LOS ANGELES, Aug 04, 2014 (AFP) - Production begins this week on the highly anticipated sequel to Tim Burton's blockbuster reinvention of Alice In Wonderland - with the same A-list cast as the 2010 Oscar-winning film.

Burton is co-producing but not directing Alice In Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass, in which Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter and Mia Wasikowska (Alice) will all reprise their roles.

Joining the film version of the whimsical world created by author Lewis Carroll is British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who has the difficult task of bringing Time to the big screen, the film's producers Disney said on Monday.

Another British actor, Rhys Ifans, will step into the role of Zanik Hightopp, the father of Depp's Mad Hatter.

The film - which is directed by James Bobin, and is being shot both on location and at Britain's Shepperton Studios - is set for release in May 2016.

The 2010 film, which won two Oscars for best costume design and best art direction, cost a whopping US$200 million (S$49.2 million) to make, according to industry website IMDB. But it raked in an estimated US$1 billion worldwide.