Mars Attacks!

''Mars Attacks!'' is a 1996 American science fiction black comedy film directed by Tim Burton, who also co-produced it with Larry J. Franco. The screenplay by Jonathan Gems was based on the Topps trading card series of the same name. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Jack Nicholson (in a dual role), Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Pam Grier, Rod Steiger, Tom Jones, Lukas Haas, Natalie Portman, Jim Brown, Lisa Marie, and Sylvia Sidney in her final film role.

Alex Cox had tried to make a ''Mars Attacks'' film in the 1980s before Burton and Gems began development in 1993. When Gems turned in his first draft in 1994, Warner Bros. commissioned rewrites from Gems, Burton, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski in an attempt to lower the budget to $60 million. The final production budget came to $80 million, while Warner Bros. spent another $20 million on the ''Mars Attacks!'' marketing campaign. Filming took place from February to June 1996. The film was shot in California, Nevada, Kansas, Arizona and Argentina.

The filmmakers hired Industrial Light & Magic to create the Martians using computer animation after their previous plan to use stop-motion animation, supervised by Barry Purves, fell through because of budget and time limitations. ''Mars Attacks!'' was released theatrically by Warner Bros. in the United States on December 13, 1996, to mixed reviews from critics. The film grossed approximately $101.4 million in box office totals, which was seen as a flop. ''Mars Attacks!'' was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and earned multiple nominations at the Saturn Awards.

Plot

On Mars, a spaceship gathers hundreds of other Martian ships and travels to Earth. President of the United States James Dale, along with his aides, addresses the United States concerning the 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 they "come in peace". When a hippie releases a dove as a symbol of peace, the Ambassador shoots it before he and the other Martians massacre most of the people at the event, including General Casey, news reporter Jason Stone, and young private Billy-Glenn Norris, before capturing chat-show host and Stone's co-worker and girlfriend Nathalie Lake and 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 massacre most of Congress. Kessler begs the Martian ambassador to stop, but is knocked unconscious and taken aboard their ship, where he is later shown with his body parts dismembered and his disembodied head remaining animated. General Decker fails to persuade Dale to retaliate with nuclear warfare.

After a failed attempt to assassinate Dale in which a disguised Martian is killed, the Martians 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 crushed to death by the Nancy Reagan chandelier and Taffy is separated from them 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 and the Martians continue destroying Earth and start defacing and vandalizing world landmarks. Eventually, the Martian leader and two other Martians breach the bunker where Dale has been taken and reduce Decker to the size of an insect before killing him. The Martians kill everyone else in the bunker except for Dale, who makes an impassioned speech in an attempt to plead for peace and his life. The Martian leader appears to be moved by the speech and seemingly agrees to a truce with Dale, but then uses a gadget disguised as a hand to kill 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 co-worker waitress Cindy to escape the city with a small jet. As soon as they enter the jet, they discover a large group of Martians (along with the ambassador) stationed there as they are preparing to take off. Byron creates a diversion by challenging them to a fistfight. While he succeeds in killing the ambassador, he is outnumbered and overwhelmed by the other Martians, but Tom, Barbara and Cindy escape.

While going to rescue his grandmother, Florence, Billy-Glenn's brother Richie discovers that the Martians' heads explode when they hear Slim Whitman's " Indian Love Call". Richie and Florence then drive around town, using the song to kill Martians, and broadcast the song on a local radio station. Thereafter, armed forces broadcast the song around the globe, killing the Martian leader and most, if not all, of the other Martians. Nathalie and Kessler's disembodied heads kiss while the Martian spaceship they are on crashes into the ocean, killing both of them.

In the aftermath, Barbara, Cindy, and Jones emerge from a cave with some wild animals to see dozens of crashed Martian ships in Lake Tahoe. Taffy awards Richie and Florence the Medal of Honor. Byron, who survived the Martian brawl, arrives in Washington, D.C. to reunite with his former wife Louise and their two sons Cedric and Neville as the devastation is being cleaned up.

Cast

* Jack Nicholson as
** US President James Dale
** Art Land (Galaxy Casino owner)
* Glenn Close as First Lady Marsha Dale, James's wife
* Annette Bening as Barbara Land, Art's wife
* Pierce Brosnan as Professor Donald Kessler
* Danny DeVito as a Rude Gambler
* Martin Short as White House Press Secretary Jerry Ross
* Sarah Jessica Parker as Nathalie Lake, Donald's love interest and talk show presenter
* Michael J. Fox as Jason Stone, Nathalie's boyfriend and a reporter for GNN
* Rod Steiger as General Decker
* Tom Jones as himself
* Lukas Haas as Richie Norris, Taffy's love interest
* Natalie Portman as First Daughter Taffy Dale, James and Marsha's daughter and Richie's love interest
* Jim Brown as Byron Williams, a retired boxer
* Lisa Marie as a Martian girl
* Sylvia Sidney as Florence Norris, Richie's paternal grandmother

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. 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 ovieit 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 in 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 couldn't devise another sequence (albeit anything he and Burton 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 re-wrote the third act, incorporating the military and a finale that mirrored ''Independence Day'' (1996), according to Gems.

Gems eventually returned to the project, writing a total of 12 drafts of the script (well over 90% of the finished shooting 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 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, leaving only Paris, London, and the Taj Mahal. "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." Further discussing the differences between ''Mars Attacks!'' and ''Independence Day'', Gems stated, "''Independence Day'' is more like a movie called ''Fail-Safe'' and ''Mars Attacks'' is like '' Dr. Strangelove''", in that both films had a similar story, but with different tones.

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 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 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 a homage to the work of Ray Harryhausen, primarily '' Jason and the Argonauts''. Similar to his own ''Beetlejuice'', Burton "wanted to make he special effectslook 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.

Track listing

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.

Critical reception

The film received mixed responses from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 56% based on 86 reviews, with an average rating of 6.00/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Tim Burton's alien invasion spoof 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."

Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B" on a scale of A+ to F.

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.

Video game

A park management video game based on the series titled ''Mars Attracts'' will release in 2025.

See also

* '' Hocus-Pocus and Frisby''. Unable to overpower his alien abductors or persuade them to release him, the protagonist decides to relax by playing his harmonica. The sound causes unbearable pain to the aliens and renders some of them unconscious.

* List of films featuring miniature people
* List of films featuring extraterrestrials
* List of films set in Las Vegas
*Mars in fiction

References

Works cited

*
*
* Thomas Kent Miller. ''Mars in the Movies: A History''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2016. .
* Ron Magid. "Attack Formation" in ''Cinescape'', Volume 3, Number 4. Lombard, IL: MVP Entertainment, Inc., January/February 1997.

External links

*
*
*
*

''Mars Attacks'' (complete card set)archive
– from trading-cards.org


(Don Markstein's Toonopedia)
archive
– from the 2012 original

{{Authority control

1996 films
1996 black comedy films
1996 science fiction films
1990s American films
1990s English-language films
1990s parody films
1990s science fiction comedy films
American black comedy films
American films with live action and animation
American parody films
American science fiction comedy films
Films about alien abduction
Films about alien invasions
Films about fictional presidents of the United States
Films about size change
Films directed by Tim Burton
Films produced by Tim Burton
Films scored by Danny Elfman
Films set in Argentina
Films set in Kansas
Films set in Kentucky
Films set in the Las Vegas Valley
Films set in New York City
Films set in Washington, D.C.
Films set in the White House
Films shot in the Las Vegas Valley
Mars in film
Retrofuturism
Warner Bros. films
Works based on trading cards
Flying saucers in film
Films set in Nevada
Films set in the United Kingdom
English-language black comedy films
English-language science fiction comedy films
Saturn Award–winning films
Films set in 1995