“I Think My Days With Disney Are Done” Says Tim Burton at Lumière Festival Press Conference

Director Tim Burton recently spoke at the Lumière Festival, where he received the Prix Lumière award, and suggested that his experience directing Dumbo (2019) would be his last time working with the company for the time being.

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Tim Burton’s career with the Walt Disney Company is long and winding, and many of his iconic characters can be seen throughout the Parks.

Whether on merchandise or as face characters Guests can meet, Tim Burton characters such as Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and Sparky from Frankenweenie (2012) are incredibly recognizable in Disney Parks.

Known for his eccentric sense of style and unique animation, Tim Burton has worked on several Disney films, some more memorable than others.

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From working as a concept artist to directing, Frankenweenie (1984), The Black Cauldron (1985), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), James and the Giant Peach (1996), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Frankenweenie (2012), Alice Through The Looking Glass (2016), and Dumbo (2019) are all Disney films that Tim Burton contributed to.

You’ll notice that most of these films are more obscure than others, despite being incredibly unique and memorable in their own ways. They can be found on Disney plus for those interested in Tim Burton’s professional relationship with Disney.

As the years have gone by, Walt Disney Studios has become less interested in making films that are at risk of performing poorly.

To put it bluntly, movies that don’t fit the typical Disney mold are less likely to have a place in Walt Disney Pictures now that Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar have the spotlight. It goes without saying that Tim Burton’s work rarely fits the typical Disney mold.

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At the press conference at the Lumière Festival, Burton shared his opinion, saying, “It’s gotten to be very homogenized, very consolidated. There’s less room for different types of things.”

He also expressed that he had no interest in working on a Marvel movie and went into further detail about his experience directing Dumbo. He reveals that his work on Dumbo is part of what led him to realize his newfound lack of interest in working with 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 […]

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Although we’re unsure of what Tim Burton will work on next and with whom, we can be confident that the legacy he built with Walt Disney Studios will live on despite his departure.