Alice Through the Looking Glass is a 2016 American 3D fantasy adventure film directed by James Bobin, written by Linda Woolverton and produced by Tim Burton. It is loosely based on Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, and is the sequel to the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland. The film stars Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska, Rhys Ifans, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen, and features the voices of Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen and Timothy Spall.

The film tells the story about Alice coming across a magical looking glass that takes her back to Underland and finds that the Mad Hatter is acting madder than usual and wants to discover the truth about his family. Alice then travels through time and comes across friends and enemies at different point of their lives and embarks on a race to save the Hatter before time runs out.

The film was released by Walt Disney Pictures on May 27, 2016, and is Rickman's final film role, following his death in January 2016. It received negative reviews from critics and has grossed over $93 million.^[1][3]

Alice Kingsleigh has spent the past three years following in her father's footsteps and sailing the high seas. Upon her return to London from China, she finds out that her ex-fiancé, Hamish Ascot, has taken over his father's company and plans to have Alice sell him over her father's ship in exchange for her family home. After a fight with her mother on the matter, Alice follows a butterfly she recognizes as Absolem and returns through a mirror to Underland.

Alice is greeted by the White Queen, the White Rabbit, the Tweedles, the Dormouse, Bayard and the Cheshire Cat. They inform her that Tarrant Hightopp is acting madder than usual in wake that he believes his family is still alive. Alice visits him and tries to console him, but the Mad Hatter remains sure of his family's survival of the Attack of the Jabberwocky day.

Believing finding the Hatter's family is the only way to stop his deteriorating health, the White Queen decides for Alice to consult Time himself, and convince him to have her save the Hatter's family in the past. Upon visiting Time's palace, Alice finds the Chronosphere, an object that powers all time in Underland and can travel through Time itself.

After being told by Time that altering the past cannot be done, Alice chooses to steal the Chronosphere and travel back in time, shortly after finding the exiled Red Queen, Iracebeth of Crims, is in the care of Time. The Red Queen urges Time to go after Alice and have him bring back her head. Alice attempts to go back to the day of the Jabberwocky attack, but is caught up to by Time and accidentally flies to the day of Iracebeth's coronation.

At the coronation, a younger Tarrant begins a mockery of the Red Queen when the royal crown doesn't fit on her abnormal head. This causes Iracebeth to melt down, and her father deems her inappropriate to rule, and passes the title of queen to her younger sister Mirana, the White Queen. Tarrant is then told off by his father for making mockery of the queen, and the Hatter leaves, feeling his father thinks of him as a disappointment.

Alice later learns of an event in Iracebeth and Mirana's past that caused friction between the two, and she travels back in time again, hoping it will change Iracebeth's ways and cease the Jabberwocky from killing the Hatter's family. Alice travels back again and runs into younger versions of Tarrant and her other Underland friends. Meanwhile, Mirana (as a young girl) steals a tart from her mother and eats it, leaving the crumbs under Iracebeth's bed.

When consulted on the issue by their mother, Mirana lies about eating the tart, and Iracebeth is unfairly accused, causing her to run out of the castle in sadness. Alice sees her about to run into a clock, the event that deforms her head and personality. She is able to get the clock out of her head's way, but fails to change the past as Iracabeth trips and slams her head anyways.

Alice is then confronted by a weakened Time, scolding her for putting all of time in danger and stealing the Chronosphere. To prevent herself from being apprehended, Alice runs into a nearby mirror back into the real world, where she wakes up in a mental hospital, diagnosed with female hysteria. By the help of her mother, Alice escapes and returns to Underland, where she travels to the Attack of the Jabberwocky and discovers that the Hatter's family never died, but were captured by Iracebeth. Returning to the present, Alice discovers she is too late, and that the Hatter is at the brink of death.

Tearfully claiming she now believes him, Tarrant awakens and reforms back to his normal self. The Hatter, Alice and the rest of the Underlanders all go to the Red Queen's castle on the outskirts of Underland, where they believe Tarrant's family to be. The Hatter finds his family to be shrunk and trapped in an ant farm. Prepared for their arrival after being informed by Time, Iracebeth apprehends them and steals the Chronosphere from Alice, taking Mirana back to the day she lied about the tart.

Time warns Alice that she needs to stop Iracebeth from changing the past and destroying Underland. By the time Tarrant and Alice get there, Iracebeth and her past self see each other as Iracebeth attempts to stop Mirana from lying. Time becomes irrelevant, and Underland begins to freeze. Using the Chronosphere, Alice and the Hatter race back to the present, where Alice only just is able to place the Chronosphere back in its original place.

With the Chronosphere stabilized, Underland reverts back to normal. The Hatter reunites with his family and reverts them back to normal size. Mirana apologizes to Iracebeth for lying, and both of them make amends. Alice bids her friends farewell and returns to the real world where her mother refuses to return Alice's ship over to Hamish, and the two set to travel the world together.

• Mia Wasikowska as Alice Kingsleigh^[4]
• Johnny Depp as Tarrant Hightopp, the Mad Hatter^[4]
  • Louis Ashbourne Serkis as young Tarrant Hightopp^[5]
• Helena Bonham Carter as Iracebeth of Crims, the Red Queen^[4]
  • Lellah de Meza as young Iracebeth^[6]
• Anne Hathaway as Mirana of Marmoreal, the White Queen^[4]
  • Amelia Crouch as young Mirana^[7]
• Sacha Baron Cohen as Time, a powerful godlike humanoid clock-like creature, who rules over the time in the Underland usage the Chronosphere.^[4]
• Rhys Ifans as Zanik Hightopp, the Mad Hatter's father^[4]
• Matt Lucas as Tweedledum and Tweedledee^[4]
• Lindsay Duncan as Helen Kingsleigh, Alice's mother^[8][9]
• Leo Bill as Hamish Ascot
• Andrew Scott as Dr. Addison Bennett^[10]
• Ed Speleers as James Harcourt^[4]

• Alan Rickman as Absolem, the Caterpillar^[4] (now Butterfly)
• Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat^[4]
• Michael Sheen as Nivens McTwisp, the White Rabbit^[4]
• Timothy Spall as Bayard, the Bloodhound^[4]
  • Kyle Hebert as young Bayard^[11]
• John Sessions as Humpty Dumpty^[12]
• Barbara Windsor as Mallymkun, the Dormouse^[4]
• Paul Whitehouse as Thackery Earwicket, the March Hare^[4]
• Matt Vogel and Toby Jones as Wilkins, Time's long-suffering manservant^[13]

The movie was announced via Variety in December 2012.^[14] Bobin was first approached about the project while doing post-production work on Muppets Most Wanted,^[15] and began talks to direct in May 2013, while the film was still under the working title Alice in Wonderland: Into the Looking Glass.^[16] Of being asked, Bobin has said that "I just couldn’t pass it up," as he has a passion for the works of Lewis Caroll as well as history in general.^[17] That July, it was announced that Johnny Depp would return as the Hatter,^[18] with Mia Wasikowska's return confirmed the following November.^[19] Also in November, a release date of May 27, 2016, was set, and it was officially announced that Bobin would direct the film.^[19] On January 21, 2014, the film was retitled to Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass,^[20] and Sacha Baron Cohen joined the cast to play a villain, Time.^[21] In March 2014, it was confirmed that Helena Bonham Carter would return as the Red Queen.^[22] In May 2014, Rhys Ifans joined the cast to play Zanik Hightopp, the Mad Hatter's father.^[23] In developing the character of "Time", Bobin sought to avoid creating a "straight-up bad guy", noting that it would be "a bit dull", and also that the role in that universe already existed in the form of The Red Queen.^[15] Instead, Bobin sought to make Time a "Twit", further explaining that "There's no one better at playing the confident idiot trope than Sacha Baron Cohen", and adding that "it was very much with Sacha in mind."^[15]

Principal photography began on August 4, 2014, at Shepperton Studios.^[24] In August 2014, filming took place in Gloucester Docks, which included the use of at least four historic ships: Kathleen and May, Irene, Excelsior, and the Earl of Pembroke, the last of which was renamed The Wonder for filming.^{[25][26][27][28][29]} Principal photography ended on October 31, 2014.^[30]

As of May 29, 2016^[update], Alice Through the Looking Glass has grossed $28.1 million in North America and $65 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $93.1 million, against a budget of $170 million.^[1]

Alice Through the Looking Glass opened in the United States on May 27, 2016, alongside X-Men: Apocalypse, and was initially projected to gross $55–60 million from 3,763 theaters over its four-day Memorial Day opening weekend and from then on projections were continously revised downwards, due to poor word of mouth.^[31] It had the added benefit of playing in over 3,100 3D theaters, 380 IMAX screens, 77 premium large fomats and 79 D-box locations.^[32][33] It made $1.5 million from Thursday previews (compared to the first film's $3.9 million)^[34] and just $9.7 million on its first day, compared to the $41 million opening Friday of its predecessor.^[35] Through its opening weekend, it earned $28.1 million in its opening weekend, which when compared to its predecessor's $116 million opening is down 70%.^[31] It became the studio's third Memorial Day opening flop following Tomorrowland in 2015 and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time in 2010.^[36]

Outside North America, the film will be released across 50 countries (72% of its total market place) the same weekend as the US, and is estimated to gross $80–100 million in its opening weekend. It will face competition from Warcraft and X-Men: Apocalypse.^[37] It ended up grossing $65 million, which is well below the projections.^[38] In China, it had an opening day of an estimated $7.3 million^[39] and went on to score the second biggest Disney live-action, non-Marvel or Lucasfilm opening ever with $27.1 million, behind only The Jungle Book.^[38] However, this was down from its $35–45 million projections.^[40] Elsewhere, it opens in France (June 1), Japan (July 1) and Korea (September 8).^[37]

Alice Through the Looking Glass has received negative and affirmative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 29%, based on 164 reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Alice Through the Looking Glass is just as visually impressive as its predecessor, but that isn't enough to cover for an underwhelming story that fails to live up to its classic characters."^[41] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 34 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".^[3] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, the same grade earned by its predecessor.^[42]

• Official website
• Alice Through the Looking Glass at IMDb
• Alice Through the Looking Glass at Box Office Mojo
• Alice Through the Looking Glass at Rotten Tomatoes
• Alice Through the Looking Glass at Metacritic