Even though we sometimes feel like some of the biggest names in Hollywood could get anything they wanted, reality is not quite that simple. During an interview withVarietyto promoteBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, world-renowned filmmakerTim Burtonrevealed that he’s had his share of ups and downs with big studios, and one of his lowest moments happened after he directed one ofDisney’s biggest titles.
During the interview, Burton commented that the experience of adaptingDumbotolive-action was not the best one, and it almost pushed him to end his directing career. Not by chance, Burton spent the next five years without directing anything — one of the longest gaps in hisfilmmaking history— and theBeetlejuicesequel along with Netflix hit seriesWednesdaywere the projects that helped motivate him to get behind the camera again. He stated:
“Honestly, after ‘Dumbo,’ I really didn’t know. I thought that could have been it, really. I could have retired, or become… well, I wouldn’t have become an animator again, that’s over. But [‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’] did reenergize me. Oftentimes, when you get into Hollywood, you attempt to be responsible to what you’re doing with the budget and everything else but sometimes you might lose yourself a little bit. This reinforced the feeling for me that it’s important that I do what I want to do, because then everybody will benefit.”
DumboWas a Box Office Disappointment
The 1941 animated classic adaptation came on the heels of Disney’s tendency of adapting its own animated classics, but unlike other titles likeBeauty and the BeastandThe Lion King, theTim Burton movie failed to make wavesat the box office with a little over $350 million earned. It was a decent turnout, but a far cry from Burton’s previous Disney entry:Alice in Wonderland, which topped the charts withover a billion dollars raked in. Aside from that,Dumboalso didn’t impress critics: it earned a46% approval rateonRotten Tomatoes, andits story was called “paper thin.”
Burton also toldVarietythatworking onWednesday"reconnected" him to making things, and going to Romania to film the series felt like being in a “creative health camp.” That’s how he realizedhe wanted to return to theBeetlejuiceworld35 years later and find out whatever happened to the Deetz family. InBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, the director and screenwriter felt particularly eager to revisit Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) and explore what happens “when you go from being a cool teenager to an adult.”
Beetlejuice Beetlejuicepremieres in theaters on September 6.
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