Tim Burton may have reawakened the “ghost with as many” in the recently released sequel to his 1988 horror comedy “Beetlejuice,” but that doesn’t seem to have convinced the director to revisit some of his other classics.
During a Q&A session at the Marrakesh International Film Festival on Saturday (via IndieWire), Burton ruled out the possibility of developing a sequel to the 1990s hit “Edward Scissorhands,” which starred Johnny Depp as the titular role.
“There are certain films that I don’t want to make a sequel to,” Burton said. “I didn’t want to do a sequel to that because it felt like a one-time thing. I didn’t want to do a sequel to The Nightmare Before Christmas because it also felt like a one-time thing. Some things are better left alone, and this, for me, is one of them.”
Although Burton has not directed a film involving Depp since 2012’s Dark Shadows, Depp remains one of Burton’s most frequent collaborators to date. In addition to “Edward Scissorhands” and “Dark Shadows,” Depp and Burton worked together in “Ed Wood” (1994), “Sleepy Hollow” (1999), “Corpse Bride” (2005), and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” “. (2005), “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (2007) and “Alice in Wonderland” (2010).
When asked if he saw another collaboration with Depp, Burton replied: “Well, I’m sure there will be.”
He added: “I never felt like I would use this or that actor. Usually it should depend on the project I’m working on. This is what the movie is about. It’s collaborating and exchanging ideas with the people around you.
Burton’s “Beetlejuice” Beetlejuice, which was released in September this year, was a huge hit at the box office. The film opened to the second-biggest September debut ever, grossing $110 million domestically, and eventually grossing more than $450 million at the global box office.
The “Beetlejuice” sequel — which reunited Burton with original stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara — also received mainly positive reviews from critics and audiences. (The film currently has a 76% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a “B+” rating on CinemaScore.)
In an interview with diverseBurton talked about returning to the world of “Beetlejuice” for the sequel. “It’s not like Big Fish, but I don’t think I could have done it earlier because, first of all, I had no idea of doing a sequel — again, this was before the time when these things were talked about. But going back To her now was nice, because Lydia was a character I always felt strongly about, “What happens to people after 35 years? Where do they go? What is their journey? What happened to the Dietz family? This feeling about it was very simple for me and emotional. That became your anchor from there. When you go from being a cool teenager to being an adult, what journey will you take?
“And with all these people that I love working with — Michael Keaton, Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder — it was very strange but beautiful,” Burton continued. “And with the new cast, it was emotional but it was also new. I never saw the original movie again, because Mostly because I never knew why it worked at first so I treated it as something I couldn’t think about any more and just dive in and do it quickly, like we’ve done in the past.