The Walt Disney company scored a major promotional deal with the Los Angeles Times for its new movie, “Alice in Wonderland.” The Times created a special front page newspaper ad just for “Alice” that runs in today’s edition. This is not a first for the Times and more than likely, it’s part of a trend.
The Wrap has a nice story about the controversial decision and what it says about the possible direction of the Times.
“Alice in Wonderland,”which opens in theaters today, has received mixed reviews. An interesting review of the film, with photos and video, on the Times’ website.
UPDATE: Nikki Finke, over on Deadline Hollywood, reporting “Alice in Wonderland” is headed for a super weekend debut — somewhere between 75 and perhaps $100 million!
2ND UPDATE: Deadline Hollywood has some early figures from Friday that show “Alice in Wonderland” is on track to becoming a huge hit. The live action/animated fantasy adventure rang up an estimated $45 million when it opened yesterday. At that pace, “Alice” could surpass the $100 million mark this weekend.
Watching these generic images in 3-D – a disingenuous war against piracy that has been disguised as “immersive” and “revolutionary: – doesn’t help. What exactly is so immersive about tea cups almost hitting you in the face? At least James Cameron tried experimenting with 3-D’s depth-of-field when he made FernGully in Space. Here, the effect is so cheap and gimmicky that I kept wishing the Red Queen would cry “off with his head” and let the 3-D axe end my suffering once and for all.
I wasnt so sure of this film for my younger kids – its a little to grown up which is a shame.