THESE stunning images show Alice in Wonderland fans in Oxford what to expect when a new movie of the famous children’s book hits cinema screens next year.

Tim Burton is directing the Walt Disney movie, which is expected to reach British cinemas in March.

The film boasts a strong cast, with Johnny Depp playing the Mad Hatter and Anne Hathaway the White Queen.

Also appearing are Michael Sheen, the star of soccer movie The Damned United, and comedian Matt Lucas.

Mr Burton and his wife Helena Bonham Carter, own a home in Sutton Courtenay, near Abingdon.

She appears in the movie as the Red Queen.

But it is the unmistakable skyline of Oxford that is expected to feature heavily in the film.

Yuki Nakajima, manageress of Alice’s Shop in St Aldate’s, which sells Alice memorabilia, said: “Lots of customers seem very excited about the Johnny Depp movie — they are all talking about it.”

Lewis Carroll, a maths don at Christ Church, based Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Alice through the Looking Glass (1871) on Alice Liddell — the daughter of the dean of Christ Church.

In the film, the original story has been given a modern “girl power” theme by writer Linda Woolverton.

Alice, 17, goes to a party on a Victorian estate, and finds she is about to be proposed to in front of hundreds of people.

She runs off, following a white rabbit down a hole and ends up in Wonderland, a place she visited 10 years before, although she does not remember it.

The star-studded cast also includes Mia Wasikowska as Alice, Christopher Lee as The Jabberwock and Stephen Fry as The Cheshire Cat.

Disney spokesman Gemma Cox confirmed the movie was on schedule for general release in March.

In July the Story Museum, an Oxford-based charity planning to open a new centre for children’s books, ran Alice’s Day in Oxford, celebrating the city’s links with Lewis Carroll.

It is already planning next year’s celebration and a spokesman said: “The film should be good — anything with Johnny Depp in is bound to be really cool.”

Disney made an animated version of the Alice stories in 1951 and other versions have been made since, including a two-parter for television in 1985.

affrench@oxfordmail.co.uk