Tim Burton Almost Retired After ‘Dumbo'

Tim Burton has already stated how making Disney’s “Dumbo” (2019) was a “soul destroying” experience for him, but we didn’t know it was this bad.

Burton is telling Variety that he seriously considered retiring after “Dumbo” and that it was only after hopping onboard Netflix’s “Wednesday” that he decided to come back to filmmaking.

"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," he tells Variety, noting that his upcoming “Beetlejuice” sequel "reenergized me."

Back in 2022, Burton confessed that following his experiences working on the live action “Dumbo” he was unlikely to work with Disney ever again. In fact, he stated that directing the film made him feel like the trapped elephant he was depicting on-screen:

“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.

In the late ‘80s, and through the early aughts, Burton found a way to make these personal auteur-driven films that somehow managed to attain mainstream success. Films like “Beetlejuice,” “Batman Returns,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “Ed Wood” “Mars Attacks,” “Sleepy Hollow,” “Big Fish” and “Sweeney Todd” all had that indelible Burton imprint.

However, these last 15 years, Burton has resorted to directing very branded commercial movies that just didn’t resemble his earlier and more personal projects.

Burton's 2010 adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland” earned over $1 billion at the global box office, but was met with mixed reviews. He gained a reputation as the go-to-director for classic children's fantasy, including helming a few of those for Disney.

Suffice to say, Burton has been stuck in a rut for more than a decade. His last great movie? Probably 2007’s "Sweeney Todd”. We should also his note decent biopic tackling painter Margaret Keane, 2014’s "Big Eyes.” Other than those two, Tim Burton has been playing the role of corporate shill for big studios.

The good news is that Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” has “rekindled” his love for filmmaking, it’s set to have a splashy world premiere at Venice next week, and he’s already planning his next film — a remake of “Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman”