AliceInWonderland

Audiences seem split right down the middle on Tim Burton's take on Alice in Wonderland. I'm in the camp that found it a tedious mess of production design with very little in the way of story or character for me to cling to, and this is coming from a lifelong Burton fan. What I thought would be a perfect marriage of director and material was not so perfect, so why am I willing to root for him to take on the wonderful world of Oz?

The L.A. Times reports that Warner Brothers is looking at L. Frank Baum's Oz series as the next big fantasy franchise, and while no director has been announced, Alice's $210 milllion worldwide opening weekend has probably put Burton on their short list of dream directors for the series. Warners has a couple of Oz screenplays at the ready, one a traditional tale and the other a post-modern spin that sounds an awful lot like the failed Lost in Oz pilot that Burton produced in 2002.

I don't want to be let down again, but Oz has a couple things going for it -- it's easier to adapt than Alice (due to stronger plotting) and there are more novels to pull from, so there's a much richer, established fantasy world to work within. No matter how boring I may have found Burton's 3-D Disney flick, I'd be there opening day if he signed on to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Of course, there's a part of me that realizes his original projects (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands) are far better than his films based on pre-existing properties (Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Mars Attacks).

What do you think? Is Tim Burton the man for the job or should he start exploring his own original material again?

Looking for something good and geeky to watch? Check out this week's new sci-fi home video releases:

2012 (DVD and Blu-ray)
Watch Roland Emmerich destroy the world with some spectacular CG magic in this fun and bloated schlockbuster starring John Cusack, Amanda Peet and a whacked-out Woody Harrelson.

Where The Wild Things Are (DVD and Blu-ray)
Director Spike Jonze and novelist Dave Eggers cook up a raw, spirited and innovative flick about a rowdy kid and his imaginary monsters, based on Maurice Sendack's beloved kid's book.

Alice (DVD and Blu-ray)
Syfy's hit-and-miss quasi-sequel to Lewis Carrol's classic tale is worth a rental, if only for Primeval's Andre Lee Potts' charming performance as the clever Hatter. Banking on this week's theatrical release of Tim Burton's Alice, the 1966 Alice in Wonderland starring Peter Sellers as the King of Hearts also hits stores today, along with the 1933 version with Cary Grant, Gary Cooper and W.C. Fields.

Cold Souls (DVD)
Paul Giamatti is great (no surprise there) and David Strathairn is hilarious in this dark, twisted and meandering indie that sees Giamatti (playing himself) putting his heavy soul in deep-freeze storage.

Clash of the Titans (Blu-ray)
The campy '80s stop-motion classic gets the high-def treatment, just before the slick new CG version hits theaters.

Thursday, March 4 is a major day for Avatar fans (we need a cool nickname for them -- Fandorans? Fanvatars?). It's the last day that the film will be widely played theatrically in 3-D. By Friday, March 5, Disney's Alice In Wonderland will own most of the nation's 3-D screens, including those at IMAX locations. If you want to see Pandora in three-dimensions one more time, you've got about a week to do so.

No one predicted that the Academy Award-nominated film would do as well as it did, smashing box office records with a worldwide take of over $2 billion. It could probably coast along with another month's worth of wide-play in theatres and continue to do very well, but even Cameron knows that once Alice is released, Avatar's long ride is pretty much over. Last week, he announced the film would be hitting DVD and Blu-ray on Earth Day, April 22.

I've seen it one and a half times, and I'd like to catch it again this week in 3-D before it's gone. How many times did you see Avatar? Was once enough, or did you go back for more?

We live in strange times, folks. The way we consume media is rapidly changing. Theater culture is slowly dying thanks to lousy service, bad projection and rowdy audiences. High definition TVs and Blu-Ray mean that your home viewing experience can finally kick ass in the way you've always dreamed. This, of course, means the time between theatrical release and DVD release is shrinking. And theaters aren't happy about that. And it looks like Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is caught in the middle.

As Variety reports, here's the situation laid out nice and basic.

Alice in Wonderland is being released on March 5th. Disney wants the DVD on shelves less than three months later.

American theater exhibitors are uneasy about this because it means they'll have less time to screen the movie and therefore, less time to make money.

European theater exhibitors are a little more than uneasy. They're kinda' pissed off about the whole thing and many are threatening to completely boycott Alice in Wonderland.

The major Dutch theater chains have already announced that they're boycotting the film and major UK and Italian chains are threatening to join them. They argue that Disney is breaking the unspoken rule of allowing a minimum of four months between theatrical and home releases. Here's a quote from Youry Bredewold, representative for the Nation Board of Cinema Owners, on the situation:

"We will lose money due to our decision; we expected ('Alice') to become one of the most popular movies of 2010...But we decided we need to send a message to the whole industry: If you don't accept our terms, we will never show your movies again."

It's been a long time since I've read Alice in Wonderland. Long enough that the details are fuzzy even if the big picture and the major events remain pretty clear. Hopefully some kind soul can email me or leave a comment below explaining why I'm a moron who needs to do his research before he writes anything because I don't remember Alice in Wonderland looking or feeling anything like what I'm seeing in the new trailer (watch it after the jump). Why are there epic Lord of the Rings battles? Outside of Johnny Depp's casting, why is the Mad Hatter so incredibly prominent? Why is Alice wearing armor and wielding a sword at one point?

I'm definitely not opposed to changing things up for the film. In fact, the story needs a cinematic kick to the butt if it's going to work on the big screen at all. The original book is little more than a series of events with no narrative drive and reverses or turns to keep the story interesting. So if Tim Burton wants to shake things up, I say go for it.

A look at tonight's sci-fi TV:

Alice – It's been hard to escape Syfy's aggressive marketing campaign for Alice, the cable network's curious sequel to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I'm sure some of you have already been propositioned by a twiggy man wearing a creepy rabbit mask asking you to "follow" him 'round the Internet (big spoiler: the journey ends here). Some city dwellers might have even met Mr. Creepy Rabbit Head in person. Sadly, the actual miniseries isn't as kooky or as playful as the advertising push.

Sure, tonight's two-hour conclusion offers enough of the strange stuff – mechanical flamingos, magical rings, Matt Frewer – but it also offers a dull plot, some muddled storytelling and a sappy, predictable ending. The reason to tune in? Primeval's Andrew-Lee Potts is awesome as good guy "Hatter." (9 p.m. ET on Syfy, with part one repeating at 7 p.m.)

Head after the jump for a promo clip.

It's hard for me to get excited about something like Alice, Syfy's twisted new take on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. NBC and Syfy seemingly produce these modern versions of classic tales for the same reason Hollywood studios push out stale remakes and sequels – because they already have a built in audience. And the producers don't have to worry about coming up with an original story. All they have to do is force some contempo quirkiness into the age-old text and be done with it. (Make the flamingos flying machines! Turn the caterpillar into a hookah-smoking Harry Dean Stanton!)

Similar to Syfy's Tin Man, its dark and tedious Wizard of Oz redo, Alice offers a bizarre retread of its classic source material. But writer-director Nick Willing (the brains behind Tin Man) smartly sets his tale in a futuristic version of Lewis Carroll's Wonderland. And he's created a brand new Alice too. She's a tough twentysomething brunette who teaches martial arts and high-kicks bad guys in the face.

Alice (Caterina Scorsone) follows her kidnapped boyfriend through the looking glass and ends up in a dystopian fantasy world -- Wonderland, 150 hard years after the original Alice's trip down the rabbit hole. The place is ruled by the wicked Queen of Hearts (an over-the-top Kathy Bates) who dopes her subjects with liquid emotions drained from kidnapped humans. After a quick tour of Wonderland's fantastic horrors, Alice meets the crafty young Hatter (Andrew-Lee Potts), and they set off on a mildly amusing quest to find her boyfriend and topple the Queen's rule.

Head after the jump for a sneak peek and visit TV Squad to read the rest.

No matter what you thought of Sci Fi Channel's Tin Man, you have to agree it was a pretty bold re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz. And it generated a lot of buzz. So it came as no surprise to me when they announced a Syfy mini-series based on Alice in Wonderland.

Alice features an impressive cast, including Caterina Scorsone (Crash) as Alice. She's joined by the likes of Kathy Bates as the Queen of Hearts and Colm Meaney as her King. Harry Dean Stanton is on board as the Caterpillar, with Matt Frewer as the White Knight, while Primeval's kooky Andrew Lee Potts is very well cast as the Mad Hatter. Even Tim Curry got in on the action as the Dodo.

At Comic-Con, legends come a dime a dozen, and those are just the ones on the printed pages of the comics on the exhibition hall floor. But in Hall H, the epicenter of the convention's surprises, revelations and exclusives, true groundbreakers and history-makers are in comparatively short supply. This year, however, there were several, including James Cameron, Peter Jackson, Hayao Miyazaki, and Terry Gilliam; but even in such rarified company, Tim Burton stands head and shoulder above in terms of providing memorable, specific, and ongoing inspiration to the folks who like to look up at these filmmakers' latest projects.

Suffice it to say that a checklist of his most iconic films would be redundant, since virtually all of them qualify, either because of their source material, or his interpretation of it. But the filmmaker has two high-profile projects coming out in the next year or so, each of which applies his inventive style in different ways: first, there's 9, Shane Acker's computer-generated post-apocalyptic odyssey, which Burton is producing; and in 2010, there's Alice in Wonderland, his adaptation of the classic novel by Lewis Carroll.

In between Hall H panels, Cinematical caught up with Burton to discuss his work on 9 and Alice in Wonderland. In addition to talking about the technological opportunities and challenges presented on both films, he offered a few secrets about the forthcoming spectacle of Alice, and reflected on the filmmaking style – and substance – that has made his idiosyncratic body of work a happy home for outsiders and mainstream audiences alike.

From Cinematical

The first teaser trailer for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland has arrived online via IGN, and the thing just looks bloody brilliant. Of course they save the best parts for the end, including a re-introduction to the Mad Hatter -- played this time by Johnny Depp, doing his best whimsical British accent. Starring Depp, Anne Hathaway (as the White Queen), Helena Bonham Carter (as the Red Queen), Alan Rickman (as the Caterpillar), Michael Sheen (as the White Rabbit), Stephen Fry (as the Cheshire Cat), Christopher Lee (as the Jabberwock), Crispin Glover (as the Knave of Hearts) and Matt Lucas (as both Tweedledee and Tweedledum), this version of Alice in Wonderland picks up ten years after Alice's original visit. This time she's a 19-year-old who decides to return for another magical adventure and embarks on a journey to find her true destiny and end the Red Queen's reign of terror.

Burton really looks like he was in his element with this one, and after watching this trailer and looking at all the images and concept art, I think I'm anticipating Alice in Wonderland more than his last few big-screen efforts. What about you? Did Burton succeed here, or does it look like the film spent too much time making itself pretty instead of focusing on story and substance? Check out the teaser trailer after the jump and let us know what you think.

Alice in Wonderland hits theaters on March 5, 2010.

UPDATE: The trailer will return online tonight at 10pm EST where Moviefone will be among only a handful of sites debuting it in full, glorious HD fashion. We'll return at that time and bring it back to you ... so stay tuned ...