3 Tim Burton Movies That Deserve Sequels

Gothically inclined director Tim Burton just scored one of his biggest hits to date with 2024’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a legacy sequel that ranks fairly high on the grand scale of legacy sequels. And now that we’ve seen he can do justice to one of his older projects even after the passing of a few decades, what other entries on his filmography deserve a follow-up? Some of his 20 movies are fully functional as standalone works, e.g. Big Fish, Sleepy Hollow, Ed Wood, Big Eyes, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Edward Scissorhands, and Corpse Bride. Furthermore, Alice in Wonderland already received a box office bomb of a sequel, Dark Shadows was itself a critical and commercial failure, and Planet of the Apes has already been successfully rebooted.

As for Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, well, the passing of Paul Reubens has made that impossible. So, what does that leave? Which Burton flicks are due a legacy sequel?

Batman Returns

An influential film to this day, including on Robert Egger’s Nosferatu, Batman Returns is one of the best superhero movies ever made, which is what makes it so hard to watch knowing that what comes next is the pair of underwhelming Joel Schumacher films. Sure, Batman Forever works alright, but it’s nothing compared to Burton’s two Bat adventures.

Audiences had a chance to catch up with Michael Keaton’s Batman in the DCEU’s The Flash, but it was a reunion that fell flat on its face. That said, Keaton’s return was the best thing about the punchline of a film, so why not try again? It’s already been established that the DCU is its own thing, so maybe Michael Keaton’s return in The Flash could be swiftly forgotten, a relic of a failed cinematic universe. What a proper Keaton-as-Batman comeback needs is Burton, and like Matt Reeves’s The Batman saga, it could exist fully outside of James Gunn’s DCU. It’s sad we won’t be able to see Robin Williams as Riddler, but it would be great to see Keaton and Burton continue their collaborative winning streak just as it would be great to see Keaton and Michelle Pfeiffer re-enter the director’s take on Gotham.

Mars Attacks!

Easily one of Tim Burton’s most underrated movies, Mars Attacks! was a great movie for a ’90s kid to grow up with, like Tremors or Anaconda. But it came with a huge budget, mostly courtesy of the special effects and the attached price tags to one of the most impressive casts ever assembled. With advancements in CGI, the cost of special effects would be lowered, which leaves the cast.

A true Mars Attacks! sequel would need the few people who survived in the original film to come back. And, truth be told, many of them would likely be excited to work with Burton again. Pam Grier, Lukas Haas, and Annette Bening could all come back, as could Natalie Portman as First Daughter Taffy Dale (who could perhaps now play the first female President of the United States). Perhaps the Martians could again find use for Lisa Marie’s infiltrating synthetic. And, this time, the Martians can bring noise-canceling earbuds. It could all be a reverse of the Independence Day franchise, where the first one was a box office smash, and the legacy sequel was a critical and commercial disaster.

[RELATED: Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! Is Back with a New Wave of Funko Pops]

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Considering Tim Burton’s adaptation of Ransom Riggs’ novel, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, recently expanded its fanbase thanks to Max, perhaps there’s no better time for it to receive a follow-up. It’s actually fairly surprising it hasn’t already. There are six books in Riggs’ series, and especially when compared to stuff like Beautiful Creatures, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, The Darkest Minds, Mortal Engines, and Vampire Academy, Miss Peregrine’s actually performed fairly well.

With $296.5 million worldwide against $110 million, it was a little more Divergent or The Maze Runner than The Hunger Games or Twilight, but that’s still a gross that indicates audience interest. Eva Green is integral and, considering this was her second of three times thus far collaborating with the director, it’s clear they have a healthy work relationship.

Which of Burton’s films would you like to see get a sequel? Let us know in the comments below!