Alice in Wonderland at SDCC

Do you hear that squeal? It’s millions of fangirls that are ecstatic because Alice in Wonderland is finally out! How many of you have your tickets already? Today we have some fun facts about the movie and the last trailer from Disney.

Let’s start the “Did you know”?

Director Tim Burton’s London office was once owned by Arthur Rackham, a famous English book illustrator who created the iconic color plates for the 1907 edition of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

The Mad Hatter suffers from mercury poisoning, a common and unfortunate condition of many hatters of the time who used the chemical regularly for their craft. Depp and Burton elevated this Hatter’s madness by literally showcasing the character’s many mad mood swings in his makeup and wardrobe, creating a virtual human mood ring.

The potion Alice drinks to shrink is called Pishsolver. The cake she eats to grow is called Upelkuchen.

Helena Bonham Carter endured three hours of makeup each morning to transform into the fiery Red Queen. With the help of makeup pro Vallie O’Reilly, the actress was decked out in white powder, lots of blue eye shadow, painted eyebrows and perfect, heart-shaped bow-mouth lips. The special effects team enlarged Bonham Carter’s head in post production, creating the final look for the big-headed Queen.

The Mad Hatter’s eyes were slightly enlarged making them between 10 and 15 percent bigger than Johnny Depp’s own.

Disney Studios is preparing to invade our TVs with a run of 60 second “First Looks” from Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.

These spots will be running on Disney’s sister stations ABC, ABC Family and ESPN beginning January 31st.

“We wanted to kick off our television campaign for ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in a big way,” says David Singh, executive vice president of worldwide marketing for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. “With Tim Burton at the helm and a cast that includes Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter and rising star Mia Wasikowska, the film already has a passionate following. Fans are eager to step into the incredible 3D Wonderland that Burton has created and get a glimpse at what he’s done with these brilliant characters, and we’re ready to give it to them.”

This series of spots and cross promotions will culminate on Feb 7th with a special spot during Super Bowl, giving viewers even more to drool about and non-football fans a reason to tune in.

The First Looks are scheduled to appear as follows:

ABC

ESPN

ABC FAMILY

In addition to the new Alice in Wonderland movie screen of Depp as the Mad Hatter, Disney has also released new screens for the DS and Wii movie-tie in games that will be released alongside Tim Burton’s masterpiece.

Check out the five Wii screens featuring Hatter and the White Rabbit, as well as four screens for the DS adaptation.

Above is the first of three images from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland. The film is coming to the theaters on March 5, 2010.

If you are as excited as me for Alice in Wonderland, join the Facebook fan page, The Disloyal Subjects of the Mad Hatter here.

But just joining doesn’t mean you’ll get everything handed to you. Expect the Mad Hatter to make you work for the rest of the screens.

Alice in Wonderland Fashion

Disney will not just be releasing a new version of Alice in Wonderland next year but also recently had a fashion show to show how trends in 2010 will be inspired by the upcoming film. Disney Consumer Products announced a partnership with Tom Binns and more designers coming soon to work on a fashion line.

DCP staged an elaborate tea part at a fashion trade event this week in Vegas where Wonderland-inspired performers brought the tea party and the fashion to life. The fashion shown is similar to what will be released in Spring 2010 with the film.

“Disney fashion continues to be at the forefront of trends,” said Pam Lifford, executive vice president, global fashion and home, DCP. “Drawing inspiration from such creative works of art as Alice In Wonderland and collaborating with top designers like Tom Binns keeps Disney and our characters relevant with tastemakers and serves up an aspirational halo effect with consumers and Disney fans of all ages.”

Tim Binns’ contribution will be an Alice in Wonderland-inspired jewelry line which will feature two collections inspired by Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Red Queen, the White Queen and the White rabbit.

“The Tom Binns for Walt Disney Signature line will offer a limited edition collection of six jewelry pieces designed in Binns’ coveted over-the-top runway style. This high-end collection will be available at luxury retailers and fine boutiques with a price range from $1,000 to $3,000.”

A little pricey, but the 35 pieces for Disney Couture will be at a better price starting from $50 going to $250.

“This timeless story of Lewis Caroll married with the wonderful world of Disney and Tim Burton’s interpretation offers so much philosophical fantasy and peculiar surreal imagination,” explained award winning designer Tom Binns. “It opens up a labyrinth of doors for my particular way of seeing the world, allowing me to express my fashion experience with my interest in art and cinema. Alice is the perfect story to release that creativity and I cannot imagine a better story to cultivate my relationship with Disney.”

DCP will be announcing the full line of designers and brands in the Alice in Wonderland lifestyle program and we’ll be following the whole way.

As most of you know I’m an Alice nut and I’m totally in already. Watch this video and you’ll get even more excited. I love how in the end they have “Alice is the new black”. *squee*

Tim Burton at SDCC

One of the biggest joys of San Diego Comic Con 2009 was getting contacted by Disney for an interview with the great Tim Burton. To add to perfection, he was there to talk to us about his upcoming film Alice in Wonderland. I entered the room and took my seat right in front of the table where Mr. Burton was going to sit. Due to my lack of experience with covering movies, I had no idea what a madhouse it was going to be! The room was super full with people sitting on the floor and standing along the wall. It was absolutely hilarious to see the table fill with voice recorders. I placed my GA button on mine because all the voice recorders looked the same. No way was I going to lose interviews I had already done. (Three people ended up losing their voice recorders after the interview.) Listening to Tim talk about Alice in Wonderland was amazing and here is what he said:

Q: This seems to be a perfect marriage for Lewis Carrol and Tim Burton. What is it about this particular book that you felt appealed to your unique sensibilities as a filmmaker?

A: It wasn’t only the books, it was growing up and hearing the imagry and songs. Something about the imagry that he created that throughout different generations it still plays in peoples minds. Any kindof thing that has strong dreamlike imagry that stays with you is important to your subconscious and thinking and creative mind. I felt like trying to do it in a different way. I have never really seen any movie version that I really liked. The attempt was to take that imagry and try to make it into a movie.

Q: We can all imagine how this story suits you visually, but what is your emotional connection?

A: Emotional connection is from the fact that I never felt an emotional connection to it. It’s a series of a girl wondering around from one crazy character to another and I never really felt any real emotional connection. It was an attempt to really try and give it some framework and emotional grounding that I have never seen in any version before. The real attempt was to try and make Alice feel more like a story than a series of events.

Q: What does Alice mean to you as you were growing up?

A: It’s a fairly universal concept of these kind of stories with Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland, it’s an internal journey. These characters represent things inside the human psyche. That’s what every child does, try to work out their problems as you go on, same things as an adult. Some people get therapy, some people get to make movies. There are different ways to get things worked out.

Q: What is your opinion about Comic Con and how did you arrange for Johnny Depp to stop by the panel? (Johnny made an appearance to the panel in Hall H but not the press interview)

A: He just happened to be in the neighborhood. We saw him wondering around outside dressed as Jack Sparrow. [laughs] He came to support the movie.

I came to Comic Con when I was a student and it was a few people in a room with bad slide show. It’s a whole amazing different thing. One thing that is always true is people with a passion for this kind of stuff. Always fun to see people dressed up, Halloween is my favorite time of year.

Tim Burton

A: It’s an iconic character. With Johnny he tries to find a grounding to the character something that you feel as opposed to just being mad. In alot of versions it’s a one note character and his goal is to bring out more of a human side to the strangeness of the character.

Q: Did you read the book?

A: When I was about 8 or 10. But I have a weird connection I live and work out of Arthur Rackham’s studio. In 1905 did some amazing versions of Alice in Wonderland and Sleepy Hallow and other things I have been involved with. I felt like there was a weird connection to me and the material and that always helps somehow.

Alice from Wikipedia

Q: What was the technology you wanted to use for the effects?

A: As you can see here today, there are so many different techniques. There is pure mo-cap, animation, live-action mixture of them and for my personal reasons I didn’t want to do the mo-cap thing. I’m not personally so much into that. I went with pure animation and live action. But then sort of warp the live action to fit into the world. All the techniques have been done before but this is a new mixture that way. [chuckles] Still working on it so it remains to be seen how it all turns out. The goal is when we have actors is to use them and not put green dots all over them. All these mediums are valid. There is not one that is better than the other. You try to do whatever you think works for that project.

Q: Is this more of a sequel or a re-imagine?

A: I wouldn’t call it a sequel because there are so many stories in Alice in Wonderland. The goal was to take elements of the book and make it’s own story. Alot of it is based on the Jabberwocky poem in one of the stories and that’s not a big part of the story.

Q: After Edward Scissorhands have you thought about doing another original?

A: Oh yeah. Those are always inside. I’ve got a few lying around and try to sneak them in somewhere. Yes, but nothing right at this moment.

Q: Do you enjoy dressing up for Halloween and if so, what would you dress up as?

A: It’s the one time of year where you can actually learn more about yourself in a costume. There is something about being hidden, there is a certain sense of artistic freedom that comes from that. I’m all for that whenever is possible, not just Halloween.

Q: How do you think 3D enhanced the story?

A: Gone are the days where you walk out of the theater with a splitting headache. That’s no longer the case it’s a much more pleasant experience. The gimmick elements are falling by the wayside and it’s more about an experience that puts you in it more. With Nightmare in 3D, I felt it was the way it should have been because you felt the texture of the puppets more. You felt things that you felt on the set.

Q: Can you talk about the relationship between Alice and the Madhatter? I’ve heard it’s almost like a love story?

A: No I wouldn’t say. She’s just a young girl please. [laughs]

Q: Can you talk about the choice of Mia for Alice and Helena?

A: With Mia, I wanted someone with a gravity to her. Someone you can look at and see the wheels turning. A simple kind of power to her that I really liked. Helena.. I don’t know, she has a big head, seemed to fit the Red Queen. [laughs]

At SDCC Disney also set up the touring exhibit for Alice in Wonderland, look at the pics of props from the movie here.

Here is a short clip of video from the press conference. Notice how much Tim Burton gestures and how many voice recorders are on the table.

Wonderland MMO

Being touted as an MMO game for teenage girls, Virtual Fairground is developing Wonderland MMO. The MMO game will be based on the famous story Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

Wonderland MMO was started in 2008 and will launch in mid-2010. Wonder if that’s right around when the movie launches? The world and the game is Flash-based so it runs from the browser.

With Wonderland MMO Virtual Fairground aims to create an online hang-out with a darkly romantic and mysterious style. “We really want to create a different kind of online game experience for girls”, says Ilja Goossens of Virtual Fairground. “There are already so much sugary sweet virtual worlds for this demographic or those that are just about shopping and buying things. We believe girls have more varied interests and preferences. Something that is clearly proven by other media such as books, tv-shows and movies.”

“As a company we have a philosophy of building worlds and MMO games based on existing brands and stories”, continues Maarten Brands. “So we looked at some of the classics and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was one of the stories that popped out, something that we could really use to create our vision of an alternative online game for girls.”

The site isn’t open yet, but you can give them your email to keep you updated at www.wonderlandmmo.com/. As an Alice fan, I’m curious and will probably at least try it out.

Alice in Wonderland

We’ll hear more from Tim Burton tomorrow at San Diego Comic Con about Alice In Wonderland but here is the official trailer . Johnny Depp looks absolutely mad as the Mad Hatter. The video we had here was pulled from Disney, but now that the panel and SDCC is over, we have the official trailer.

Alice in Wonderland

USA Today has some first pictures as to what Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland will look like and they are fantastic! Movie theaters should be getting these promo pictures this week. Alice in Wonderland is due in the theaters March 5, 2010.

“The traditional tale has been freshened with a blast of girl power, courtesy of writer Linda Woolverton (Beauty and the Beast). Alice, 17, attends a party at a Victorian estate only to find she is about to be proposed to in front of hundreds of snooty society types. Off she runs, following a white rabbit into a hole and ending up in Wonderland, a place she visited 10 years before yet doesn’t remember.”

Red Queen

White Queen

Anne Hathaway is playing the White Queen who gets overthrown by her sister.

There are three more scenic pictures in the USA Today article. These pictures make me even more excited for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Can we have it now please?