“My days with Disney are done”: Batman 1989 Director Tim Burton Refuses To Work With Disney Because it’s a “Horrible big circus”

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Tim Burton’s history with Disney is quite intricately connected to his own development and rise in the world of cinema. However, the extraordinary filmmaker who is an eccentric genius in his own right has reached the end of his rope as he prepares himself to conclude what’s left of his tenure at the mega studio. The news, although sudden, is not shocking and the director’s exit is sure to reorient some of Disney’s priorities when it comes to preserving its valued assets.

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Tim Burton
Tim Burton

Also read: Tim Burton Reveals Why Jenna Ortega Is Perfect As Wednesday Addams

Tim Burton About to Exit Disney After a 40-Year Relationship

The Edward Scissorhands director has always been remarkable in his creations with a very specific freaky and bizarre style that is inherently recognizable at first sight. Tim Burton is known for dealing a flair of his signature quirks to his gothic fantasy projects via his outlandish characters and their whimsical idiosyncrasies. Those qualities can be seen in his films Beetlejuice (1988), The Addams Family (1991), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), and Alice in Wonderland (2010).

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The extraordinary creations of Tim Burton
The extraordinary creations of Tim Burton

Also read: Alice In Wonderland: 5 Great Things About The Live-Action Movie

However, all of it began with a career in animation at The Walt Disney Studios in the early ‘80s. The adventure that has ever since been 40 years in the making has now finally come to an abrupt end with the director claiming that the live-action remake of his 2019 film, Dumbo might be the last project he’ll be working on under the banner of Disney. 

“My history is that I started out there. I was hired and fired like several times throughout my career there. The thing about Dumbo is that’s why I think my days with Disney are done, I realized that I was Dumbo, that I was working in this horrible big circus and I needed to escape. That movie is quite autobiographical at a certain level.”

However, this is not the only grudge that the director holds against the studio.

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Tim Burton moved to tears at the 2022 Lumiere Festival at Lyon
Tim Burton moved to tears at the 2022 Lumière Festival at Lyon

Also read: Tim Burton’s Exhibition In Spain Brings Gothic Madness To Life

Tim Burton Resents Disney’s Obsession With Franchises

In the esteemed Lumière Festival held at Lyon, Tim Burton was presented with the highly acclaimed Prix Lumière for his lifetime achievements. At the emotional event, Burton recalled his brilliant journey as a filmmaker and addressed the current political and economic turmoil in the U.K. Amidst all the drama came the announcement of his Disney exeunt.

Tim Burton honored at the 2022 Lumiere Festival
Tim Burton honored at the 2022 Lumière Festival

Also read: 10 Times Celebrities Hopelessly Ridiculed MCU & Why They Are Wrong

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Speaking of what he now thinks of Disney and its acquisition of Marvel Studios, Burton points out the studio’s transparent fixation with Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar movies and claimed:

“It’s gotten to be very homogenized, very consolidated. There’s less room for different types of things… I can only deal with one universe, l can’t deal with a multi-universe.”

Tim Burton says he would never direct a Marvel movie and that’s obvious given his particular grievance against what the franchise stands for. His claims about the “homogenized” CBM franchise further stand out because of Warner Bros.’s relegation of directorial duties after Burton’s Batman (1989) and Batman Forever (1992).

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Tim Burton with Michelle Pfeiffer on the set of Batman Returns (1992)
Tim Burton with Michelle Pfeiffer on the set of Batman Returns (1992)

“They went the other way, that’s the funny thing about it. But then I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Okay. Hold on a second here. You complain about me, I’m too weird, I’m too dark, and then you put nipples on the costume? Go f*ck yourself.’ Seriously,” he said. “So, yeah, I think that’s why I didn’t end up [doing a third film].” 

Tim Burton is currently associated with a Netflix project, Wednesday, that is a spin-off to his critically acclaimed film, The Addams Family.

Source: Deadline

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Written by Diya Majumdar

Articles Published: 1488

With a degree in Literature from Miranda House, Diya Majumdar now has nearly 1500 published articles on FandomWire. Her passion and profession both include dissecting the world of cinema while being a liberally opinionated person with an overbearing love for Monet, Edvard Munch, and Van Gogh. Other skills include being the proud owner of an obsessive collection of Spotify playlists.