Tim Burton says he may never work for Disney again

CNN
–

Tim Burton He talks about his previous working relationship with Disney, saying that he is unlikely to return to the company as a director in the future.

The director attended the Lumiere Festival in France over the weekend, where he was awarded an honorary Prix Lumière. He spoke at a press conference Saturday where he likened working at the company to the character of Dumbo trapped in “this big, terrible circus.”

“It has to be very homogeneous and very coherent. There is less room for different kinds of things,” Burton said. Limit.

Burton noted that Disney is now largely focused on its prop franchises primarily within the Star Wars and Marvel cinematic universes and his potential involvement in the MCU in the future, and said the chances were slim.

“I can only handle one universe,” he said, “I can’t handle a multiverse.”

CNN has reached out to Disney for comment.

Burton recently collaborated with Disney on a 2019 live-action reimagining of “Dumbo.” The Beetlejuice director first worked in Mouse House as a small animator for films like The Fox and the Hound in 1981. He went on to work on films like “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (through Touchstone) in 1993, and “James and the Giant Peach” 1996, 2012’s “Frankenweenie”, and 2010’s “Alice in Wonderland” (along with the 2016 sequel) among other titles.

“I have been hired and fired several times throughout my career there,” he added. “The thing about ‘Dumbo,’ is why I think my days with Disney are over, I realize I was Dumbo, that I was working in this horrible big circus and I needed to escape. This movie is autobiographical on a certain level.”

The director’s next project, the Addams Family Spinoff series “Wednesday” for Netflix, is set to release on November 23.

Update: The story has been updated to show that Burton worked on the films “James and the Giant Peach,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” and “Alice Through the Glass” as a producer. Those projects were not directed.