Hops and Box Office Flops: ‘MARS ATTACKS!’

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Mars Attacks! is based upon a series of Topps trading cards released in the early 1960s. And it certainly pays homage to its inspiration.

Unfortunately, its also a narrative mess that fails to get the most out of its stacked cast. Mars Attacks! features an all-star lineup. It’s got Jack Nicholson in two roles, Jim Brown, Joe Don Baker, Annette Bening, Glenn Close, Michael J. Fox, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Pierce Brosnan, just to name a few.

And, yes, their presence is felt, but outside of Nicholson, who’s terrific as a Las Vegas Huckster and the President, they all have nothing to do.

That is the great failing of Mars Attacks! It wants to do a lot without really doing anything at all. It’s all just empty spectacle—little green CGI men conquering a hapless earth.

Hence why it received middling to negative reviews—56% on Rotten Tomatoes with 86 of them—and was beheaded like an annoying chihuahua at the box office. On a budget of $100 million, Mars Attacks! raked in just north of $101 million worldwide.

The losses on that are enough to make a financier’s head explode like a martian listening to Slim Whitman.

Now, sit back, disintegrate a Double County Double IPA from Dry County Brewing, and do not trust the martians! I, the Thunderous Wizard (@WriterTLK), Chumpzilla, Capt. Cash, and Bling Blake are optimistic about still having two out of the three branches of government. That ain’t bad!

This Week’s Segments:

Introduction/Plot Breakdown – Nice planet. We’ll take it! (00:00)
Lingering Questions – After a word from our brothers in beer at Hop Nation USA, we discuss assess why this movie flopped. (36:14)
The “They Blew Up Congress!” Trivia Challenge – The Double Turn Podcast pins a red skeleton, and then Chumpzilla challenges the field to trivia about the movie. (1:07:12)
Recommendations – We offer our picks for the week and next up: We finish “Hops and All I Want for Christmas Flops” with 1989’s blatant Nintendo commercial, The Wizard! (1:17:09)

And, as always, hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to check out all the interesting factoids—the current value of the cards and more—from this week’s episode!

You can find this episode of Hops and Box Office Flops on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, Acast, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Vurbl, Amazon Music, and more!