Tim Burton is currently cooking up one of the most-anticipated TV shows on its way to Netflix, and next month sees one of his classic movies debuting on the streaming service. The Edward Scissorhands filmmaker is set to direct Wednesday, a live-action Addams Family reimagining based around the family’s teen daughter, who’ll be played by Jenna Ortega. Burton’s fans are hoping that the series could mark a return to his creative heyday in the 1990s.
And that heyday delivered, among many other fondly remembered films, 1996’s Mars Attacks!. The star-studded sci-fi comedy is due to arrive on Netflix in the US this Wednesday, September 1st. For a full list of everything coming to Netflix this month, visit here.
As based on the Topps trading card game from the 1950s, this retro yet irreverent alien invasion movie features one of the best casts of any entry in the filmmaker’s career. Including, but not limited to, Jack Nicholson (in a dual role), Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Annette Bening Martin Short, Danny DeVito, Michael J. Fox, Jack Black, and Natalia Portman. The real stars of the show, though, are the evil Martians, recognizable for their oversized craniums and strange speech (created by reversing the sound of ducks quacking).
In a massive coincidence, Mars Attacks! was released the same year as Independence Day, which likely resulted in its disappointing $100 million box office haul when it dropped just months after the similarly themed smash-hit. Its popularity has endured over the years, however, and it’s now a firm cult favorite. In fact, the movie even received a flurry of new interest early last year following the Martians appearing in Wallmart’s Super Bowl 2020 ad. This led to some talk that a follow-up was in consideration.
While we wait to learn more about Wednesday, which will also feature Luiz Guzman and Catherine Zeta-Jones as Gomez and Morticia, catch Mars Attacks! on Netflix from this Wednesday.
