Batman Director Tim Burton Doubts He’ll Make Another Superhero Movie

Batman director Tim Burton says that he probably won’t end up making another superhero movie. Variety asked the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice creator his take on returning to Gotham or the world of comic book heroes. Candidly, the filmmaker said that he’s not exactly clamoring to get back into the world of superheroes. But, that doesn’t mean never. Burton admitted, “At the moment, I would say no. Like I said, I come at things from different points of view, so I would never say never to anything. But, at the moment, it’s not something I’d be interested in.” After all, his star Michael Keaton just played Batman again last year, and nostalgic reintroductions of heroes is all the rage. But, for now, he has his camera trained on other opportunities.

Burton’s Batman films came along at a very interesting time. The concept of a cinematic universe didn’t even exist, even franchises were less dominant in Hollywood. The director recognizes that he really lucked out with how little the studio had to say about his approach to Batman and Gotham in particular. Burton argues thatIt allowed him to focus on the movie at hand rather than an overarching list of directives to adhere to.

“I was lucky because at that time, the word “franchise” didn’t exist. So Batman felt slightly experimental at the time. … It deviated from what the perception [of a superhero movie] might be,” Burton mused. “So you didn’t hear that kind of studio feedback, and being in England, it was even further removed. We really just got to focus on the film and not really think about those things that now they think about even before you do it.”

Burton Has Been Vocal About The Flash

With Keaton returning for The Flash last year, Burton had a lot to say about his friend’s reintroduction to Batman. In addition, one of his rarer projects also made an appearance, even though it was never made. Superman Lives, which mostly lived on through fan whispers about Nicolas Cage’s turn as The Man of Steel, was also included in The Flash. Burton told BFI that he had a number of issues with the cameos in that film.

“No, I don’t have regrets,” Burton previously mentioned of Superman Lives. “I will say this: when you work that long on a project and it doesn’t happen, it affects you for the rest of your life. Because you get passionate about things, and each thing is an unknown journey, and it wasn’t there yet. But it’s one of those experiences that never leaves you, a little bit.” 

“But also it goes into another AI thing, and this is why I think I’m over it with the studio. They can take what you did, Batman or whatever, and culturally misappropriate it, or whatever you want to call it,” he added. “Even though you’re a slave of Disney or Warner Brothers, they can do whatever they want. So in my latter years of life, I’m in quiet revolt against all this.”

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