Doubts over box office for Alice sequel won’t dent Disney appetite for live-action remakes

Experts question Johnny Depp’s star power and say Alice Through the Looking Glass may make only half the money Alice in Wonderland did, but Disney has several potential live-action blockbusters lined up

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Johnny Depp and Mia Wasikowska in Alice Through the Looking Glass.

Published: 12:13pm, 25 May 2016Updated: 3:22pm, 25 May 2016

As Disney readies to go back down the rabbit hole with Alice Through the Looking Glass, its box office prospects get curiouser and curiouser.

Based on a Lewis Carroll novel, the live-action sequel (in US cinemas on Friday) reunites Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Mia Wasikowska from Tim Burton’s CGI-heavy Alice in Wonderland, which stunned with US$334.2 million domestically and a little more than US$1 billion globally in 2010. Since then, Disney has churned out a string of successful remakes of some of its most enduring animated classics, including Cinderella (US$201.2 million), this spring’s The Jungle Book (US$327.4 million) and Sleeping Beauty spin-off Maleficent (US$241.4 million), starring Angelina Jolie.

Alice Through the Looking Glass cast members (from left) Sacha Baron Cohen, Mia Wasikowska, Anne Hathaway and Johnny Depp at the premiere of the film at El Capitan theatre in Hollywood on May 23. Photo: Reuters

But experts say Alice Through the Looking Glass could be the first hiccup in Disney’s live-action frenzy. Despite its family appeal and tactical Memorial Day weekend opening in the US, the PG-rated adventure has just 48 per cent positive reviews from critics on aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. BoxOffice’s editorial director, Daniel Loria predicts a US$54 million start on its way to a US$170 million total – about half of what Alice in Wonderland pulled in the US. “I don’t think it’s going to have the same magic so many years later, with a follow-up property that may not be immediately familiar,” Loria says.

Erik Davis, managing editor for Fandango.com and Movies.com, says: “If it doesn’t do as well, the star power of Johnny Depp could play into it, being not as powerful as he once was.” A sequel that comes long after the original “can work for a film if the anticipation was there and people are waiting to see how the story continues”, he says. “But in this case, I don’t get the sense that the audience was hankering for a follow-up.”