The Lips hope to premiere Christmas on Mars at South by Southwest in March, but it's not for sure. Frontman Wayne Coyne tells Billboard, "It is coming. In fact, it's better than ever. Because it's taken so long, we've become better filmmakers. There's better computer effects. I think it will be much better."
Right now, the boys are putting the finishing touches on the film and are transferring it into High Definition. This is, of course, the Flaming Lips, so don't expect anything "normal" to be associated with its release, whenever that may occur. Coyne says the band wants to hold screening events for the film instead of showing it in theaters:
I want the Flaming Lips audience to shape this. It'll be like our live show, which evolves as it goes. We'll show it to the audience and let them talk out there on message boards, and then maybe we'll take that and go back and change it and put it out there again and see what they think. It'll be a different experience than sitting at home and watching a DVD, for sure. I don't know if a lot of bands can do that, but the Flaming Lips sure can.
The project currently stands around the six year mark, so this it's going to be interesting to see what the hell actually hits the screen. After that happens, Coyne says that the Lips will get back in the studio: "I have ideas I think could spur a great new Flaming Lips concept and a new sound and things like that. But I feel like we have to finish 'Christmas on Mars' before we jump into anything else. Hopefully we'll be able to do that next year, though."
The trailer for a release that never came:
