Mars Attacks!

1996 film directed by Tim Burton

This article is about the film. For the trading card series, see Mars Attacks.

Mars Attacks!

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Tim Burton
Written by| Jonathan Gems
Based on| Mars Attacks
by Topps
Produced by|

* Tim Burton
* Larry J. Franco

Starring|

* Jack Nicholson
* Glenn Close
* Annette Bening
* Pierce Brosnan
* Danny DeVito
* Martin Short
* Sarah Jessica Parker
* Michael J. Fox
* Rod Steiger
* Tom Jones
* Lukas Haas
* Natalie Portman
* Jim Brown
* Lisa Marie
* Sylvia Sidney

Cinematography| Peter Suschitzky
Edited by| Chris Lebenzon
Music by| Danny Elfman

Production
company

Tim Burton Productions

Distributed by| Warner Bros.

Release date

* December 13, 1996 (1996-12-13) (United States)

Running time

| 106 minutes[1]
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $80–100 million
Box office| $101.4 million

Mars Attacks! is a 1996 American science fiction black comedy film[2] 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.[not verified in body]

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

[edit]

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 two-engine plane. As soon as they enter the plane, 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

[edit]

* Jack Nicholson as
* James Dale, the President of the United States
* 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.[3] 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.[4]

## Production

[edit]

### Development

[edit]

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.[5]

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.[6] While both Gems and Burton realized that a Dinosaurs Attack! film would be too similar to Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993),[7][8] 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 in Washington D.C."[9]

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,[6] such as Invaders from Mars (1953),[10] It Came from Outer Space (1953),[8] The War of the Worlds (1953), Target Earth (1954), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956).[6]

Burton set Mars Attacks! up with Warner Bros. and the studio purchased the film rights to the trading card series on his behalf.[11] 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.[12] 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[13] Ed Wood, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski,[6] as his replacement(s).[14] 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.[15]

Gems eventually returned to the project, writing a total of 12 drafts of the script (well over 90% of the finished shooting script).[16] 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".[6] Warner Bros. was dubious of the Martian dialogue and wanted Burton to add subtitles, but he resisted.[17] 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."[12] 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.[18]

### Casting

[edit]

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).[6] Jack Nicholson, approached for the role of the President, jokingly remarked that he wanted to play all the roles.[19] Burton agreed to cast Nicholson as both Art Land and President Dale, specifically remembering his positive working relationship with the actor on Batman.[6]

Susan Sarandon was originally set to play Barbara Land before Annette Bening was cast.[19] Bening modeled the character after Ann-Margret's performance in Viva Las Vegas (1964).[8] Hugh Grant was the first choice for Professor Donald Kessler, a role which eventually went to Pierce Brosnan.[20] Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton and Stockard Channing were considered for First Lady Marsha Dale, but Glenn Close won the role.[19] 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.[21]

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.[22]

### Filming

[edit]

The originally scheduled start date was mid-August 1995, but filming was delayed until February 26, 1996.[20] 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).[23] During production, Burton insisted that the art direction, cinematography and costume design of Mars Attacks! incorporate the look of the 1960s trading cards.[10]

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).[24] Filming for Mars Attacks! ended on June 1, 1996.[25] 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.[6]

### Visual effects

[edit]

The Martians were created using computer-generated imagery from Industrial Light & Magic.

Tim Burton initially intended to use stop-motion animation to feature the Martians,[8] 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 [the special effects] look cheap and purposely fake-looking as possible."[6] 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[8] and began compiling test footage in Burbank, California.[6] The department workers studied Gloria Swanson's choreography and movement as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard for inspiration on the Martians' movement.[8]

When the budget was projected at $100 million[25] (Warner Bros. wanted it for no more than $75 million),[6] 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,[8] stop-motion supervisors Ian Mackinnon and Peter Saunders, who would later collaborate with Burton on Corpse Bride, received character design credit.[6] 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.[21]

## Soundtrack

[edit]

Mars Attacks!

Soundtrack album by

Danny Elfman

Released| March 4, 1997
Recorded| 1996
Genre| Soundtrack
Length| 46:44
Label| Atlantic Records
Producer| Danny Elfman
Danny Elfman chronology
| Extreme Measures
(1996)  | Mars Attacks!
(1997)  | Men in Black
(1997)

|
|

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

[edit]

All music is composed by Danny Elfman (except "Indian Love Call", written by Otto A. Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II and Rudolf Friml, performed by Slim Whitman and "It's Not Unusual", written by Les Reed and Gordon Mills, performed by Tom Jones).

No.| Title| Length

|
|

1.| "Introduction"| 1:40
2.| "Main Titles"| 2:22
3.| "First Sighting"| 1:26
4.| "The Landing"| 6:01
5.| "Ungodly Experiments"| 0:53
6.| "State Address"| 3:06
7.| "Martian Madame"| 3:02
8.| "Martian Lounge"| 2:54
9.| "Return Message"| 2:17
10.| "Destructo X"| 1:17
11.| "Loving Heads"| 1:20
12.| "Pursuit"| 2:55
13.| "The War Room"| 1:31
14.| "Airfield Dilemma"| 2:05
15.| "New World"| 1:45
16.| "Ritchie's Speech"| 3:09
17.| "End Credits"| 3:53
18.| "Indian Love Call"| 3:08
19.| "It's Not Unusual"| 2:00
Total length:| 46:44

## Reception

[edit]

### Release and box office

[edit]

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.[26] A novelization, written by screenwriter Jonathan Gems, was published by Puffin Books in January 1997.[27] 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.[28] 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.[29]

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.[30] 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."[6] During the film's theatrical run in January 1997, TBS purchased the broadcasting rights of the film.[31]

### Critical reception

[edit]

The film received mixed responses from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 55% based on 89 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."[32] On Metacritic, the film received a score of 52 based on 19 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[33]

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."[34]

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".[35] 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."[36]

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."[37] 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.[38] Todd McCarthy of Variety called Mars Attacks! "a cult sci-fi comedy miscast as an elaborate, all-star studio extravaganza."[39]

Jonathan Palmer reviewed Mars Attacks for Arcane magazine, rating it a 7 out of 10 overall, and stated that "When, eventually, the martians start getting their comeuppance, I was reminded of Winston Smith's experience in the early cinema scene in 1984, but I ignored that thought and just sat back to enjoy the carnage."[40]

Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B" on a scale of A+ to F.[41]

### Awards

[edit]

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.[42] 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)[43] and the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.[44]

## Video game

[edit]

A park management video game based on the series titled Mars Attracts will release in 2025.[45]

## See also

[edit]

* 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.

* Film portal
* 1990s portal

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

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Gates, Anita (December 15, 1996). "Mars Attacks!". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 26, 2015. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
2. ^ Fountain, Clarke. "Mars Attacks!". Allmovie. Archived from the original on October 7, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
3. ^ Adams, Erik (July 18, 2023). "The 15 best Jack Black movies and TV shows, ranked". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 8, 2025.
4. ^ Cook, Meghan (October 30, 2023). "Every single Tim Burton movie, ranked". Business Insider. Retrieved March 8, 2025.
5. ^ Alex Cox. "Writing". Archived from the original on February 23, 2014. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Mark Salisbury; Tim Burton (2006). "James and the Giant Peach, Mars Attacks!, Superman Lives and The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy". Burton on Burton. London: Faber and Faber. pp. 145–163\. ISBN 0-571-22926-3.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
7. ^ Gems, Jonathan (April 5, 2021). Mars Attacks Memoirs. London, Great Britain: Quota Books. p. 12\. ISBN 9781916246041.
8. ^ a b c d e f g Christine Spines (January 1997). "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus". Premiere.
9. ^ Gems, Jonathan (April 5, 2021). Mars Attacks Memoirs. London, Great Britain: Quota Books. p. 13\. ISBN 9781916246041.
10. ^ a b Susan Stark (December 7, 1996). "Director Tim Burton Rebels in His New Space Comedy". The Detroit News.
11. ^ Cindy Pearlman (December 8, 1996). "Today, Vegas: Tomorrow, The World! Mean Little Green Guys Attack Earth". Chicago Sun-Times.
12. ^ a b Anthony C. Ferrante (March 1997). "Hidden Gems". Fangoria.
13. ^ Gems, Jonathan (April 5, 2021). Mars Attacks Memoirs. London, Great Britain: Quota Books. pp. 41–44\. ISBN 9781916246041.
14. ^ Gems, Jonathan (April 5, 2021). Mars Attacks Memoirs. London, Great Britain: Quota Books. pp. 86–87\. ISBN 9781916246041. OCLC 1338306930.
15. ^ Gems, Jonathan (April 5, 2021). Mars Attacks Memoirs. London, Great Britain: Quota Books. p. 55\. ISBN 978-1-9162460-4-1. OCLC 1338306930.
16. ^ Gems, Jonathan (April 5, 2021). Mars Attacks Memoirs. London, Great. Britain: Quota Books. p. 86\. ISBN 9781916246041. OCLC 1338306930.
17. ^ Sheehan, Henry (December 17, 1996). "MOVIES - In this business, 'yak-yak' is Martians talking back". The Orange County Register. pp. F02.
18. ^ Ferrante, Anthony C. (January 1997). "Duck for Cover when Mars Attacks". Fangoria (159): 30–35, 79.
19. ^ a b c Jeff Gordinier (February 23, 1996). "Jack's Back". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 27, 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2008.
20. ^ a b Staff (July 28, 1995). "Target Hollywood". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2008.
21. ^ a b "About the Production . . ". Warner Bros. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
22. ^ "'I Knew It Had to Be Sexy' – The Voice of Scream's Ghostface Speaks". Vice.com. October 29, 2019.
23. ^ Ken Hanke (1999). "A Plan 9 of His Own". Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker. Los Angeles: Renaissance Books. pp. 183–92\. ISBN 1-58063-162-2.
24. ^ Richard Natale (November 21, 1997). "Art of fantasy". Variety. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2009.
25. ^ a b Staff (August 23, 1996). "Fall Movie Preview: December". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 27, 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2008.
26. ^ Bernard Weinraub (January 2, 1997). "Season of Many Movies, but Not Many Hits". The New York Times.
27. ^ Mars Attacks! : A Novelization (Paperback). Puffin Books. January 1996. ISBN 9780140385878. Archived from the original on July 1, 2013. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
28. ^ Elber, Lynn (December 18, 1996). "Sony Cruises to box office top". The Berkshire Eagle. Associated Press. p. 29\. Archived from the original on November 4, 2023. Retrieved November 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
29. ^ "Mars Attacks!". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on May 14, 2009. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
30. ^ Edwin Page (2007). "Mars Attacks!". Gothic Fantasy: The Films of Tim Burton. London: Marion Boyars Publishers. pp. 143–158\. ISBN 978-0-7145-3132-8.
31. ^ John Dempsey (January 22, 1997). "USA Network trumps net window for six features". Variety. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2009.
32. ^ "Mars Attacks!". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on February 27, 2009. Retrieved July 2, 2025.
33. ^ "Mars Attacks! (1996): Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
34. ^ Roger Ebert (December 13, 1996). "Mars Attacks!". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on April 15, 2005. Retrieved April 15, 2009.
35. ^ Kenneth Turan (December 13, 1996). "Mars Attacks! Tim Burton's Plan 9". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved April 15, 2009.
36. ^ Desson Thomson (December 13, 1996). "Mars Attacks! We Lose". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved April 15, 2009.
37. ^ Richard Schickel; Richard Corliss (December 30, 1996). "A Rich Film Feast". Time. Archived from the original on October 1, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2009.(Subscription required.)
38. ^ Jonathan Rosenbaum (December 12, 1996). "Flirting With Disaster". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on December 9, 2011. Retrieved April 15, 2009.
39. ^ Todd McCarthy (December 2, 1996). "Mars Attacks!". Variety. Archived from the original on February 3, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2009.
40. ^ Palmer, Jonathan (February 1997). "The Great Library". Arcane (16): 76.
41. ^ "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on December 20, 2018.
42. ^ Andrew Hindes (January 9, 1997). "7 pix set to vie for 3 Oscar f/x noms". Variety. Archived from the original on July 4, 2011. Retrieved April 12, 2009.
43. ^ "Past Saturn Awards". Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. Archived from the original on May 12, 2011. Retrieved April 14, 2007.
44. ^ "1997 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards Organization. July 26, 2007. Archived from the original on March 2, 2009. Retrieved April 13, 2009.
45. ^ Mars Attracts - Official Announcement Trailer | gamescom 2024 - IGN. August 21, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024 – via www.ign.com.

## Works cited

[edit]

* Jonathan Gems (January 1997). Mars Attacks!. Novelization of the film. London: Puffin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-038587-8.
* Karen Jones (November 1996). Mars Attacks! The Art of the Movie. Del Rey Books. ISBN 978-0-345-40998-0.
* Thomas Kent Miller. Mars in the Movies: A History. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2016. ISBN 978-0-7864-9914-4.
* Ron Magid. "Attack Formation" in Cinescape, Volume 3, Number 4. Lombard, IL: MVP Entertainment, Inc., January/February 1997.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mars Attacks!.

* Official website
* Mars Attacks! at IMDb
* Mars Attacks! at Box Office Mojo
* Mars Attacks! at Rotten Tomatoes
* Mars Attacks (complete card set) (archive) – from trading-cards.org
* Mars Attacks (Don Markstein's Toonopedia) (archive) – from the 2012 original

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* t
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Tim Burton

* Filmography
* Frequent collaborators
* Unproduced projects
* Tim Burton Productions
* Skellington Productions
* Awards and nominations

Director|

| Feature films|

* Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
* Beetlejuice (1988)
* Batman (1989)
* Edward Scissorhands (1990)
* Batman Returns (1992)
* Ed Wood (1994)
* Mars Attacks! (1996)
* Sleepy Hollow (1999)
* Planet of the Apes (2001)
* Big Fish (2003)
* Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
* Corpse Bride (2005)
* Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
* Alice in Wonderland (2010)
* Dark Shadows (2012)
* Frankenweenie (2012)
* Big Eyes (2014)
* Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
* Dumbo (2019)
* Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

|

Short films|

* The Island of Doctor Agor (1971)
* Stalk of the Celery Monster (1979)
* Vincent (1982)
* Hansel and Gretel (1983)
* Frankenweenie (1984)
* Stainboy (2000)

Television series|

* Wednesday (2022–present)

Music videos|

* "Bones"
* "Here with Me"

Writer|

| Films|

* The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

|

Books|

* The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories (1997)

TV series created|

* Beetlejuice (1989–91)

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* France
* BnF data

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