For Alice Kingsleigh, life is about take a turn for the unexpected. Hamish, the worthy but dull son of Lord and Lady Ascot, proposes to Alice, now 19, during a Victorian garden party thrown in her honor. She flees without giving an answer, heading off after a rabbit she’s spotted running across the lawn; the rabbit, of course, dons a waistcoat and pocket watch.
Following the White Rabbit across a meadow, Alice watches as he disappears into a rabbit hole, suddenly finding herself pulled down after him, tumbling through a strange, dreamlike passage before landing in a round hall with many doors. She discovers a bottle labelled DRINK ME; its contents shrink her, and a cake with the words EAT ME iced on top; it makes her grow.
Alice eventually finds her way through a door into a wondrous and fantastical world called Underland-the same place she visited as a young girl-though as a child, she misunderstood the name and called it Wonderland. There she meets a menagerie of colourful characters, including a swashbuckling Dormouse, an off-his-rocker Mad Hatter, a grinning Cheshire Cat, a caterpillar called Absolem, an eerie White Queen, and her spiteful older sister, the Red Queen, who happens to be the petulant ruler of Underland.
From Walt Disney Pictures and visionary director Tim Burton comes an epic 3D fantasy adventure “Alice in Wonderland,” a magical and imaginative twist on some of the most beloved stories of all time. Johnny Depp stars as the Mad Hatter and Mia Wasikowska as 19-year-old Alice, who returns to the whimsical world she first encountered as a young girl, reuniting with her childhood friends: the White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Dormouse, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, and of course, the Mad Hatter. Alice embarks on a fantastical journey to find her true destiny and end the Red Queen’s reign of terror.
The all-star cast also includes Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter and Crispin Glover; Linda Woolverton wrote the screenplay. Capturing the wonder of Lewis Carroll’s beloved “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” (1865) and “Through the Looking-Glass” (1871) with stunning, avant-garde visuals and the most charismatic characters in literary history, “Alice in Wonderland” comes to the big screen in Disney Digital 3D on March 5, 2010.
“Alice in Wonderland” marks a return to Disney for director Tim Burton (“The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”). The film is produced by Richard Zanuck and Suzanne and Jennifer Todd, and executive produced by Peter Tobyansen. The screenplay is written by Linda Woolverton. Visual effects supervisor is five-time Academy Award winner Ken Ralston and costume designer is two-time Oscar winner Colleen Atwood.
Alice in Wonderland has grossed $334,191,110 in North America and $691,276,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $1,025,467,110 against a budget of $200 million. Worldwide, it is currently the twenty-eighth-highest-grossing film[82] and the second-highest-grossing 2010 film. It is the third-highest-grossing film starring Johnny Depp, the highest-grossing film directed by Tim Burton. The second-highest-grossing film of Anne Hathaway and the second-highest-grossing children’s book adaptation (worldwide, as well as in North America and outside North America separately).
On its first weekend, the film made $220.1 million worldwide, marking the second-largest opening ever for a movie not released during the summer or the holiday period (behind The Hunger Games), the fourth-largest for a Disney-distributed film and the fourth-largest among 2010 films. It dominated for three consecutive weekends at the worldwide box office. On May 26, 2010, its 85th day of release, it became the sixth film ever to surpass the $1 billion mark and the second film that had been released by Walt Disney Studios that did so.
About the Story
Troubled by a strange recurring dream and mourning the loss of her father, 19-year-old Alice Kingsleigh attends a garden party at Lord Ascot’s estate. There, she is confronted by an unwanted marriage proposal to Lord Ascot’s son, Hamish and the stifling expectations of the society in which she lives. Unsure of how to proceed, she pursues a rabbit wearing a blue waistcoat and accidentally falls into a large rabbit hole under a tree.
She emerges in a forest where she is greeted by Nivens McTwisp the White Rabbit, Mallymkun the Dormouse, the Dodo, the Talking Flowers, and Tweedledee and Tweedledum. They argue over whether Alice is “the right Alice” who must slay Iracebeth of Grims the Red Queen’s Jabberwocky and restore Mirana of Marmoral the White Queen to power, as foretold by Absolem the Caterpillar and his prophetic scroll. The group is then ambushed by the Bandersnatch and a group of playing-card soldiers led by Ilosovic Stayne the Knave of Hearts. Alice, Tweedledum and Tweedledee escape into the woods. The Knave steals the Caterpillar’s scroll. Mallymkun leaves the others behind with one of the Bandersnatch’s eyes in her possession. Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee are then captured by the Red Queen’s Jubjub bird.
The Knave informs the Red Queen that Alice threatens her reign, and the soldiers and Bayard the Bloodhound are ordered to find Alice immediately. Meanwhile, the Cheshire Cat guides Alice to Thackery Earwicket the March Hare and Tarrant Hightopp the Mad Hatter. The Hatter helps Alice avoid capture by allowing himself to be seized instead. Later, Alice is found by Bayard the Bloodhound; but Alice insists upon helping the Hatter.
At the Red Queen’s citadel and palace (which is named Salazan Grum), the Red Queen is unaware of Alice’s true identity and therefore welcomes her as a guest, named Um from Umbridge. Alice learns that the Vorpal sword, the only weapon capable of killing the Jabberwock, is locked inside the den of the Bandersnatch. The Knave attempts to seduce Alice, but she rebuffs him, causing a jealous Red Queen to order that Alice be beheaded.
Alice obtains the sword and befriends the Bandersnatch by returning its eye. She then escapes on the back of the grateful Bandersnatch and delivers the sword to the White Queen. The Cheshire Cat saves the Hatter from the executioner, and the Hatter calls for rebellion against the Red Queen. The rebellion is quickly put down by the Jubjub bird, but the resistance flees to the White Queen’s castle, and both armies prepare for battle. Former caterpillar Absolem advises Alice to fight the Jabberwocky just before completing his transformation into a pupa.
On the appointed day, the White Queen and the Red Queen gather their armies on a chessboard-like battlefield and send Alice and the Jabberwocky to decide the battle in single combat. Encouraged by the advice of her late father, Alice fights the Jabberwocky among the ruins surrounding the battlefield and finally jumps from the remains of a spiral staircase onto the Jabberwocky’s neck and beheads it. During this fight, a falling masonry stone kills the Jubjub bird. The White Queen banishes the Red Queen and the Knave into exile.
After the Hatter performs a celebration dance called Futterwacken, the White Queen gives Alice a vial of the Jabberwocky’s purple blood whose power will bring her whatever she wishes. She decides to rejoin the everyday world, after saying farewell to his friends (especially the Hatter). Back in England, Lord Ascot takes Alice as his apprentice with the idea of establishing oceanic trade routes to Hong Kong. As the story closes, Alice prepares to set off on a trading ship. A light-blue butterfly with dark vein markings lands on her shoulder, and Alice recognizes him as Absolem.
Continue Reading and View the Theatrical Trailer
Alice in Wonderland 3D (2010)
Directed by: Tim Burton
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Michael Sheen, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Crispin Glover, Christopher Lee, Matt Lucas, Barbara Windsor, Timothy Spall
Screenplay by: Linda Woolverton
Production Design by: Robert Stromberg
Cinematography by: Dariusz Wolski
Costume Design by: Colleen Atwood
Set Decoration by: Karen O’Hara
Film Editing by: Chris Lebenzon
Art Direction by: Todd Cherniawsky, Stefan Dechant, Andrew L. Jones, Mike Stassi, Christina Ann Wilson
Music by: Danny Elfman
MPAA Rating: PG for fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations, and for a smoking caterpillar.
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: March 5, 2010
