Alice Through the Looking Glass – new trailer and a box office prediction

It’s potentially the most important film of the year for Disney. Can “Alice Through the Looking Glass” match the box office success of Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland?” The original film became only the seventh movie to pass the $1 billion mark at the box office, despite mixed reviews from critics (and I’m being nice). Is this an unwanted sequel? Or will new director James Bobin be able to make lightning strike twice for Disney?

With the movie opening in May, it’s time for Disney to start ramping up the marketing efforts. We were excited to find a new ‘ultra-wide’ movie poster for Disney’s “Alice Through the Looking Glass” yesterday because that usually means a new trailer would drop the next day. And indeed it has.

The trailer features P!nk’s cover of “White Rabbit.” Disney will host a Facebook Live Q&A with the Mad Hatter himself, Johnny Depp and director James Bobin at 5:00PM EST. So stick around.

I’m getting more excited about the film after watching that. How about you?

The movie still has a lot of challenges. 3D isn’t as big a thing as it was six years ago and it’s been almost as long since Johnny Depp was a major draw at the box office. But I do think there’s space for a female-led fantasy blockbuster to do well and the unique digitally enhanced characters of the movie are still enticing.

Even if Alice doesn’t cross the billion mark, Disney still has “Captain America: Civil War’ and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” which will both undoubtedly do gangbusters at the box office this year.

Movie Synopsis:

In Disney’s “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” an all-new spectacular adventure featuring the unforgettable characters from Lewis Carroll’s beloved stories, Alice returns to the whimsical world of Underland and travels back in time to save the Mad Hatter. Directed by James Bobin, who brings his own unique vision to the spectacular world Tim Burton created on screen in 2010 with “Alice in Wonderland,” the film is written by Linda Woolverton based on characters created by Lewis Carroll and produced by Joe Roth, Suzanne Todd and Jennifer Todd and Tim Burton with John G. Scotti serving as executive producer. “Alice Through the Looking Glass” reunites the all-star cast from the worldwide blockbuster phenomenon, including: Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska and Helena Bonham Carter along with the voices of Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen and Timothy Spall. We are also introduced to several new characters: Zanik Hightopp (Rhys Ifans), the Mad Hatter’s father and Time himself (Sacha Baron Cohen), a peculiar creature who is part human, part clock.

Alice Kingsleigh (Wasikowska) has spent the past few years following in her father’s footsteps and sailing the high seas. Upon her return to London, she comes across a magical looking glass and returns to the fantastical realm of Underland and her friends the White Rabbit (Sheen), Absolem (Rickman), the Cheshire Cat (Fry) and the Mad Hatter (Depp), who is not himself. The Hatter has lost his Muchness, so Mirana (Hathaway) sends Alice on a quest to borrow the Chronosphere, a metallic globe inside the chamber of the Grand Clock which powers all time. Returning to the past, she comes across friends – and enemies – at different points in their lives, and embarks on a perilous race to save the Hatter before time runs out.

Presented in Digital 3D, Real D 3D and IMAX 3D, Disney’s “Alice Through the Looking Glass” opens in U.S. theaters on May 27, 2016.