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Mars Attacks! (1996)

Starring Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, and Pierce Brosnan.  Cinematography by Peter Suschitzky.  Edited by Chris Lebenzon. Produced by Tim Burton and Larry Franco. Written by Jonathan Gems.  Directed by Tim Burton.

A short transcript from Tim Burton’s Ed Wood…
Georgie Weiss: You must have me confused with David Selznick. I don't make major motion pictures.  I make crap.
Ed Wood: Yes, but if you take that crap and put a star in it, then you've got something.
Georgie Weiss: Yeah.  Crap with a star.

Well Tim Burton did one better than that; he made crap with about a dozen stars.  The film is a half attempt at satire, half attempt at homage to the B-movies of the fifties.  It depicts a violent Martian invasion on three fronts:  Washington DC, Las Vegas, and Kansas.

In Washington the president (played by Jack Nicholson) and his staff first attempt negotiation with the aliens, then settle on warfare.  In Vegas the former heavyweight champion (played by Jim Brown) of the world challenges the aliens to a bout. And in Kansas some other crap happens. It doesn’t really get any more interesting than that.

After Burton wrapped up Ed Wood, he went searching for his next project.  He remembered the low budget, double feature, sci-fi films that he loved from his childhood. He wanted to do something fun and lighthearted and the wheels were set in motion.  He was introduced to a series of Topps trading cards that came out in 1962 called “Mars Attacks!”

The cards depicted scenes of absolute destruction laid upon the earth by Martian invaders. The violence was considered too extreme for the youth of the early sixties and the cards were pulled from the market. They were never nationally distributed and only available for a few months.  The cards are now a pop subculture icon and fetch a hefty price in the collector’s market.

While having only occasional funny moments, Mars Attacks! the motion picture was mostly disappointing and pointless. Once you have a couple big name actors signed up to do a film, the rest of them must just come a running.  I can’t imagine that the project showed much promise, even in script form.  But then again one shouldn’t underestimate the buzz surrounding a Tim Burton project, regardless of how lame it is.

Budget: $70,000,000

Total US Gross: $37,771,017

Genre: Comedy

Runtime: 106 Minutes

US Release Date: 12/16/96

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Awards: none

Tagline: Nice Planet. We’ll Take It!

Quote: “I want to thank my grandma for always being so good to me, and, and for helping save the world and everything.”