
The film was considered a box office bomb
Box office bomb
The phrase box office bomb refers to a film for which the production and marketing costs greatly exceeded the revenue regained by the movie studio. This should not be confused with Hollywood accounting when official figures show large losses, yet the movie is a financial success.A film's financial...
in the U.S. but achieved greater success, both critically and commercially, in Europe. Many observers found similarities with Independence Day
Independence Day (film)
Independence Day is a 1996 science fiction film about an alien invasion of Earth, focusing on a disparate group of individuals and families as they converge in the Nevada desert and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a last-chance counterattack on July 4 – the same...
, which also came out in 1996. "It was just a coincidence. Nobody told me about it. I was surprised how close it was," director Tim Burton continued, "but then it's a pretty basic genre I guess. Independence Day was different in tone - it was different in everything. It almost seemed like we had done kind of a Mad magazine
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
version of Independence Day." During Mars Attacks! theatrical run in January 1997, USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
purchased the broadcasting rights of the film.
Critical reaction
Mars Attacks! also drew mixed responses from critics. Based on 56 reviews collected by Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, 51% of the reviewers enjoyed the film, with an average score of 5.6/10. Mars Attacks! was more balanced with the 15 critics in Rotten Tomatoes "Top Critics" poll, receiving a 33% approval rating and a 5.2/10 score. By comparison, Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
calculated an average score of 52/100 from 19 reviews. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
observed the homage
Homage
Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....
s to the 1950s science fiction B movie
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
s. "Ed Wood himself could have told us what's wrong with this movie: the makers felt superior to the material. To be funny, even schlock has to believe in itself. Look for Infra-Man
The Super Inframan
The Super Inframan is a Hong Kong tokusatsu-style superhero film produced by Shaw Brothers Studio in 1975. Based upon the huge success of the Japanese tokusatsu shows Ultraman and Kamen Rider in Hong Kong, this film features the same type of "henshin", monster/robot action and costumed derring-do,...
(1975) or Invasion of the Bee Girls
Invasion of the Bee Girls
Invasion of the Bee Girls is a 1973 science fiction film. The first film venture for writer Nicholas Meyer, it was directed by Denis Sanders and stars William Smith, Victoria Vetri and Anitra Ford.-Synopsis:...
(1973) and you will find movies that lack stars and big budgets and fancy special effects but are funny and fun in a way that Burton's megaproduction never really understands."
Albert Varnish of the Bulgarian Filmi Vreme called it the "biggest bunch of crackpot nonsense I have ever had the misfortune to witness. God help us all if this kind of crap now passes for comedy. Or for a movie."
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.-Background:...
of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
wrote that "Mars Attacks! is all 1990s cynicism and disbelief, mocking the conventions that Independence Day takes seriously. This all sounds clever enough but in truth, Mars Attacks! is not as much fun as it should be. Few of its numerous actors make a lasting impression and Burton's heart and soul is not in the humor". Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Desson Patrick Thomson is a speechwriter in the Obama Administration and a former movie critic for The Washington Post.-Biography:Thomson attended boarding schools in England from the age of 7 until 17. He went to the Abbey School in East Grinstead, Sussex, and the City of London Freemen's School...
from The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
said "Mars Attacks! evokes plenty of sci-fi classics, from The Day the Earth Stood Still
The Day the Earth Stood Still
The Day the Earth Stood Still is a 1951 American science fiction film directed by Robert Wise and written by Edmund H. North based on the short story "Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates. The film stars Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Sam Jaffe, and Hugh Marlowe...
(1951) to Dr. Strangelove (1962), but it doesn't do much beyond that superficial exercise. With the exception of Burton's jolting sight gags (I may never recover from the vision of Sarah Jessica Parker's head grafted on to the body of a chihuahua
Chihuahua (dog)
The ' is the smallest breed of dog and is so named for the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. Chihuahuas come in a wide variety of sizes, head shapes, colors and coat lengths.-History:...
), the comedy is half-developed, pedestrian material. And the climactic
Climax (narrative)
The Climax is the point in the story where the main character's point of view changes, or the most exciting/action filled part of the story. It also known has the main turning point in the story...
battle between Earthlings and Martians is dull and overextended".
Richard Schickel
Richard Schickel
Richard Warren Schickel is an American author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. He is a film critic for Time magazine, having also written for Life magazine and the Los Angeles Times Book Review....
, writing in Time magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, gave a positive review. "You have to admire everyone's chutzpah
Chutzpah
Chutzpah is the quality of audacity, for good or for bad, but it is generally used negatively. The Yiddish word derives from the Hebrew word , meaning "insolence", "audacity". The modern English usage of the word has taken on a broader meaning, having been popularized through vernacular use in...
: the breadth of Burton's (and writer Jonathan Gems') movie references, which range from Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
to Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
; and above all their refusal to offer us a single likable character. Perhaps they don't create quite enough deeply funny earthlings to go around, but a thoroughly mean-spirited big-budget movie is always a treasurable rarity." Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum is an American film critic. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for the Chicago Reader from 1987 until 2008, when he retired at the age of 65...
from the Chicago Reader praised the surreal humour
Surreal humour
Surreal humour is a form of humour based on violations of causal reasoning with events and behaviours that are logically incongruent. Constructions of surreal humour involve bizarre juxtapositions, non-sequiturs, irrational situations, and/or expressions of nonsense.The humour arises from a...
and black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
, which he found to be in the vein of Dr. Strangelove and Gremlins
Gremlins
Gremlins is a 1984 American horror comedy film directed by Joe Dante, released by Warner Bros. The film is about a young man who receives a strange creature—called a Mogwai—as a pet, which then spawns other creatures who transform into small, destructive, evil monsters. It was followed by a sequel,...
(1984). He said it was far from clear whether the movie was a satire, although critics were describing it as one. Todd McCarthy of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
called Mars Attacks! "a cult sci-fi comedy
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
miscast as an elaborate, all-star
A-list
A-list is a term that alludes to major movie stars, or the most bankable in the Hollywood film industry.The A-list is part of a larger guide called The Hot List that has become an industry-standard guide in Hollywood...
studio extravaganza."
Awards
Mars Attacks! was on the shortlist for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects nomination, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and SciencesAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
chose Independence Day
Independence Day (film)
Independence Day is a 1996 science fiction film about an alien invasion of Earth, focusing on a disparate group of individuals and families as they converge in the Nevada desert and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a last-chance counterattack on July 4 – the same...
, Dragonheart
Dragonheart
Dragonheart is a 1996 fantasy adventure film directed by Rob Cohen. It stars Dennis Quaid, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite, Dina Meyer, and the voice of Sean Connery. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and various other awards in 1996 and 1997...
and Twister instead. The film was nominated for seven categories at the Saturn Award
Saturn Award
The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...
s. Danny Elfman won Best Music
Saturn Award for Best Music
The following is a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Music.-Multiple Winners:*John Williams - 7 awards*Danny Elfman - 5 awards*James Horner - 3 awards*Alan Silvestri - 3 awards*Alan Menken - 2 awards*John Ottman - 2 awards*Miklós Rózsa - 2 awards...
, while director Tim Burton, writer Jonathan Gems, actor Lukas Haas, costume designer Colleen Atwood and the visual effects department at Industrial Light & Magic received nominations. Mars Attacks! was nominated for both the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film
Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film
The Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film is a Saturn Award given to the best film in the science fiction genre by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.-Winners:-External links:*...
(which went to Independence Day) and the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
.