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 limitations. The film was shot in California, Nevada, Kansas, Arizona and Argentina. Filming took place from February to June 1996. spent another $20 million on the Mars Attacks! marketing campaign. The final production budget came to $80 million, while Warner Bros. commissioned rewrites from Gems, Burton, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski in an attempt to lower the budget to $60 million. When Gems turned in his first draft in 1994, Warner Bros. Fox, Pam Grier, Rod Steiger, Tom Jones, Lukas Haas, Natalie Portman, Jim Brown, Lisa Marie, and Sylvia Sidney in her final film role.Īlex Cox had tried to make a Mars Attacks film in the 1980s before Burton and Gems began development in 1993.

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. The screenplay by Jonathan Gems was based on the Topps trading card series of the same name. Mars Attacks! is a 1996 American comic science fiction film directed by Tim Burton, who also co-produced it with Larry J.