Mars Attacks!

Plot

On the planet Mars, a Martian spaceship gathers hundreds of other ships and travels to Earth. U.S. President James Dale, along with his aides, addresses the United States concerning this historic event. Several days later, the President's science aides set up a first-contact meeting with the Martians in Pahrump, Nevada, as Dale watches the development on television with his wife Marsha and his daughter Taffy. Using a translation machine, the Martian ambassador announces that his race has "come in peace". In response, a hippie releases a live dove as a symbol of peace, causing the ambassador to shoot it before ordering the other Martians to massacre most of the attendees at the event, including General Casey, news reporter Jason Stone, and young private Billy-Glenn Norris. Talk-show host Natalie Lake, who is Jason's co-worker and girlfriend, is captured by the Martians in the process, alongside her pet chihuahua, Poppy.

Thinking that the Martians assumed that the dove was a symbol of war, Dale tells Professor Donald Kessler to renegotiate with the Martians, whose ambassador later requests to address the United States Congress. At this meeting, the Martians annihilate most of Congress and, despite begging the ambassador to stop, Kessler is knocked unconscious and taken aboard their ship. Kessler's head is disembodied and animated as part of the experiments by the Martians, who have also switched around Nathalie and Poppy's heads onto their bodies. Back on Earth, General Decker fails to persuade Dale to retaliate with nuclear warfare.

After a failed attempt to assassinate Dale using a disguised Martian, the Martians declare war and invade Earth in droves, starting with Washington, D.C., and quickly spreading around the globe. As they attack the White House, the U.S. Secret Service evacuates Dale, but Marsha is killed while Taffy is separated during the chaos. After the president of France is assassinated by the Martians that night, the U.S. government attempts a nuclear attack on the Martian mothership, but that proves futile. Eventually, two Martians, led by their leader, breach the bunker where Dale has been taken, and kill Decker and everyone else in the bunker except for Dale, who makes an impassioned speech in an attempt to plead for peace. The Martian leader seemingly agrees to a truce with Dale, but then uses a gadget disguised as a hand to assassinate him.

As the Martians ravage Las Vegas, Byron Williams, a former world-champion boxer turned casino employee, leads a small group of survivors consisting of Barbara Land, singer Tom Jones, and Byron's waitress co-worker Cindy to escape the city in a small turboprop plane. As soon as they enter the plane, the group discover a large platoon of Martians (along with the ambassador) stationed there, as they are preparing to take off. Byron creates a diversion by challenging the Martians to a fistfight. While he succeeds in killing the ambassador, Byron is outnumbered and overwhelmed by the other Martians, but Jones, Barbara, and Cindy escape.

Cast

The cast also includes Joe Don Baker and O-Lan Jones as Richie's parents Glenn Norris and Sue-Ann Norris, and Jack Black as his older brother Billy-Glenn Norris. Christina Applegate appears as Sharona, Billy-Glenn's girlfriend and trailer-park lover. Pam Grier plays Byron's former wife, Louise Williams, while Janice Rivera plays his assistant, Cindy, and Ray J and Brandon Hammond play his children, Cedric Williams and Neville Williams. Jerzy Skolimowski plays Doctor Zeigler, the developer of a Martian-language translator. John Roselius plays Stone's supervisor at GNN, while Michael Reilly Burke and Valerie Wildman play fellow reporters. Steve Valentine plays the television director for Nathalie's talk show. Paul Winfield and Enrique Castillo, respectively, play General Casey and the Hispanic colonel who greet the aliens in Nevada. Brian Haley plays Mitch, one of the President's Secret Service agents. Frank Welker voices the Martians.

Production

Development

In 1985, Alex Cox pitched the idea of a film based on the Mars Attacks trading-card series as a joint production to Orion and TriStar Pictures. He wrote three drafts over the next four years, but was replaced by Martin Amis before Orion and TriStar placed Mars Attacks! in turnaround.

In 1993, Jonathan Gems, a screenwriter who had previously written multiple unproduced screenplays for director Tim Burton, approached the director and pitched the idea of turning both Mars Attacks and Dinosaurs Attack! into films. While both Gems and Burton realized that a Dinosaurs Attack! film would be too similar to Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993), Burton believed that a Mars Attacks! adaptation could function like a 1970s disaster picture with an ensemble cast; he and Gems consequently rented a copy of the film The Towering Inferno (1974) and watched it for inspiration. In a later interview, Gems explained: "After seeing that [movie] it all came to me fairly quickly. And, in about a week, I had it roughed out: the story and the characters. And when I finished it, I realized it was inevitably going to be – it couldn't help being – a portrait of America because, following the Irwin Allen formula, I'd sketched out a range of different characters from different walks of life and placed the action in different locations – in this case: California, Nevada, Kansas, New York, Mount Rushmore, and Washington, D.C."

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, the studio grew frustrated with Gems after insisting he remove the film's cold open, specifically "the cows on fire"; they demanded there be no burning cows, but Gems contends he could not devise another sequence (albeit anything Burton and he could agree improved on his initial "barbecue bovines" prologue). When Gems' latest script revision still included burning cows, the studio dismissed him; prior to leaving the project, Gems recommended the writing duo behind Ed Wood, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, as his replacement(s). Alexander and Karaszewski worked on the film through July 1995, focusing the characters and making the tone less satirical – they rewrote the third act, incorporating the military and a finale that mirrored Independence Day (1996), according to Gems.

Casting

The decision to hire an A-list ensemble cast for Mars Attacks! parallels the strategy Irwin Allen used for his disaster films, notably The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974). Jack Nicholson, approached for the role of the President, jokingly remarked that 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.

Susan Sarandon was originally set to play Barbara Land before Annette Bening was cast. Bening modeled the character after Ann-Margret's performance in Viva Las Vegas (1964). Hugh Grant was the first choice for Professor Donald Kessler, a role 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 Nicholson, other actors who reunited with Burton on Mars Attacks! include Sylvia Sidney from Beetlejuice (1988), O-Lan Jones from Edward Scissorhands (1990), and Danny DeVito from Batman Returns (1992), continuing Burton's trend of recasting actors several times from his previous works.

Roger L. Jackson, best known as the voice of Ghostface in the Scream film franchise, makes an uncredited appearance as the voice of the Martian translator device. His performance in Mars Attacks! helped him get the audition for Scream.

Filming

The originally scheduled start date was mid-August 1995, but filming was delayed until that fall. Director Tim Burton hired Peter Suschitzky as the cinematographer because he was a fan of his work in David Cronenberg's films. Production designer Wynn Thomas (A Beautiful Mind, Malcolm X) intended to have the war room pay tribute to Dr. Strangelove (1964). 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 girlfriend Lisa Marie Smith) who seduces and kills 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 composed by Burton's regular composer Danny Elfman, to whom Burton was reconciled after a quarrel that occurred 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.

Visual effects

Tim Burton initially intended to use stop-motion animation to feature the Martians, viewing it as an 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. Even though Warner Bros. was skeptical of the escalating budget and had not yet greenlit the film for production, 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, 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 pursues Richie Norris in his pickup truck. Warner Digital also used practical effects, such as building scale models of Big Ben and other landmarks. The destruction of Art Land's hotel was footage of the real-life nighttime demolition of the Landmark Hotel and Casino, a building Burton wished to immortalize.

Soundtrack

The film's music was composed and produced by Danny Elfman, conducted by Artie Kane and performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony. The soundtrack was released on March 4, 1997, by Atlantic Records.

Reception

Release and box office

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 novelization, written by screenwriter 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 and ranking in second place at the box office below Jerry Maguire. Mars Attacks! eventually made $37.77 million in U.S. totals and $63.6 million elsewhere, coming to a worldwide total of $101.37 million.

The film was considered to be a box-office bomb in the U.S. but generally 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 the film's theatrical run in January 1997, TBS purchased the broadcasting rights of the film. However, over the years since its release, the film has become a cult classic from sci-fi fans of 50s sci-fi and has placed itself in pop culture as an iconic parody film.

Critical reception

The film received mixed responses from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 57% based on 94 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! faithfully recreates the wooden characters and schlocky story of cheesy '50s sci-fi and Ed Wood movies – perhaps a little too faithfully for audiences." On Metacritic, the film received a score of 52 based on 19 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Roger Ebert observed the homages to the 1950s science fiction B movies: "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 mega production never really understands."

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 (1964), but it doesn't do much beyond that superficial exercise. Except for Burton's jolting sight gags (I may never recover from the vision of Sarah Jessica Parker's head grafted onto 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 humor 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."

Awards

Mars Attacks! was on the shortlist for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects nominations, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selected Independence Day, Dragonheart, and Twister instead. The film was nominated for seven categories at the Saturn Awards. 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.