Tim Krul

Timothy Michael Krul (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈtɪm ˈkrɵl]; born 3 April 1988) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Norwich City and the Netherlands national team.

Krul represented the Netherlands at every level between 2002 and 2015. He made his debut for the full national team in July 2011 and was part of the team that came third at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Club career
Newcastle United
Krul began his career at hometown club RAS and later local Eredivisie club ADO Den Haag. He joined Premier League club Newcastle United in the summer of 2005 on a three-year deal after failing to sign professional terms. ADO demanded a compensation fee and objected to the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC). The DRC denied the claim and ADO took the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). CAS ruled in February 2007 in favour of ADO, ordering Newcastle to pay €220,000 as compensation for the transfer.[3]

Following an injury to Newcastle's first-choice goalkeeper Shay Given, Krul appeared on the bench as back-up to second-choice Steve Harper. Krul made his Newcastle debut in the UEFA Cup on 2 November 2006 against Palermo. His debut was well-received; he displayed his shot-stopping abilities, saving efforts from Giuseppe Biava and David Di Michele and recording a clean sheet in the process.[4]

He was injured during the warm-up prior to the second leg tie against Palermo and then aggravated that injury in the warm-up before a game against Watford. He required two cartilage operations as a result, keeping him out of action for almost six months. He returned to action in April 2007.[5]

On 13 June 2007, he signed a new four-year contract with Newcastle.[6] In the same month, he was part of the Dutch Under-21 squad that won the European Championships and also qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics.[citation needed]

Falkirk (loan)
On 3 August 2007, Krul joined Scottish side Falkirk on loan, originally until 1 January 2008 though it was later extended until the end of the season after a number of impressive performances. The following day he made his debut for Falkirk and kept a clean sheet as the team won 4–0 against Gretna.[7] Falkirk initially wanted to sign him on a permanent deal but it was refused by Newcastle.[8]

In the two games immediately following his debut, he conceded four goals against Celtic and seven goals against Rangers at Ibrox. Krul was sent off for the first time in his professional career on 2 January 2008 after reacting badly to an opponent's challenge. Shortly afterwards, he suffered a dislocated shoulder during a Scottish Cup defeat against Aberdeen and missed the rest of the season.[citation needed]

Carlisle United (loan)
On 21 November 2008, Krul joined Carlisle United on a one-month loan from Newcastle to replace Ben Alnwick, who had rejoined Tottenham Hotspur.[9] The loan deal was extended for a further month in December with Krul returning to Newcastle in January.[citation needed]

Return to Newcastle
Krul returned to Newcastle as backup to first choice Steve Harper. He made his senior league debut on 8 August 2009 in the opening Football League Championship game of the season away to West Bromwich Albion, coming on as a half time substitute for the injured Harper. Following this match, The Guardian called him "an excellent reserve goalkeeper".[10] He later played the full Football League Cup match against Huddersfield Town on 26 August 2009, which Newcastle won 4–3. Krul also started the 2–0 League Cup defeat to Peterborough. Against Swansea City on 28 November, he again came on to replace the injured Steve Harper. On 2 January, he played in the FA Cup Third Round tie against Plymouth Argyle, the game ending 0–0. He then played in the replay at St James' Park on 13 January, a 3–0 victory. Krul started his first league game for Newcastle on 2 May 2010, the last day of the Championship campaign, against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road and kept a clean sheet. In July 2010, Krul signed a new four-year contract with Newcastle.[11]

Krul made his Premier League debut for Newcastle on 18 September 2010 against Everton at Goodison Park, coming on as a substitute in the 35th minute for the injured Steve Harper in a match that ended in a 1–0 win for the Magpies.[12] He made his first Premier League start on 26 September against Stoke City at St James' Park.[13] He then played against Manchester City in a 2–1 loss, Wigan Athletic in a 2–2 draw and in the 2–1 away win to West Ham United, before starting in his first Tyne-Wear derby, Newcastle winning 5–1, and a 1–0 away win at Arsenal a week later.[citation needed]

Following his good performances, Alan Pardew gave him more chances. He eventually became first choice and Harper was sent on loan to Brighton & Hove Albion. He started the 2011–12 season well, keeping clean sheets in the first two matches of the season against Arsenal and Sunderland. On 3 December 2011, Krul made his 50th Newcastle appearance against Chelsea. He saved a Frank Lampard penalty and made several other impressive saves, although Newcastle went on to lose the game 3–0. On 3 March 2012, Krul signed a new five-year contract at Newcastle United.[14] Krul then went on to play in the away game against Arsenal, which Newcastle lost 2–1.[15] During the match, fellow Dutchman Robin van Persie accused Krul of wasting time throughout the match and taunted Krul after the match had ended. The row continued into the tunnel and the two players had to be separated.[16] Although he received criticism from Arsenal player Jack Wilshere,[17] teammate James Perch defended Krul, believing van Persie "out of order".[18] At the end of the season, Krul received Toon Talk's Newcastle United Player of the Year award.
In the summer before the 2012–13 Premier League, Krul was given the number 1 jersey, with Steve Harper receiving number 37.[20] Krul was started the first three matches of the season before suffering an elbow injury whilst on international duty.[21] After seven weeks off, Krul returned to training.[22] Krul made his return in the Tyne–Wear derby on 21 October 2012, a 1–1 draw.[23] He injured his ankle during a Europa League match in the Round of 32 against Ukrainian side Metalist Kharkiv which ruled him out for five weeks.[24] In the Tyne–Wear derby on 14 April 2013, Krul suffered a dislocated shoulder on 57th minutes after he landed awkwardly after punching away an Adam Johnson free-kick.[25] After surgery on his dislocated shoulder, Krul was ruled out for the rest of the 2012–13 season.[26]

Ahead of the 2013–14 season, Krul made his first appearance since his ankle injury in a friendly match against Rangers.[27] In November, Krul made some impressive displays, conceding just two goals and keeping clean sheets against Tottenham, where he made a total of 14 saves during the match[28]), and Chelsea. His impressive displays earned him November's Premier League Player of the Month.[29] Krul's performance was praised by Newcastle United goalkeeping legend Pavel Srníček[30] and manager Alan Pardew.[31]

Krul sustained an ankle injury in training before Newcastle's match with West Ham United and was ruled out for up to six weeks with the injury.[32] Krul returned in his side's 2–0 defeat to Chelsea.[33]

Return to the Netherlands (loan)
On 25 August 2016, Krul signed a one-year contract extension at Newcastle United before joining Ajax on a season-long loan deal to provide him with top-tier first-team football as he continued his recovery from injury.[34] That deal was cut short, Krul only playing six games for the club's reserve side, and, in January 2017, he joined fellow Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar on loan for the rest of the season.[35]

Brighton & Hove Albion
On 31 August 2017, Krul signed for Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion on a season-long loan, reuniting him with former Newcastle manager Chris Hughton.[36] On 19 September, he made his debut for the club in an EFL Cup third round tie against Bournemouth.[37] The following day, he signed a permanent deal with Brighton, ending his twelve-year association with Newcastle.[38] At the end of the season, Krul left the club.[39]

Norwich City

Krul signed for Championship club Norwich City on 24 July 2018 on a two-year contract.[40] He signed a new three-year contract in June 2019.[41]

International career

Krul represented the Netherlands national team at U17 level at the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru. He represented the U21s at the 2008 Toulon Tournament and was a regular in the side for the 2011 European Under-21 Championship qualifying campaign.[citation needed]

On 4 June 2011, Krul made the starting eleven for the Netherlands in a friendly against Brazil, his first cap at senior level.[42] He went on to keep a clean sheet, pulling off a string of decent saves in a 0–0 draw. He played his second match for the international team four days later against Uruguay in a 3–4 penalty shoot-out loss, the match having finished 1–1 after 90 minutes.[43] He was called up to the Netherlands UEFA Euro 2012 squad but did not make any appearances. In new coach Louis van Gaal's first competitive game in charge against Turkey in Amsterdam, Krul was selected as starting goalkeeper, keeping a clean sheet in a 2–0 win for the Oranje.[citation needed]

In June 2014, Krul was included in the Netherlands' squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. In the quarter-final against Costa Rica, he was brought on by Louis van Gaal as a 120th-minute substitute for the penalty shootout. He saved two of the five penalties he faced as the Netherlands won 4–3.[44] This was the first time in the history of the World Cup that a goalkeeper was sent on as a substitute solely for a penalty shootout.[45]

Personal life

Krul has a daughter.[46][47]During his time at ADO Den Haag, Krul adopted the nickname "Bakkers Handen" (Bakers Hands) which was said to be due to his hands being the size of bread loaves

BritBox

BritBox (stylised britbox) is a digital video subscription service created by BBC and ITV plc, serving the United Kingdom, United States and Canada.[3][4] It is focused on British television series and films, mainly featuring current and past series and films supplied from the main UK public service broadcasters (the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5). BritBox is said to feature the biggest collection of British box-sets available in one place, with more original programming set to be available from 2020. BritBox's focus on British content has led to the service being described as a 'niche streaming service' in the U.S.[5]

BritBox's launch in the United States was announced in December 2016, with it launching on 7 March 2017.[6] It launched in Canada on 14 February 2018[7][8] and proposals for a UK launch were finalised on 27 February 2019, with the service launching in the United Kingdom on 7 November 2019.[9] There are content restrictions between each platform, leading some content to be available on one platform and unavailable on another.

BritBox provides new episodes to British soaps and dramas such as EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale, within hours of their UK broadcast via BritBox’s ‘Now’ feature to North American users.

It reported a subscriber base of 250,000 within a year since launching in the US.[10] In 2019, 650,000 subscribers were reported from the North American platform
Though not officially described as its successor, BritBox has been likened to an earlier attempt by UK public service broadcasters (BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4) to create an online video-on-demand download service, codenamed "Project Kangaroo" in November 2007. This followed the launches of the broadcasters' own video-on-demand services.

On Wednesday, 4 February 2009, Project Kangaroo was blocked by the Competition Commission.[12]

The commission stated that the case surrounding Kangaroo was about the control of valuable UK-originated TV content. "BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 together control the vast majority of this material, which puts them in a very strong position as wholesalers of TV content to restrict competition from other current and future providers of video-on-demand services to UK viewers," said Peter Freeman, the chairman of the Competition Commission, in its final report on Project Kangaroo. "We thought viewers would benefit from better video-on-demand [VoD] services if the parties – possibly in conjunction with other new and/or already established providers of VoD – competed with each other."

A Channel 4 spokesperson said at the time, "This is a disproportionate remedy and a missed opportunity in the further development of British broadcasting."

After the planned Project Kangaroo was blocked, the system's assets were sold to transmitter firm Arqiva and this led to the development of the service SeeSaw, which operated from February 2010 to October 2011, with content from the BBC, Channel 4, and Channel 5, some of which (such as Doctor Who) now appears on BritBox.

Entry of Netflix
Since the arrival of Netflix, European PSBs and Media companies have started to find ways to compete with American Subscription Video on Demand services (SVODs), and many old rivalries have also been put aside in Europe and to collaborate by creating joint SVODs, such the like of BritBox but also France's Salto (backed by networks TF1, France Télévisions and M6), and German-based Joyn (a joint venture between ProSiebenSat.1 and Discovery)[13].

Establishment of joint venture
Talks between the BBC and ITV to launch a Netflix-style streaming service took place in March 2016, with NBCUniversal also initially in the talks.

Launch in US
Following increased competition for the public service broadcasters from streaming giants, the BBC and ITV announced plans to create a Netflix-style TV service.[14] The BBC and ITV did announce several shows they will be running on Britbox including New Blood, Tutankhamun, The Moonstone, In The Dark, Cold Feet and crime series Silent Witness on launch.[15]

Launch in Canada
On 14 February 2018, BritBox launched in Canada. Soumya Sriraman, President, BritBox North America, said, “We know that Canadians have a deep affinity for British culture and the extraordinary television programs produced in the UK, so launching BritBox in Canada has always been at the top of our list. The fact that we can also, for the first time ever, premiere some of the most popular British programs and big special events such as Trooping the Colour as soon as 24 hours after their UK premiere is – hopefully – the cherry on the sundae.”[16]

UK launch
In February 2019, it was announced that BritBox would be launched in the UK later in the year as a rival to Netflix.[17] Journalist Mark Lawson likened the proposed project to BBC Worldwide's previous failed platform, Project Kangaroo, which was expected to launch in 2008, and described it as "bizarre" and "hugely risky".[18] In March 2019, Channel 4 confirmed interest in collaborating with the BBC and ITV.[19] Currently, McMafia, Last Tango in Halifax, Les Misérables and the sitcom Gavin & Stacey have been confirmed to be available on the UK version.[19]

In July 2019, the BBC and ITV announced they had signed an agreement to launch BritBox in the UK in the last quarter of 2019.[20]

On 20 September 2019, ITV announced they had reached a deal with Viacom for Channel 5 and Comedy Central UK content.[21] This was followed by an announcement on 27 September that Samsung TVs, Freeview Play and YouView would be the first distribution platforms [22]

In October 2019, BritBox launched its "testing phase" (beta) in the United Kingdom, in which users can sign up for a free trial to have a "snapshot of what will be there at launch".[23]

One day before UK launch, on 6 November 2019, the Guardian reported that Channel 4 is to join BritBox after the two signed a 3-year deal to provide 1000+ hours of content from All 4 "with a range of comedy, drama and non-scripted programmes from across the service, including new series, and for the first time to any streamer, an exclusive Film4 curated service featuring iconic British films".[24][25] This means for the first time, all the UK's traditional channels have managed to successfully bring together programmes on a single streaming service. Channel 4 content will be available on BritBox from Spring 2020 and Film4 content later in 2020, with recently aired content being only available on BritBox 31 days after the airing of the last episode on Channel 4.[25] Channel 4 currently has not taken an equity stake in BritBox.

Ownership
BritBox is a joint venture of BBC Studios and ITV plc, shown in the tagline "by BBC & ITV". The service in North America is owned by BritBox LLC[3], and in the UK by BritBox SVOD Ltd[4], joint ventures of BBC Studios and ITV plc. ITV owns 90% of the joint venture, with BBC Studios holding the remainder 10%, with the option of increasing their share to 25%. AMC Networks, the BBC's partner on its US cable channel BBC America, has a non-voting minority stake in the U.S. service, since they have a vested stake in RLJ Entertainment (who owns a rival British TV service Acorn TV.) and their own Shudder SVOD service.[26][27] Channel 4 and Channel 5 currently have no equity share in any of the platforms.

Content
Original programmes
In September 2017, BritBox released a reconstruction of the Doctor Who story The Wheel in Space using the surviving episodes and reconstruction using Tele-snaps.[28] In July 2018, The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco made its debut, the first original drama series in which BritBox held a direct production role.[29]

More original content is set to be commissioned and produced for 2020, following the platform's UK launch, with the BBC Media Centre stating "The first new show is expected to be commissioned soon and will be available to BritBox viewers from 2020".[30] The goal is to offer exclusive content only available on BritBox, rather than BBC and ITV's UK VOD services BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub. The annual budget for original programmes will be in the tens of millions of pounds according to BBC News.[31]

ITV has pledged to invest up to £65m in the joint venture over the next two years, and the BBC has said their pledge would be in the "tens of millions
Film and television deals
In addition to containing the catalogues of BBC and ITV television, BritBox includes content from Channel 4 (including Film4), and ViacomCBS through the UK channels Channel 5 and Comedy Central.

Other potential networks to offer content or ownership of BritBox include: NBCUniversal (owned by Comcast) and BT. Such collaboration would greatly increase BritBox's catalogue and financial resources when competing with other streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video. BT and NBCUniversal were reportedly in early talks with BritBox, but the progress of the talks have yet to be stated, with NBCUniversal launching their own streaming service, 'Peacock' in the US in 2020[33] and its parent Comcast owning Sky's UK streaming service Now TV, making collaboration with NBCUniversal unlikely. BT has since signed a partnership with BritBox in which the service will complement it own content.

Arran Tindall, Senior Vice President, Commercial & Content Distribution, Viacom International Media Networks said “Under Viacom’s ownership we have significantly increased Channel 5’s investment in original UK content and we’re delighted to bring our popular homegrown content to an even wider audience through BritBox, alongside a selection of Comedy Central’s much-loved UK programming.” following the announcement that Viacom content of Channel 5 and Comedy Central UK would be joining the service.[34]

In the early days of BritBox, Channel 4 was reportedly in talks with BritBox for a long period, ITV chief executive Carolyn McCall confirmed to RadioTimes.com that talks are "continuing" with Channel 4 and said that they will "welcome Channel 4 to BritBox".[35] On 6 November, the Guardian reported that Channel 4 is to join BritBox, with its content expected to be available on the service from early 2020.[24]

However, Channel 4, a publisher-broadcaster, must commission UK content from independent production companies and currently works with around 300 companies across the UK every year.[25] As such, Channel 4 potentially lacks the streaming rights to many of the shows it broadcasts. Many independent broadcasters waive these rights in order to strike more lucrative deals with larger SVODs while retaining control over their intellectual property. This would therefore potentially cause the UK platform to have differing content from the North American platform.

Content co-produced between British Broadcasters and Larger SVODs like Netflix and Prime Video will not be available on all or any BritBox platforms.[36] This includes shows like Bodyguard regarding which a BritBox spokesperson said "Can't come back home", adding that “going forward, [BritBox] won’t licence things to Netflix and Amazon in the first place because we now have a home, a streaming service in the UK”.[37]

The BBC, however, makes much of its content via BBC Studios, as does ITV with ITV Studios, and in some instances for each other, so the rights to their programmes are in their control
Excluded content
This may not apply to all platforms.

'Inappropriate' content
A big part of the BritBox catalogue is the extensive archives of the public service broadcasters, BritBox faces the challenge of hosting content which contains outdated stereotypes and opinions. In response to this, BritBox has announced that it would not include classic homegrown series that are deemed to be inappropriate for modern audiences.

BritBox bosses have said a range of classic shows, such as the BBC's Till Death Us Do Part and ITV's Love Thy Neighbour, will not appear on the service because of content deemed racist or otherwise unacceptable. Reemah Sakaan, the senior ITV executive responsible for launching the subscription video-on-demand service, said “We also recomply everything that goes on to BritBox [with modern TV viewing standards]. There’s also the ability to create bespoke warnings around key programming.”

Sakaan confirmed that Till Death Us Do Part, first aired on BBC1 in 1965, which features the bigoted character Alf Garnett, and ITV's 1970s series Love Thy Neighbour, a sitcom about a West Indian couple who move next door to a White British couple, will not appear on the service. It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, the BBC comedy about a military entertainment unit in India during the second world war, will also be absent. Some individual episodes of some beloved shows that appear on BritBox such as BBC's Only Fools and Horses and Fawlty Towers can be also deemed 'inappropriate' therefore eligible to be removed. However, it is understood that no Fawlty Towers episodes will be cut from the service but will run with warnings of offensive language instead.[41]

Non-exclusive deals
The sale of rights to BBC and Channel 5 content has caused some reporters to be wary of BritBox's viability as a platform for new content, due to deals with larger SVODs to exclusively stream newer BBC content and non-exclusive deals with Sky and Now TV to access Channel 5 box sets.[42] However, many BBC Studios' deals have given licences to some of its content to many other SVODs on a non-exclusive basis. With newer or co-produced series more likely to be exclusive to certain SVODs. Whereas Sky already has existing deals with not only Channel 5, but Channel 4 and the BBC to have certain box sets on their Sky and Now TV platforms in the UK.[43]

BBC Studios & HBO Max
The 11 series of 2005 revival and future series 13 and 14 of Doctor Who will be exclusive to stream on HBO Max in the US, following a deal between the two, on 1 August 2019.[42] Other content from BBC Studios such as The Honourable Woman, Luther, Top Gear, and the British version of The Office would be available on HBO Max on a non-exclusive basis, meaning they would potentially be also available on BritBox.[44]

BBC Studios & Discovery
On 1 April 2019, a 10-year content partnership was agreed between BBC Studios and Discovery, which will see Discovery become the exclusive global home of the BBC's landmark natural history programs including the Planet Earth, Blue Planet and Life franchises for SVOD. The Dynasties series, hosted by Sir David Attenborough, is included in the deal, as are future BBC-commissioned landmark series. This deal applies Worldwide except the UK, Ireland and Greater China, meaning such series may be unavailable on BritBox platforms outside the United Kingdom. Upcoming co-produced content between Discovery and BBC Studios would be exclusive to Discovery's upcoming streaming platform outside the UK.[45][46]

The Discovery deal includes around 500 hours of non-exclusive content, which will still be available on other streaming services. A BBC Studios spokesperson told TBI that the relationship with Discovery is “very significant and important but it is not 100% exclusive on all titles in all regions and is therefore able to co-exist alongside regional deals of this type”, following BBC Studios' deal to provide factual content to Greek telco OTE’s pay-TV service Cosmote TV[47].

Platforms
Content restrictions between platforms
The list of available programmes differs between the Canada, UK and US platforms.[48] For example, BritBox carries Coronation Street in the US but not in Canada, where the corresponding rights have long been held by CBC Television. Meanwhile, in the UK, TV shows, especially produced by independent production companies (like the BBC show Peaky Blinders) may appear on the UK BritBox, as the BBC or ITV have the domestic broadcasting rights, but may not be available on BritBox elsewhere, due to the independent production companies giving international rights to services like Netflix. This means that depending on whether the BBC and ITV owns only the domestic rights, programmes on UK BritBox may not also be available on its American and Canadian platforms.[31] Alternatively, shows like Living the Dream may not appear on the UK BritBox, as it is broadcast by Sky and available on Sky's streaming service Now TV in the UK, but currently appears on the US BritBox.[49]

BBC and ITV content currently on other streaming services are likely to be exclusive to BritBox once the other SVOD licences expire, therefore potentially leading to harmony in programming between the platforms.[32] Any original content produced for BritBox is set to be exclusively on BritBox.

Content co-produced between British Broadcasters and Larger SVODs, like Netflix and Prime Video, will not be available on all or any BritBox platforms.,[36] these include shows like Bodyguard in which a BritBox Spokesperson said "can't come back home", and who added that "going forward, we [BritBox] won’t licence things to Netflix and Amazon in the first place because we now have a home, a streaming service in the UK",[37] they also added that in response to not licensing to other SVODs, since its focus is on UK-produced series, the platform would not compete to acquire the rights to US or international shows.[50]

Recently aired or current shows made for the BBC, ITV, Channel 5 and Channel 4 terrestrially in the United Kingdom, would appear on their VOD services, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, My5 and All 4 respectively before BritBox. These shows would then move to BritBox at a later date, then be exclusive to BritBox once the shows have expired on the terrestrial VOD,[38] which is 30 days for ITV Hub and My5, 31 days for All 4 and 12 months for BBC iPlayer.[51]

New content not made exclusively for BritBox, but for the BBC for example, may not be available on BritBox platforms outside the UK, due to deals struck with other SVODs such as HBO Max and Discovery.[52]

United States
BritBox's launch in the United States was announced in December 2016, it launched on 7 March 2017.[6]

Initial programmes on U.S. launch
Among the shows offered upon BritBox's initial launch, were the US premieres of New Blood and Tutankhamun. In addition, other episodes of new programmes available on the service include:

Alice in Wonderland (2010 film)

Alice in Wonderland is a 2010 American dark fantasy adventure film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay written by Linda Woolverton. The film stars Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Crispin Glover, Matt Lucas, and Mia Wasikowska, and features the voices of Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, and Timothy Spall. Loosely inspired by Lewis Carroll's fantasy novels, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and Walt Disney's 1951 animated film of the same name, the film tells the story of a nineteen-year-old Alice Kingsleigh, who is told that she can restore the White Queen to her throne, with the help of the Mad Hatter. She is the only one who can slay the Jabberwocky, a dragon-like creature that is controlled by the Red Queen and terrorizes Underland's inhabitants. In this situation, Alice fights against the Red Queen to protect the world.

Alice in Wonderland was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and shot in the United Kingdom and the United States. The film premiered in London at the Odeon Leicester Square on February 25, 2010, and was released in the United Kingdom and the United States through the Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D formats as well as in conventional theaters on March 5, 2010. It is also the second-highest-grossing film of 2010.

Alice in Wonderland received mixed reviews upon release; although praised for its visual style and special effects, the film was criticized for its lack of narrative coherence. It received three nominations at the 68th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. At the 83rd Academy Awards, Alice in Wonderland won Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design, and was also nominated for Best Visual Effects. The film generated over $1.025 billion in ticket sales and became the fifth highest-grossing film of all time during its theatrical run.[6]

While not the first film in general, Alice in Wonderland started a trend of live-action fairy tale and fantasy films being green-lit, particularly from Walt Disney Studios.[7]

A sequel, titled Alice Through the Looking Glass, was released on May 27, 2016, which received mainly negative reviews and made less at the box office.
Plot
In 1871, troubled by a strange recurring dream and mourning the loss of her father, 19-year-old Alice Kingsleigh attends a garden party at Lord Ascot's estate. There, she is confronted with an unwanted marriage proposal by Lord Ascot's son, Hamish, and the stifling expectations of the society in which she lives. Unsure of how to proceed, she pursues a rabbit wearing a blue waistcoat and carrying a pocketwatch and accidentally falls into a large rabbit hole under a tree. She enters a small door by drinking from a bottle labeled 'Drink Me' (called Pishsalver) and emerges to a forest in a magical place called Wonderland where she is greeted by a White Rabbit, a Dormouse, a Dodo, Talking Flowers, and identical twins named Tweedledee and Tweedledum who all apparently know her. Alice suggests that it is all a dream while the others argue over whether Alice is "the right Alice" who must slay the Red Queen's Jabberwocky on Frabjous Day and restore the White Queen (who is the Red Queen's sister) to power, as foretold by the Caterpillar and his Oraculum (a scroll-like calendar which tells Wonderland's history and future). The group is then ambushed by a ravenous beast called a Bandersnatch and an army of playing-cards called Red Knights led by the Knave of Hearts (the Red Queen's tall general and lover). Alice and the Tweedles escape into the woods. The Knave steals the Caterpillar's Oraculum. The Dormouse leaves the others behind with one of the Bandersnatch's eyes in her possession. The Tweedles are then captured by the Red Queen's large Jubjub bird.

The Knave informs the Red Queen that Alice threatens her reign, which makes her order him, the Red Knights and a Bloodhound (who has a wife and children imprisoned) to find Alice immediately. Meanwhile, Alice enters the Tulgey Woods where she is greeted by a grinning vanishing Cheshire Cat who guides her to the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse's tea party. The Hatter explains to Alice that he joined the resistance because the Red Queen destroyed his entire village and killed his family when she first ruled Wonderland. He later helps Alice to avoid capture by allowing himself to be seized instead. Later, Alice is found by the Bloodhound, but Alice insists upon helping the Hatter. At Salazen Grum castle, the Red Queen notices Alice when she ate Upelkuchen (a cake labeled 'Eat Me' which makes the consumer grow) during a game of Croquet with flamingos and hedgehogs, but is unaware of her true identity because Alice pretended to be called "Um" and therefore welcomes her as a guest. Alice learns that the vorpal sword, the only weapon capable of killing the Jabberwocky, is locked inside the den of the Bandersnatch. The Knave attempts to seduce Alice, but she rebuffs him, causing the jealous Red Queen demanding for Alice to be beheaded. Alice obtains the sword and befriends the Bandersnatch by returning its eye. She then escapes on the back of the grateful Bandersnatch and delivers the sword to the White Queen. The White Queen gives Alice a potion that returns her normal size and rewards her with a suit of armor when she battles the Jabberwocky. The Cheshire Cat saves the Mad Hatter from the executioner by disguising himself as him in exchange for borrowing his beloved hat. The Hatter calls for rebellion against the Red Queen, which all her subjects agree to by starting to shout out "Down with Bloody Big Head." The rebellion is quickly put down when the Jubjub bird begins to kill the disloyal subjects, but the resistance manages to free the Bloodhound's family and flees to the White Queen's castle; both armies prepare for battle on Frabjous Day. The Caterpillar finally gets Alice to remember that she has been to Wonderland when she was a little girl, and advises her to fight the Jabberwocky just before completing his transformation into a pupa.

On Frabjous Day, the Queens gather their armies on a chessboard-like battlefield and send Alice and the Jabberwocky to decide the battle in single combat. Encouraged by the advice of her late father, Alice fights the Jabberwocky among a demolished spiraling tower surrounding the battlefield. During this fight, a catapult stone kills the Jubjub bird; Alice finally defeats the Jabberwocky by jumping from the top of the tower onto its neck and beheads it. Frabjous Day has finally ended and the Red Knights turn against their ruler. As punishment for their crimes, the White Queen banishes her sister and the Knave into exile together. The Knave attempts to kill the Red Queen because he grew sick of her affections, yet the Mad Hatter protects the Red Queen from his attack. After the Hatter performs a celebration dance called Futterwacken, the White Queen gives Alice a vial of the Jabberwocky's purple blood whose power will bring her whatever she wishes. She decides to rejoin the everyday world after saying farewell to her friends. Back in England, Alice refuses Hamish's proposal and impresses Lord Ascot with her idea of establishing oceanic trade routes to Hong Kong, inspiring him to take her as his apprentice. As Alice prepares to set off on a trading ship, a light-blue butterfly with dark vein markings lands on her shoulder, and Alice recognizes him as the Caterpillar.

Cast
Johnny Depp as Tarrant Hightopp: The hammy yet bitter mayor of Wonderland and the leader/captain of the resistance against Iracebeth.[8] Wasikowska said that the characters "both feel like outsiders and feel alone in their separate worlds, and have a special bond and friendship."[9][10] Burton explained that Depp "tried to find a grounding to the character … as opposed to just being mad."[11] Burton also said that "[i]n a lot of versions it's a very one-note kind of character and you know [Depp's] goal was to try and bring out a human side to the strangeness of the character."[11] The orange hair is an allusion to the mercury poisoning suffered by hatters who used mercury to cure felt; Depp believes that the character "was poisoned … and it was coming out through his hair, through his fingernails and eyes".[12] Depp and Burton decided that the Hatter's clothes, skin, hair, personality and accent would change throughout the film to reflect his emotions.[13] In an interview with Depp, the character was paralleled to "a mood ring, [as] his emotions are very close to the surface".[14] The Hatter is "made up of different people and their extreme sides", with a gentle voice much like the character's creator Lewis Carroll reflecting the lighter personality and with a Scottish Glaswegian accent (which Depp modeled after Gregor Fisher's Rab C. Nesbitt character) reflecting a darker, more dangerous personality.[15] Illusionary dancer David "Elsewhere" Bernal doubled for Depp during the "Futterwacken" sequence near the end of the film
Mia Wasikowska as Alice Kingsleigh: When creating the character, screenwriter Linda Woolverton researched how young women were expected to behave in the Victorian era and then made her the opposite.[17] Wasikowska read Carroll's books as a child and re-read them to prepare for her role. She also watched Jan Švankmajer's Alice. She said, "When we were kids, my mum would pop it in the VCR player. We would be disturbed, and wouldn't really understand it, but we couldn't look away because it was too intriguing. So I had kept that feeling about Alice, a kind of haunting feeling."[18] Although facing pressures to conform to society's expectations, Alice grows into a stronger-willed and empowered heroine who chooses her own path; Independent columnist Liz Hoggard praised Alice as a role model for girls, describing the character as "stubborn, brave, [and] non-girlie".[17][19] Mairi Ella Challen portrayed Alice as a six-year-old girl.[20]
Helena Bonham Carter as Iracebeth / Red Queen: Mirana's grumpy, funny, and murderous sister and the queen of Wonderland. She is an amalgamation of two Carroll characters: the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts.[8] Her first name is a play on the word irascible because she is easily irritated, obstreperous, impatient, and quick to anger.[21] Bonham Carter's head was digitally increased to three times its original size on screen.[22][23] The character hates animals, and chooses to use them as servants and furniture.[24] It is implied that the Red Queen beheaded her former husband, the King. The actress took inspiration from her young daughter Nell, a toddler, stating that, "The Red Queen is just like a toddler, because she's got a big head and she's a tyrant." Her appearance is based on England's Queen Elizabeth I.
Anne Hathaway as Mirana / White Queen: Iracebeth's calm and caring sister.[8] She was one of few characters that did not require digital manipulation.[25] Hathaway summed up her character with a caption on a magnet of Happy Bunny holding a knife; "Cute but psycho. Things even out."[26] According to Hathaway, "She comes from the same gene pool as the Red Queen. She really likes the dark side, but she's so scared of going too far into it that she's made everything appear very light and happy. But she's living in that place out of fear that she won't be able to control herself."[27] Hathaway described her interpretation of the White Queen as "a punk-rock vegan pacifist", with inspiration drawn from Debbie Harry, Greta Garbo, and the artwork of Dan Flavin.[27] Burton said that the White Queen's appearance was inspired by Nigella Lawson.[28]
Crispin Glover as Ilosovic Stayne / Knave of Hearts: Iracebeth's husband and assistant.[8] The Knave of Hearts is arrogant and tricky. While he follows the Red Queen's every order, he is the only one capable of calming her dramatic mood swings. Glover said, "The Red Queen has a fair amount of short-tempered reactions to things that people do, and so [the Knave] has to be quite diplomatic." The Red Queen believes that the Knave of Hearts is her lover, but this proves to be false.
Matt Lucas as Tweedledee / Tweedledum: Two identical men and Tarrant's lieutenants at the resistance against the Red Queen who are the Red Queen's "fat boys" during their capture. Burton commented on the mixture of animation and Lucas, saying that "It's a weird mixture of things which gives his characters the disturbing quality that they so richly deserve."[29] The characters are portrayed through a combination of CGI and live-action, with Lucas's face digitally composited to a full animated body. While performing the character, Lucas had to wear a teardrop-shaped motion capture suit and walk on stilts. In order to play both characters, Lucas was doubled by Ethan Cohn.
Frances de la Tour as Imogene: Alice's aunt.[30] She is suffering from severe delusions and is constantly awaiting her fictional fiancé whom she believes to be a prince.
Leo Bill as Hamish Ascot: Alice's would-be fiancé.[30]
Marton Csokas makes a cameo appearance as Alice's deceased father in the film's opening scene and Alice's mother is played by Lindsay Duncan. Lord and Lady Ascot are played by Tim Pigott-Smith and Geraldine James, respectively. Eleanor Tomlinson and Eleanor Gecks play the Cathaway sisters, who bear a strong resemblance to Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Jemma Powell appears briefly as Alice's sister, Margaret, while Margaret's unfaithful husband Lowell is played by John Hopkins.

Voice cast
Michael Sheen as Nivens McTwisp: Marina's grand vizier and Tarrant's chief officer of the resistance.[8][31] Sheen said the character "is such an iconic character that [he] didn't feel like [he] should break the mold too much."[32] Burton said the quality he wanted most in his clock-watching bunny was a twitchiness, also commenting that "[in] any incarnation of the [White Rabbit] through the years, there's that sort of nervousness of a rabbit."[32]
Alan Rickman as Absolem: The head of the resistance.[8] Rickman was originally going to have his face composited onto the animated Caterpillar. He was filmed recording his voice in the studio, but the idea was eventually scrapped. The animators did, however, try to give Absolem's face characteristics similar to Rickman's.[23]
Stephen Fry as Cheshire: Tarrant's bodyguard and the general of the resistance.[8][33] Burton stated that the character had a creepy quality in addition to tapping into his own hatred of cats.[34][35] The role was intended to be played by Sheen but he changed his role to the White Rabbit due to scheduling conflicts.
Barbara Windsor as Mallymkun: Tarrant's assistant and the sergeant of the resistance.[8] Burton said that he sought after Windsor for the role because he was a fan of her character in the TV series EastEnders. Her voice sealed the deal for her role as the character.[36]
Timothy Spall as Bayard Hamar: Stayne's former pet dog and pet of the resistance. Although Bayard does not appear in the book, a similar character named The Puppy is likely the inspiration for the character.
Paul Whitehouse as Thackery Earwicket: Tarrant's partner and the admiral of the resistance.[8]Burton stated that because Whitehouse is a great comedic actor, a lot of his lines came from improvisation.[37]
Michael Gough as Uilleam: The navigator of the resistance.[8] Burton said that Gough was the first person he thought of for the role of Uilleam because he has "a full life quality to his voice".[38] The character only speaks three lines, that Gough recorded in a day. This would be Gough's final acting role; he died a year after its release, aged 94. Gough had previously portrayed the March Hare in the 1966 TV play of the book.
Christopher Lee as The Jabberwocky: Iracebeth's pet dragon and assassin. While it only had two lines, Burton said that he felt Lee to be a good match for the iconic character because he is "an iconic guy".[39] For the character, Lee had originally tried to make his voice "burble" (as described in the poem "Jabberwocky"). However, Burton convinced him to use his actual voice, as he found it more intimidating and aggressive.
Imelda Staunton as The Talking Flowers: Though there are many flowers that appear around Underland, only one of them speaks and one of them is clearly a caricature of Staunton.[40] Staunton only speaks three lines that are heard very briefly at the beginning of the film.
Jim Carter as The Executioner: The Executioner only speaks one line and appears extremely briefly, though Carter also voiced several other servants to the Red Queen.
Frank Welker provided additional voices and vocal effects; including roars of the Jabberwocky and Bandersnatch, squawks for the Jubjub bird, and Bayard's barking.[40] Rickman, Windsor, Fry, Gough, Lee, Staunton and Carter each took only a day to record their dialogue.[40]

Production
Tim Burton signed with Walt Disney Pictures to direct two films in Disney Digital 3D, which included Alice in Wonderland[41] and his remake of Frankenweenie. Burton developed the story because he never felt an emotional tie to the original book
He explained "the goal is to try to make it an engaging movie where you get some of the psychology and kind of bring a freshness but also keep the classic nature of Alice." On prior versions, Burton said "It was always a girl wandering around from one crazy character to another, and I never really felt any real emotional connection." His goal with the new film is to give the story "some framework of emotional grounding" and "to try and make Alice feel more like a story as opposed to a series of events."[11] Burton focused on the poem "Jabberwocky" as part of his structure,[44] and refers to the described creature by the name of the poem rather than by the name "Jabberwock" used in the poem. Burton also stated that he does not see his version as either a sequel to any existing Alice film nor as a "re-imagining".[42] However, the idea of the climax of the story being Alice's battle with the Queen's champion, the Jabberwocky, was first added in the video game American McGee's Alice, and the landscape, tower, weapons and appearance of Alice in those scenes of the film are very reminiscent of the same scenes in the game.
This film was originally set to be released in 2009 but was pushed back to March 5, 2010.[45] Principal photography was scheduled for May 2008, but did not begin until September and concluded in three months.[41][46] Scenes set in the Victorian era were shot at Torpoint and Plymouth from September 1 to October 14 (Mia Wasikowska's birthday). Two hundred and fifty local extras were chosen in early August. Locations included Antony House in Torpoint, Charlestown, Cornwall and the Barbican,[47][48] however, no footage from the Barbican was used. Motion capture filming began in early October at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, though the footage was later discarded.[49][50][51] Filming also took place at Culver Studios.[52] Burton said that he used a combination of live action and animation, without motion capture.[53] He also noted that this was the first time he had filmed on a green screen.[53] Filming of the green screen portions, comprising 90% of the film, was completed after only 40 days.[54] Many of the cast and crew felt nauseated as a result of the long hours surrounded by green, and Burton had lavender lenses fitted into his glasses to counteract the effect.[54] Due to the constant need for digital effects to distort the actors' physical appearances, such as the size of the Red Queen's head or Alice's height, visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston cited the film as being exhausting, saying it was "The biggest show I've ever done, [and] the most creatively involved I've ever been."[55]

Sony Pictures Imageworks designed the visual effects sequences.[56] Burton felt 3D was appropriate to the story's environment.[10] Burton and Zanuck chose to film with conventional cameras, and convert the footage into 3D during post-production; Zanuck explained 3D cameras were too expensive and "clumsy" to use, and they felt that there was no difference between converted footage and those shot in the format.[57] James Cameron, who released his 3D film Avatar in December 2009, criticized the choice, stating, "It doesn't make any sense to shoot in 2-D and convert to 3-D"
Release
On February 12, 2010, major UK cinema chains, Odeon, Vue, and Cineworld, had planned to boycott the film because of a reduction of the interval between cinema and DVD release from the usual 17 weeks to 12 (possibly to avoid the release of the DVD clashing with the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which was Disney's pretext for cutting short Alice's theatrical run but UK exhibitors protested that Alice would be less threatened by the World Cup than other titles).[64] A week after the announcement, Cineworld, who has a 24% share of UK box office, chose to play the film on more than 150 screens. Cineworld's chief executive Steve Wiener stated, "As leaders in 3D, we did not want the public to miss out on such a visual spectacle. As the success of Avatar has shown, there is currently a huge appetite for the 3D experience".[65] Shortly after, the Vue cinema chain also reached an agreement with Disney, but Odeon had still chosen to boycott in Britain, Ireland, and Italy.[66] On February 25, 2010 Odeon had reached an agreement and decided to show the film on March 5, 2010.[67] The Royal premiere took place at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on February 25, 2010 for the fundraiser The Prince's Foundation for Children and The Arts where the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall attended. It also did not affect their plans to show the film in Spain, Germany, Portugal, and Austria.[66][68][69] The film was released in the U.S. and UK, in both Disney Digital 3D and IMAX 3D,[46] as well as regular theaters on March 5, 2010.[70]

Marketing

On June 22, 2009, the first pictures of the film were released, showing Depp as the Mad Hatter, Hathaway as the White Queen, Bonham Carter as the Red Queen and Lucas as Tweedledee and Tweedledum.[46] A new image of Alice was also released.[71] In July, new photos emerged of Alice holding a white rabbit, the Mad Hatter with a hare, the Red Queen holding a pig, and the White Queen with a mouse.[72]

On July 22, 2009, a teaser trailer from the Mad Hatter's point of view was released on IGN but was shortly taken down because Disney claimed that the trailer was not supposed to be out yet. The teaser was also planned to premiere along with a trailer of Robert Zemeckis' film adaptation of A Christmas Carol on July 24, 2009 for G-Force. The following day, the teaser trailer premiered at Comic-Con but the trailer shown was different from the one that leaked. The ComicCon version didn't have the Mad Hatter's dialogue. Instead, it featured "Time to Pretend" by MGMT, and the clips shown were in different order than in the leaked version. The leaked version was originally to be shown to one of the three Facebook groups used to promote the film that had the most members. The groups used to promote the film are "The Loyal Subjects of the Red Queen", "The Loyal Subjects of the White Queen" and "The Disloyal Subjects of the Mad Hatter".[73]

Also at ComicCon, props from the film were displayed in an "Alice in Wonderland" exhibit. Costumes featured in the exhibit included the Red Queen's dress, chair, wig, glasses, and scepter; the White Queen's dress, wig and a small model of her castle; the Mad Hatter's suit, hat, wig, chair and table; Alice's dress and battle armor (to slay the Jabberwocky). Other props included the "DRINK ME" bottles, the keys, an "EAT ME" pastry and stand-in models of the White Rabbit and March Hare.[74]

A nighttime party area at the Disney California Adventure theme park was created, called "Mad T Party".

Video games

On July 23, 2009, Disney Interactive Studios announced that an Alice in Wonderland video game, developed by French game studio Étranges Libellules, would be released in the same week as the film for the Wii, Nintendo DS, and Microsoft Windows. The soundtrack was composed by video games music composer Richard Jacques.[75] The Wii, DS, and PC versions were released on March 2, 2010.

Disney Interactive released in 2013 the game Alice in Wonderland: A New Champion for iOS.[76]

Home media

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released a three-disc Blu-ray combo pack (which includes the Blu-ray, DVD and a digital copy), single-disc Blu-ray and single-disc DVD on June 1, 2010 in North America and July 1, 2010 in Australia.[77] The DVD release includes three short features about the making of the film, focusing on Burton's vision for Wonderland and the characters of Alice and the Mad Hatter. The Blu-ray version has nine additional featurettes centered on additional characters, special effects and other aspects of the film's production.[78] In some confusion, a small number of copies were put on shelves a week before schedule in smaller stores, but were quickly removed, although a handful of copies were confirmed purchased ahead of schedule.

In its first week of release (June 1–6, 2010), it sold 2,095,878 DVD units (equivalent to $35,441,297) and topped the DVD sales chart for two continuous weeks. By May 22, 2011, it had sold 4,313,680 units ($76,413,043). It failed to crack the 2010 top ten DVDs list in terms of units sold, but reached 10th place on that chart in terms of sales revenue.[79][80]

Reception

Box office

Alice in Wonderland has grossed $334,191,110 in North America and $691,276,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $1,025,467,110 against a budget of $200 million.[5][81][82] Worldwide, it is currently the 43rd highest-grossing film[83] and the second-highest-grossing 2010 film.[84] It is the third-highest-grossing film starring Johnny Depp,[85] the highest-grossing film directed by Tim Burton.[86] The second-highest-grossing film of Anne Hathaway and the second-highest-grossing children's book adaptation (worldwide, as well as in North America and outside North America separately).[87]

On its first weekend, the film made $220.1 million worldwide, marking the second-largest opening ever for a movie not released during the summer or the holiday period (behind The Hunger Games), the fourth-largest for a Disney-distributed film and the fourth-largest among 2010 films.[88] It dominated for three consecutive weekends at the worldwide box office.[89][90][91][92] On May 26, 2010, its 85th day of release, it became the sixth film ever to surpass the $1 billion mark and the second film that had been released by Walt Disney Studios that did so.[93][94]

In North America, Alice in Wonderland is the forty-fourth-highest-grossing film but out of the top 100 when adjusted for inflation. It is also the second-highest-grossing 2010 film, behind Toy Story 3,[95] the second-highest-grossing film starring Johnny Depp[85] and the highest-grossing film directed by Tim Burton.[86] The film opened on March 5, 2010, on approximately 7,400 screens at 3,728 theaters with $40,804,962 during its first day, $3.9 million of which came from midnight showings,[96] ranking number one and setting a new March opening-day record.[97] Alice earned $116.1 million on its opening weekend, breaking the record for the largest opening weekend in March (previously held by 300),[98] the record for the largest opening weekend during springtime (previously held by Fast and Furious), the largest opening weekend for a non-sequel (previously held by Spider-Man)[99] and the highest one for the non-holiday, non-summer period. However, all of these records were broken by The Hunger Games ($152.5 million) in March 2012.[100][101] Alice made the seventeenth-highest-grossing opening weekend ever[102] and the fifth-largest among 3D films.[103] Opening-weekend grosses originating from 3D showings were $81.3 million (70% of total weekend gross). This broke the record for the largest opening-weekend 3D grosses[104][105] but it was later topped by Marvel's The Avengers ($108 million).[106] It had the largest weekend per-theater average of 2010 ($31,143 per theater) and the largest for a PG-rated film.[107] It broke the IMAX opening-weekend record[108] by earning $12.2 million on 188 IMAX screens, with an average of $64,197 per site. The record was first overtaken by Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($15.2 million).[105] Alice remained in first place for three consecutive weekends at the North American box office.[109][110] Alice closed in theaters on July 8, 2010 with $334.2 million.

Outside North America, Alice is the thirteenth-highest-grossing film,[111] the highest-grossing 2010 film,[112] the fourth-highest-grossing Disney film, the second-highest-grossing film starring Johnny Depp[85] and the highest-grossing film directed by Tim Burton.[86] It began with an estimated $94 million, on top of the weekend box office, and remained at the summit for four consecutive weekends and five in total.[113][114] Japan was the film's highest-grossing country after North America, with $133.7 million, followed by the UK, Ireland and Malta ($64.4 million), and France and the Maghreb region ($45.9 million).[115]

Critical reaction

Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 51% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 273 reviews; the average score is 5.73/10. The consensus is: "Tim Burton's Alice sacrifices the book's minimal narrative coherence—and much of its heart—but it's an undeniable visual treat".[116] Metacritic rated it 53/100 based on 38 reviews.[117]

Todd McCarthy of Variety praised it for its "moments of delight, humor and bedazzlement", but went on to say, "But it also becomes more ordinary as it goes along, building to a generic battle climax similar to any number of others in CGI-heavy movies of the past few years".[118] Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter said "Burton has delivered a subversively witty, brilliantly cast, whimsically appointed dazzler that also manages to hit all the emotionally satisfying marks", while as well praising its computer-generated imagery (CGI), saying "Ultimately, it's the visual landscape that makes Alice's newest adventure so wondrous, as technology has finally been able to catch up with Burton's endlessly fertile imagination."[119] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said, "But Burton's Disneyfied 3-D Alice in Wonderland, written by the girl-power specialist Linda Woolverton, is a strange brew indeed: murky, diffuse, and meandering, set not in a Wonderland that pops with demented life but in a world called Underland that's like a joyless, bombed-out version of Wonderland. It looks like a CGI head trip gone post apocalyptic. In the film's rather humdrum 3-D, the place doesn't dazzle—it droops."[120] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film three out of four stars and wrote in his review that, "Alice plays better as an adult hallucination, which is how Burton rather brilliantly interprets it until a pointless third act flies off the rails."[121] The market research firm CinemaScore found that audiences gave the film an average rating of "A-".[122]

Several reviews criticized the decision to turn Alice into a "colonialist entrepreneur" at the end of the film setting sail for China.[123][124][125] Given Britain's role in the First and Second Opium Wars during the Victorian era and the foreign domination of China through "unequal treaties", China expert Kevin Slaten writes, "Not only is it troubling imagery, for a female role model in a Disney movie, but it's also a celebration of the exploitation that China suffered for a century."[126]

Game developer American McGee, best known for creating Alice and Alice: Madness Returns, was asked in a 2011 interview about Tim Burton's interpretation of the title character since both versions share almost similar dark and twisted tone of Wonderland. McGee praised the film's visuals and audio but criticized the lack of screen time Alice had compared to the other characters. He felt Alice did not have any purpose in the story and that she was merely used as a "tool"

Alice in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.[1] It tells of a young girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a subterranean fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children.[2] It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre.[2][3]

One of the best-known and most popular works of English-language fiction, its narrative course, structure, characters, and imagery have been enormously influential in both popular culture and literature, especially in the fantasy genre.[3] The work has never been out of print, and it has been translated into at least 97 languages.[4] Its ongoing legacy encompasses many adaptations for stage, screen, radio, art, theme parks, board games, and video games
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was published in 1865, three years after Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and the Reverend Robinson Duckworth rowed in a boat, on 4 July 1862[6] (this popular date of the "golden afternoon"[7] might be a confusion or even another Alice-tale, for that particular day was cool, cloudy and rainy[8]), up the Isis with the three young daughters of Henry Liddell (the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and Dean of Christ Church): Lorina Charlotte Liddell (aged 13, born 1849) ("Prima" in the book's prefatory verse); Alice Pleasance Liddell (aged 10, born 1852) ("Secunda" in the prefatory verse); Edith Mary Liddell (aged 8, born 1853) ("Tertia" in the prefatory verse).[9]

The journey began at Folly Bridge, Oxford and ended five miles away in the village of Godstow. During the trip Charles Dodgson told the girls a story that featured a bored little girl named Alice who goes looking for an adventure. The girls loved it, and Alice Liddell asked Dodgson to write it down for her. He began writing the manuscript of the story the next day, although that earliest version is lost to history. The girls and Dodgson took another boat trip a month later when he elaborated the plot to the story of Alice, and in November he began working on the manuscript in earnest.[10]

To add the finishing touches he researched natural history for the animals presented in the book, and then had the book examined by other children—particularly the children of George MacDonald. He added his own illustrations but approached John Tenniel to illustrate the book for publication, telling him that the story had been well liked by children.[10]

On 26 November 1864 he gave Alice the handwritten manuscript of Alice's Adventures Under Ground, with illustrations by Dodgson himself, dedicating it as "A Christmas Gift to a Dear Child in Memory of a Summer's Day".[11] Some, including Martin Gardner, speculate that there was an earlier version that was destroyed later by Dodgson when he wrote a more elaborate copy by hand.[12]

But before Alice received her copy, Dodgson was already preparing it for publication and expanding the 15,500-word original to 27,500 words,[13] most notably adding the episodes about the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Tea Party.

Synopsis
Chapter One – Down the Rabbit Hole: Alice, a seven-year-old girl, is feeling bored and drowsy while sitting on the riverbank with her elder sister. She then notices a talking, clothed White Rabbit with a pocket watch run past. She follows it down a rabbit hole when suddenly she falls a long way to a curious hall with many locked doors of all sizes. She finds a small key to a door too small for her to fit through, but through it, she sees an attractive garden. She then discovers a bottle on a table labelled "DRINK ME," the contents of which cause her to shrink too small to reach the key which she has left on the table. She eats a cake with "EAT ME" written on it in currants as the chapter closes.

Chapter Two – The Pool of Tears: Chapter Two opens with Alice growing to such a tremendous size her head hits the ceiling. Alice is unhappy and, as she cries, her tears flood the hallway. After shrinking down again due to a fan she had picked up, Alice swims through her own tears and meets a Mouse, who is swimming as well. She tries to make small talk with him in elementary French (thinking he may be a French mouse) but her opening gambit "Où est ma chatte?" ("Where is my cat?") offends the mouse and he tries to escape her.

Chapter Three – The Caucus Race and a Long Tale: The sea of tears becomes crowded with other animals and birds that have been swept away by the rising waters. Alice and the other animals convene on the bank and the question among them is how to get dry again. The Mouse gives them a very dry lecture on William the Conqueror. A Dodo decides that the best thing to dry them off would be a Caucus-Race, which consists of everyone running in a circle with no clear winner. Alice eventually frightens all the animals away, unwittingly, by talking about her (moderately ferocious) cat.

Chapter Four – The Rabbit Sends a Little Bill: The White Rabbit appears again in search of the Duchess's gloves and fan. Mistaking her for his maidservant, Mary Ann, he orders Alice to go into the house and retrieve them. Inside the house she finds another little bottle and drinks from it; immediately she starts growing again. The horrified Rabbit orders his gardener, Bill the Lizard, to climb on the roof and go down the chimney. Outside, Alice hears the voices of animals that have gathered to gawk at her giant arm. The crowd hurls pebbles at her, which turn into little cakes. Alice eats them, and they reduce her again in size.

Chapter Five – Advice from a Caterpillar: Alice comes upon a mushroom and sitting on it is a blue Caterpillar smoking a hookah. The Caterpillar questions Alice and she admits to her current identity crisis, compounded by her inability to remember a poem. Before crawling away, the caterpillar tells Alice that one side of the mushroom will make her taller and the other side will make her shorter. She breaks off two pieces from the mushroom. One side makes her shrink smaller than ever, while another causes her neck to grow high into the trees, where a pigeon mistakes her for a serpent. With some effort, Alice brings herself back to her normal height. She stumbles upon a small estate and uses the mushroom to reach a more appropriate height.
Chapter Six – Pig and Pepper: A Fish-Footman has an invitation for the Duchess of the house, which he delivers to a Frog-Footman. Alice observes this transaction and, after a perplexing conversation with the frog, lets herself into the house. The Duchess's Cook is throwing dishes and making a soup that has too much pepper, which causes Alice, the Duchess, and her baby (but not the cook or grinning Cheshire Cat) to sneeze violently. Alice is given the baby by the Duchess and to her surprise, the baby turns into a pig. The Cheshire Cat appears in a tree, directing her to the March Hare's house. He disappears but his grin remains behind to float on its own in the air prompting Alice to remark that she has often seen a cat without a grin but never a grin without a cat.

Chapter Seven – A Mad Tea-Party: Alice becomes a guest at a "mad" tea party along with the March Hare, the Hatter, and a very tired Dormouse who falls asleep frequently, only to be violently awakened moments later by the March Hare and the Hatter. The characters give Alice many riddles and stories, including the famous 'Why is a raven like a writing desk?'. The Hatter reveals that they have tea all day because Time has punished him by eternally standing still at 6 pm (tea time). Alice becomes insulted and tired of being bombarded with riddles and she leaves claiming that it was the stupidest tea party that she had ever been to.
Chapter Eight – The Queen's Croquet Ground: Alice leaves the tea party and enters the garden where she comes upon three living playing cards painting the white roses on a rose tree red because The Queen of Hearts hates white roses. A procession of more cards, kings and queens and even the White Rabbit enters the garden. Alice then meets the King and Queen. The Queen, a figure difficult to please, introduces her signature phrase "Off with his head!" which she utters at the slightest dissatisfaction with a subject. Alice is invited (or some might say ordered) to play a game of croquet with the Queen and the rest of her subjects but the game quickly descends into chaos. Live flamingos are used as mallets and hedgehogs as balls and Alice once again meets the Cheshire Cat. The Queen of Hearts then orders the Cat to be beheaded, only to have her executioner complain that this is impossible since the head is all that can be seen of him. Because the cat belongs to the Duchess, the Queen is prompted to release the Duchess from prison to resolve the matter.

Chapter Nine – The Mock Turtle's Story: The Duchess is brought to the croquet ground at Alice's request. She ruminates on finding morals in everything around her. The Queen of Hearts dismisses her on the threat of execution and she introduces Alice to the Gryphon, who takes her to the Mock Turtle. The Mock Turtle is very sad, even though he has no sorrow. He tries to tell his story about how he used to be a real turtle in school, which the Gryphon interrupts so they can play a game.

Chapter Ten – Lobster Quadrille: The Mock Turtle and the Gryphon dance to the Lobster Quadrille, while Alice recites (rather incorrectly) "'Tis the Voice of the Lobster". The Mock Turtle sings them "Beautiful Soup" during which the Gryphon drags Alice away for an impending trial.

Chapter Eleven – Who Stole the Tarts?: Alice attends a trial whereby the Knave of Hearts is accused of stealing the Queen's tarts. The jury is composed of various animals, including Bill the Lizard, the White Rabbit is the court's trumpeter, and the judge is the King of Hearts. During the proceedings, Alice finds that she is steadily growing larger. The dormouse scolds Alice and tells her she has no right to grow at such a rapid pace and take up all the air. Alice scoffs and calls the dormouse's accusation ridiculous because everyone grows and she cannot help it. Meanwhile, witnesses at the trial include the Hatter, who displeases and frustrates the King through his indirect answers to the questioning, and the Duchess's cook.

Chapter Twelve – Alice's Evidence: Alice is then called up as a witness. She accidentally knocks over the jury box with the animals inside them and the King orders the animals be placed back into their seats before the trial continues. The King and Queen order Alice to be gone, citing Rule 42 ("All persons more than a mile high to leave the court"), but Alice disputes their judgement and refuses to leave. She argues with the King and Queen of Hearts over the ridiculous proceedings, eventually refusing to hold her tongue, only to say, "It's not that I was the one who stole the tarts in the first place", in the process. Finally, the Queen confirms that Alice was the culprit responsible of stealing the tarts after all (which automatically pardons the Knave of Hearts of his charges), and shouts, "Off with her head!", but Alice is unafraid, calling them just a pack of cards; although Alice holds her own for a time, the card guards soon gang up and start to swarm all over her. Alice's sister wakes her up from a dream, brushing what turns out to be some leaves and not a shower of playing cards from Alice's face. Alice leaves her sister on the bank to imagine all the curious happenings for herself.
In The Annotated Alice, Martin Gardner provides background information for the characters. The members of the boating party that first heard Carroll's tale show up in Chapter 3 ("A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale"). Alice Liddell herself is there, while Carroll is caricatured as the Dodo (because Dodgson stuttered when he spoke, he sometimes pronounced his last name as Dodo-Dodgson). The Duck refers to Canon Duckworth, and the Lory and Eaglet to Alice Liddell's sisters Lorina and Edith.[14]

Bill the Lizard may be a play on the name of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.[15] One of Tenniel's illustrations in Through the Looking-Glass — the 1871 sequel to Alice — depicts the character referred to as the "Man in White Paper" (whom Alice meets as a fellow passenger riding on the train with her) as a caricature of Disraeli, wearing a paper hat.[16] The illustrations of the Lion and the Unicorn (also in Looking-Glass) also bear a striking resemblance to Tenniel's Punch illustrations of Gladstone and Disraeli.[17]

It has been suggested by Martin Gardner that The Hatter is a reference to Theophilus Carter, a furniture dealer known in Oxford, and that Tenniel apparently drew the Hatter to resemble Carter, on a suggestion of Carroll's.[18] The Dormouse tells a story about three little sisters named Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie. These are the Liddell sisters: Elsie is L.C. (Lorina Charlotte), Tillie is Edith (her family nickname is Matilda), and Lacie is an anagram of Alice.[19]

The Mock Turtle speaks of a Drawling-master, "an old conger eel", who came once a week to teach "Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils". This is a reference to the art critic John Ruskin, who came once a week to the Liddell house to teach the children drawing, sketching, and painting in oils. (The children did, in fact, learn well; Alice Liddell, for one, produced a number of skilful watercolours.)[20]

The Mock Turtle also sings "Turtle Soup". This is a parody of a song called "Star of the Evening, Beautiful Star", which was performed as a trio by Lorina, Alice and Edith Liddell for Lewis Carroll in the Liddell home during the same summer in which he first told the story of Alice's Adventures Under Ground.[21]

Poems and songs
Carroll wrote multiple poems and songs for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, including:

"All in the golden afternoon..."—the prefatory verse, an original poem by Carroll that recalls the rowing expedition on which he first told the story of Alice's adventures underground
"How Doth the Little Crocodile"—a parody of Isaac Watts' nursery rhyme, "Against Idleness and Mischief"
"The Mouse's Tale"—an example of concrete poetry
"You Are Old, Father William"—a parody of Robert Southey's "The Old Man's Comforts and How He Gained Them"
The Duchess's lullaby, "Speak roughly to your little boy..."—a parody of David Bates' "Speak Gently"
"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat"—a parody of Jane Taylor's "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"
"The Lobster Quadrille"—a parody of Mary Botham Howitt's "The Spider and the Fly"
"'Tis the Voice of the Lobster"—a parody of Isaac Watts' "The Sluggard"
"Beautiful Soup"—a parody of James M. Sayles's "Star of the Evening, Beautiful Star"
"The Queen of Hearts"—an actual nursery rhyme
"They told me you had been to her..."—the White Rabbit's evidence
Writing style and themes
Symbolism
Martin Gardner and other scholars have shown the book to be filled with many parodies of Victorian popular culture, suggesting it belongs in spirit with W. S. Gilbert and Alfred Cellier's Topsyturveydom.[22]

Most of the book's adventures may have been based on and influenced by people, situations and buildings in Oxford and at Christ Church, e.g., the "Rabbit Hole," which symbolised the actual stairs in the back of the main hall in Christ Church. A carving of a griffon and rabbit, as seen in Ripon Cathedral, where Carroll's father was a canon, may have provided inspiration for the tale.[23]

Since Carroll was a mathematician at Christ Church, it has been suggested[24][25] that there are many references and mathematical concepts in both this story and Through the Looking-Glass; examples include:

In chapter 1, "Down the Rabbit-Hole", in the midst of shrinking, Alice waxes philosophic concerning what final size she will end up as, perhaps "going out altogether, like a candle"; this pondering reflects the concept of a limit.
In chapter 2, "The Pool of Tears", Alice tries to perform multiplication but produces some odd results: "Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is—oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate!" This explores the representation of numbers using different bases and positional numeral systems: 4 × 5 = 12 in base 18 notation, 4 × 6 = 13 in base 21 notation, and 4 × 7 could be 14 in base 24 notation. Continuing this sequence, going up three bases each time, the result will continue to be less than 20 in the corresponding base notation. (After 4 × 12 = 19 in Base 39, the product would be 4 × 13 = 1A in Base 42, then 1B, 1C, 1D, and so on.)
In chapter 7, "A Mad Tea-Party", the March Hare, the Hatter, and the Dormouse give several examples in which the semantic value of a sentence A is not the same value of the converse of A (for example, "Why, you might just as well say that 'I see what I eat' is the same thing as 'I eat what I see'!"); in logic and mathematics, this is discussing a converse relation.
Also in chapter 7, Alice ponders what it means when the changing of seats around the circular table places them back at the beginning. This is an observation of addition on the ring of integers modulo N.
The Cheshire cat fades until it disappears entirely, leaving only its wide grin, suspended in the air, leading Alice to marvel and note that she has seen a cat without a grin, but never a grin without a cat. Deep abstraction of concepts, such as non-Euclidean geometry, abstract algebra, and the beginnings of mathematical logic, was taking over mathematics at the time Dodgson was writing. Dodgson's delineation of the relationship between cat and grin can be taken to represent the very concept of mathematics and number itself. For example, instead of considering two or three apples, one may easily consider the concept of 'apple', upon which the concepts of 'two' and 'three' may seem to depend. A far more sophisticated jump is to consider the concepts of 'two' and 'three' by themselves, just like a grin, originally seemingly dependent on the cat, separated conceptually from its physical object.
Literary scholar Melanie Bayley asserted in the magazine New Scientist that Dodgson wrote Alice in Wonderland in its final form as a scathing satire on new modern mathematics that were emerging in the mid-19th century.[26]

It has been suggested by several people, including Martin Gardner and Selwyn Goodacre,[24] that Dodgson had an interest in the French language, choosing to make references and puns about it in the story. It is most likely that these are references to French lessons—a common feature of a Victorian middle-class girl's upbringing. For example, in the second chapter Alice posits that the mouse may be French. She therefore chooses to speak the first sentence of her French lesson-book to it: "Où est ma chatte?" ("Where is my cat?"). In Henri Bué's French translation, Alice posits that the mouse may be Italian and speaks Italian to it.

Pat's "Digging for apples" could be a cross-language pun, as pomme de terre (literally; "apple of the earth") means potato and pomme means apple.[27]

In the second chapter, Alice initially addresses the mouse as "O Mouse", based on her memory of the noun declensions "in her brother's Latin Grammar, 'A mouse – of a mouse – to a mouse – a mouse – O mouse!'" These words correspond to the first five of Latin's six cases, in a traditional order established by medieval grammarians: mus (nominative), muris (genitive), muri (dative), murem (accusative), (O) mus (vocative). The sixth case, mure (ablative) is absent from Alice's recitation.

In the eighth chapter, three cards are painting the roses on a rose tree red, because they had accidentally planted a white-rose tree that The Queen of Hearts hates. Red roses symbolised the English House of Lancaster, while white roses were the symbol for their rival House of York.

While the book has remained in print and continually inspires new adaptations, the cultural material from which it draws has become largely specialized knowledge. Dr Leon Coward asserts the book 'suffers' from "readings which reflect today's fascination with postmodernism and psychology, rather than delving into an historically informed interpretation," and speculates that this has been partly driven by audiences encountering the narrative through a 'second-hand' source, explaining "our impressions of the original text are based on a multiplicity of reinterpretations. We don't necessarily realise we're missing anything in understanding the original product, because we're usually never dealing with the original product."[22]

Eating and devouring
Carina Garland notes how the world is "expressed via representations of food and appetite", naming Alice's frequent desire for consumption (of both food and words), her 'Curious Appetites'.[28] Often, the idea of eating coincides to make gruesome images. After the riddle "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?", the Hatter claims that Alice might as well say, "I see what I eat…I eat what I see" and so the riddle's solution, put forward by Boe Birns,[29] could be that "A raven eats worms; a writing desk is worm-eaten"; this idea of food encapsulates idea of life feeding on life, for the worm is being eaten and then becomes the eater  – a horrific image of mortality.

Nina Auerbach discusses how the novel revolves around eating and drinking which "motivates much of her [Alice's] behaviour", for the story is essentially about things "entering and leaving her mouth".[30] The animals of Wonderland are of particular interest, for Alice's relation to them shifts constantly because, as Lovell-Smith states, Alice's changes in size continually reposition her in the food chain, serving as a way to make her acutely aware of the ‘eat or be eaten’ attitude that permeates Wonderland
The manuscript was illustrated by Dodgson himself who added 37 illustrations—printed in a facsimile edition in 1887.[11] John Tenniel provided 42 wood engraved illustrations for the published version of the book. The first print run was destroyed (or sold to America[32]) at Carroll's request because he was dissatisfied with the quality. The book was reprinted and published in 1866.[11]

John Tenniel's illustrations of Alice do not portray the real Alice Liddell, who had dark hair and a short fringe. The Guardian states, “John Tenniel’s illustrations to this first edition remain indelibly Alice, with her apron and puffed sleeves and sweep of blond hair.”[33] Alice has provided a challenge for other illustrators, including those of 1907 by Charles Pears and the full series of colour plates and line-drawings by Harry Rountree published in the (inter-War) Children's Press (Glasgow) edition. Other significant illustrators include: Arthur Rackham (1907), Willy Pogany (1929), Mervyn Peake (1946), Ralph Steadman (1967), Salvador Dalí (1969), Graham Overden (1969), Max Ernst (1970), Peter Blake (1970), Tove Jansson (1977), Anthony Browne (1988), Helen Oxenbury (1999) and Lisbeth Zwerger (1999).

Reception by reviewers
The book Alice in Wonderland failed to be named in an 1888 poll of the publishing season's most popular children's stories. Generally it received poor reviews, with reviewers giving more credit to Tenniel's illustrations than to Carroll's story. At the release of Through the Looking-Glass, the first Alice tale gained in popularity and by the end of the 19th century Sir Walter Besant wrote that Alice in Wonderland "was a book of that extremely rare kind which will belong to all the generations to come until the language becomes obsolete".[34]

Publication history

In 1865, Dodgson's tale was published as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by "Lewis Carroll" with illustrations by John Tenniel. The first print run of 2,000 was held back because Tenniel objected to the print quality.[35] A new edition, released in December of the same year, but carrying an 1866 date, was quickly printed. The text blocks of the original edition were removed from the binding and sold with Dodgson's permission to the New York publishing house of D. Appleton & Company. The binding for the Appleton Alice was virtually identical to the 1866 Macmillan Alice, except for the publisher's name at the foot of the spine. The title page of the Appleton Alice was an insert cancelling the original Macmillan title page of 1865, and bearing the New York publisher's imprint and the date 1866.

The entire print run sold out quickly. Alice was a publishing sensation, beloved by children and adults alike. Among its first avid readers were Queen Victoria and the young Oscar Wilde.[36][37][38] The book has never been out of print. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has been translated into at least 97 languages,[4] or as many as 174 languages.[39] There have now been over a hundred editions of the book, as well as countless adaptations in other media, especially theatre and film.

The book is commonly referred to by the abbreviated title Alice in Wonderland, which has been popularised by the numerous stage, film and television adaptations of the story produced over the years. Some printings of this title contain both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.

Publication timeline

The following list is a timeline of major publication events related to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:

Harry Potter

Harry Potter is a series of fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc concerns Harry's struggle against Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who intends to become immortal, overthrow the wizard governing body known as the Ministry of Magic and subjugate all wizards and Muggles (non-magical people).

Since the release of the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, on 26 June 1997, the books have found immense popularity, critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide. They have attracted a wide adult audience as well as younger readers and are often considered cornerstones of modern young adult literature.[2] As of February 2018, the books have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide, making them the best-selling book series in history, and have been translated into eighty languages.[3] The last four books consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history, with the final instalment selling roughly eleven million copies in the United States within twenty-four hours of its release.

The series was originally published in English by two major publishers, Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom and Scholastic Press in the United States. A play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, based on a story co-written by Rowling, premiered in London on 30 July 2016 at the Palace Theatre, and its script was published by Little, Brown. The original seven books were adapted into an eight-part namesake film series by Warner Bros. Pictures, which is the third highest-grossing film series of all time as of February 2020. In 2016, the total value of the Harry Potter franchise was estimated at $25 billion,[4] making Harry Potter one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.

A series of many genres, including fantasy, drama, coming of age, and the British school story (which includes elements of mystery, thriller, adventure, horror, and romance), the world of Harry Potter explores numerous themes and includes many cultural meanings and references.[5] According to Rowling, the main theme is death.[6] Other major themes in the series include prejudice, corruption, and madness.[7]

The success of the books and films has allowed the Harry Potter franchise to expand with numerous derivative works, a travelling exhibition that premiered in Chicago in 2009, a studio tour in London that opened in 2012, a digital platform on which J.K. Rowling updates the series with new information and insight, and a pentalogy of spin-off films premiering in November 2016 with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, among many other developments. Most recently, themed attractions, collectively known as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, have been built at several Universal Parks & Resorts amusement parks around the world
The central character in the series is Harry Potter, a boy who lives in the fictional town of Little Whinging, Surrey with his aunt, uncle, and cousin – the Dursleys – and discovers at the age of eleven that he is a wizard, though he lives in the ordinary world of non-magical people known as Muggles.[8] The wizarding world exists parallel to the Muggle world, albeit hidden and in secrecy. His magical ability is inborn, and children with such abilities are invited to attend exclusive magic schools that teach the necessary skills to succeed in the wizarding world.[9]

Harry becomes a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a wizarding academy in Scotland, and it is here where most of the events in the series take place. As Harry develops through his adolescence, he learns to overcome the problems that face him: magical, social, and emotional, including ordinary teenage challenges such as friendships, infatuation, romantic relationships, schoolwork and exams, anxiety, depression, stress, and the greater test of preparing himself for the confrontation that lies ahead in wizarding Britain's increasingly-violent second wizarding war.[10]

Each novel chronicles one year in Harry's life[11] during the period from 1991 to 1998.[12] The books also contain many flashbacks, which are frequently experienced by Harry viewing the memories of other characters in a device called a Pensieve.

The environment Rowling created is intimately connected to reality. The British magical community of the Harry Potter books is inspired by 1990s British culture, European folklore, classical mythology and alchemy, incorporating objects and wildlife such as magic wands, magic plants, potions, spells, flying broomsticks, centaurs and other magical creatures, and the Philosopher's Stone, beside others invented by Rowling. While the fantasy land of Narnia is an alternate universe and the Lord of the Rings' Middle-earth a mythic past, the wizarding world of Harry Potter exists parallel to the real world and contains magical versions of the ordinary elements of everyday life, with the action mostly set in Scotland (Hogwarts), the West Country, Devon, London, and Surrey in southeast England.[13] The world only accessible to wizards and magical beings comprises a fragmented collection of overlooked hidden streets, ancient pubs, lonely country manors, and secluded castles invisible to the Muggle population.[9]

Early years
When the first novel of the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (published in the United States as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone), opens, it is apparent that some significant event has taken place in the wizarding world – an event so very remarkable that even Muggles (non-magical people) notice signs of it. The full background to this event and Harry Potter's past is revealed gradually throughout the series. After the introductory chapter, the book leaps forward to a time shortly before Harry Potter's eleventh birthday, and it is at this point that his magical background begins to be revealed.

Despite Harry's aunt and uncle's desperate prevention of Harry learning about his abilities,[14] their efforts are in vain. Harry meets a half-giant, Rubeus Hagrid, who is also his first contact with the wizarding world. Hagrid reveals himself to be the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts as well as some of Harry's history.[14] Harry learns that, as a baby, he witnessed his parents' murder by the power-obsessed dark wizard Lord Voldemort, who subsequently attempted to kill him as well.[14] Instead, the unexpected happened: Harry survived with only a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead as a memento of the attack, and Voldemort disappeared soon afterwards, gravely weakened by his own rebounding curse.

As its inadvertent saviour from Voldemort's reign of terror, Harry has become a living legend in the wizarding world. However, at the orders of the venerable and well-known wizard Albus Dumbledore, the orphaned Harry had been placed in the home of his unpleasant Muggle relatives, the Dursleys, who have kept him safe but treated him poorly, including confining him to a cupboard without meals and treating him as their servant. Hagrid then officially invites Harry to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a famous magic school in Scotland that educates young teenagers on their magical development for seven years, from age eleven to seventeen.

With Hagrid's help, Harry prepares for and undertakes his first year of study at Hogwarts. As Harry begins to explore the magical world, the reader is introduced to many of the primary locations used throughout the series. Harry meets most of the main characters and gains his two closest friends: Ron Weasley, a fun-loving member of an ancient, large, happy, but poor wizarding family, and Hermione Granger, a gifted, bright, and hardworking witch of non-magical parentage.[14][15] Harry also encounters the school's potions master, Severus Snape, who displays a conspicuously deep and abiding dislike for him, the rich brat Draco Malfoy whom he quickly makes enemies with, and the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Quirinus Quirrell, who later turns out to be allied with Lord Voldemort. He also discovers a talent of flying on broomsticks and is recruited for his house's Quidditch team, a sport in the wizarding world where players fly on broomsticks. The first book concludes with Harry's second confrontation with Lord Voldemort, who, in his quest to regain a body, yearns to gain the power of the Philosopher's Stone, a substance that bestows everlasting life and turns any metal into pure gold.[14]

The series continues with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, describing Harry's second year at Hogwarts. He and his friends investigate a 50-year-old mystery that appears uncannily related to recent sinister events at the school. Ron's younger sister, Ginny Weasley, enrolls in her first year at Hogwarts, and finds an old notebook in her belongings which turns out to be the diary of a previous student, Tom Marvolo Riddle, later revealed to be Voldemort's younger self, who is bent on ridding the school of "mudbloods", a derogatory term describing wizards and witches of non-magical parentage. The memory of Tom Riddle resides inside of the diary and when Ginny begins to confide in the diary, Voldemort is able to possess her.

Through the diary, Ginny acts on Voldemort's orders and unconsciously opens the "Chamber of Secrets", unleashing an ancient monster, later revealed to be a basilisk, which begins attacking students at Hogwarts. It kills those who make direct eye contact with it and petrifies those who look at it indirectly. The book also introduces a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart, a highly cheerful, self-conceited wizard with a pretentious facade, later turning out to be a fraud. Harry discovers that prejudice exists in the Wizarding World through delving into the school's history, and learns that Voldemort's reign of terror was often directed at wizards and witches who were descended from Muggles.

Harry also learns that his ability to speak the snake language Parseltongue is rare and often associated with the Dark Arts. When Hermione is attacked and petrified, Harry and Ron finally piece together the puzzles and unlock the Chamber of Secrets, with Harry destroying the diary for good and saving Ginny, and, as they learn later, also destroying a part of Voldemort's soul. The end of the book reveals Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father and rival of Ron and Ginny's father, to be the culprit who slipped the book into Ginny's belongings.

The third novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, follows Harry in his third year of magical education. It is the only book in the series which does not feature Lord Voldemort in any form. Instead, Harry must deal with the knowledge that he has been targeted by Sirius Black, his father's best friend, and, according to the Wizarding World, an escaped mass murderer who assisted in the murder of Harry's parents. As Harry struggles with his reaction to the dementors – dark creatures with the power to devour a human soul and feed on despair – which are ostensibly protecting the school, he reaches out to Remus Lupin, a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher who is eventually revealed to be a werewolf. Lupin teaches Harry defensive measures which are well above the level of magic generally executed by people his age. Harry comes to know that both Lupin and Black were best friends of his father and that Black was framed by their fourth friend, Peter Pettigrew, who had been hiding as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers.[16] In this book, a recurring theme throughout the series is emphasised – in every book there is a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, none of whom lasts more than one school year.

Voldemort returns
During Harry's fourth year of school (detailed in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), Harry is unwillingly entered as a participant in the Triwizard Tournament, a dangerous yet exciting contest where three "champions", one from each participating school, must compete with each other in three tasks in order to win the Triwizard Cup. This year, Harry must compete against a witch and a wizard "champion" from overseas schools Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, as well as another Hogwarts student, causing Harry's friends to distance themselves from him.[17]

Harry is guided through the tournament by their new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, who turns out to be an impostor – one of Voldemort's supporters named Barty Crouch, Jr. in disguise. The point at which the mystery is unravelled marks the series' shift from foreboding and uncertainty into open conflict. Voldemort's plan to have Crouch use the tournament to bring Harry to Voldemort succeeds. Although Harry manages to escape, Cedric Diggory, the other Hogwarts champion in the tournament, is killed by Peter Pettigrew and Voldemort re-enters the Wizarding World with a physical body.

In the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry must confront the newly resurfaced Voldemort. In response to Voldemort's reappearance, Dumbledore re-activates the Order of the Phoenix, a secret society which works from Sirius Black's dark family home to defeat Voldemort's minions and protect Voldemort's targets, especially Harry. Despite Harry's description of Voldemort's recent activities, the Ministry of Magic and many others in the magical world refuse to believe that Voldemort has returned. In an attempt to counter and eventually discredit Dumbledore, who along with Harry is the most prominent voice in the Wizarding World attempting to warn of Voldemort's return, the Ministry appoints Dolores Umbridge as the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts and the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. She transforms the school into a dictatorial regime and refuses to allow the students to learn ways to defend themselves against dark magic.[18]

Hermione and Ron form "Dumbledore's Army", a secret study group in which Harry agrees to teach his classmates the higher-level skills of Defence Against the Dark Arts that he has learned from his previous encounters with Dark wizards. Through those lessons, Harry begins to develop a crush on the popular and attractive Cho Chang. Juggling schoolwork, Umbridge's incessant and persistent efforts to land him in trouble and the defensive lessons, Harry begins to lose sleep as he constantly receives disturbing dreams about a dark corridor in the Ministry of Magic, followed by a burning desire to learn more. An important prophecy concerning Harry and Lord Voldemort is then revealed,[19] and Harry discovers that he and Voldemort have a painful connection, allowing Harry to view some of Voldemort's actions telepathically. In the novel's climax, Harry is tricked into seeing Sirius tortured and races to the Ministry of Magic. He and his friends face off against Voldemort's followers (nicknamed Death Eaters) at the Ministry of Magic. Although the timely arrival of members of the Order of the Phoenix saves the teenagers' lives, Sirius Black is killed in the conflict.

In the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Voldemort begins waging open warfare. Harry and his friends are relatively protected from that danger at Hogwarts. They are subject to all the difficulties of adolescence – Harry eventually begins dating Ginny, Ron establishes a strong infatuation with fellow Hogwarts student Lavender Brown, and Hermione starts to develop romantic feelings towards Ron. Near the beginning of the novel, lacking his own book, Harry is given an old potions textbook filled with many annotations and recommendations signed by a mysterious writer titled; "the Half-Blood Prince." This book is a source of scholastic success and great recognition from their new potions master, Horace Slughorn, but because of the potency of the spells that are written in it, becomes a source of concern.

With war drawing near, Harry takes private lessons with Dumbledore, who shows him various memories concerning the early life of Voldemort in a device called a Pensieve. These reveal that in order to preserve his life, Voldemort has split his soul into pieces, used to create a series of Horcruxes – evil enchanted items hidden in various locations, one of which was the diary destroyed in the second book.[20] Draco, who has joined with the Death Eaters, attempts to attack Dumbledore upon his return from collecting a Horcrux, and the book culminates in the killing of Dumbledore by Professor Snape, the titular Half-Blood Prince.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the last original novel in the series, begins directly after the events of the sixth book. Lord Voldemort has completed his ascension to power and gained control of the Ministry of Magic. Harry, Ron and Hermione drop out of school so that they can find and destroy Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes. To ensure their own safety as well as that of their family and friends, they are forced to isolate themselves. A ghoul pretends to be Ron ill with a contagious disease, Harry and the Dursleys separate, and Hermione wipes her parents' memories and sends them abroad.

As the trio searches for the Horcruxes, they learn details about an ancient prophecy of the Deathly Hallows, three legendary items that when united under one Keeper, would supposedly allow that person to be the Master of Death. Harry discovers his handy Invisibility Cloak to be one of those items, and Voldemort to be searching for another: the Elder Wand, the most powerful wand in history. At the end of the book, Harry and his friends learn about Dumbledore's past, as well as Snape's true motives – he had worked on Dumbledore's behalf since the murder of Harry's mother. Eventually, Snape is killed by Voldemort out of paranoia.

The book culminates in the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry, Ron and Hermione, in conjunction with members of the Order of the Phoenix and many of the teachers and students, defend Hogwarts from Voldemort, his Death Eaters, and various dangerous magical creatures. Several major characters are killed in the first wave of the battle, including Remus Lupin and Fred Weasley, Ron's older brother. After learning that he himself is a Horcrux, Harry surrenders himself to Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest, who casts a killing curse (Avada Kedavra) at him. The defenders of Hogwarts do not surrender after learning of Harry's presumed death and continue to fight on. Harry awakens and faces Voldemort, whose Horcruxes have all been destroyed. In the final battle, Voldemort's killing curse rebounds off Harry's defensive spell (Expelliarmus), killing Voldemort.

An epilogue "Nineteen Years Later" (set on 1 September 2017)[21] describes the lives of the surviving characters and the effects of Voldemort's death on the Wizarding World. In the epilogue, Harry and Ginny are married with three children, and Ron and Hermione are married with two children