Tim Burton Shares How Wednesday Helped Him After Dumbo

The Netflix favorite helped reinvigorate Tim Burton.

By Aaron Perine

Tim Burton says that Wednesday helped him creatively recover after his experience on Dumbo. Variety talked to him ahead of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and asked him how he got back on that horse after the Disney movie underperformed. Burton argues that the Netflix series ended up rescuing him from a bit of a wasteland after wallowing in that production. Dumbo didn't do exactly what the other Disney live-action remakes have done at the box office. So there was a sense of uncertainty surrounding what the future looked like for Burton. Now, after Wednesday and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice are poised to reinvigorate fans, things are looking a lot rosier.

"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," Burton laughed. "But this did reenergize me. Oftentimes, when you get into Hollywood, you try to be responsible to what you're doing with the budget and everything else but sometimes you might lose yourself a little bit. This reinforced the feeling for me that it's important that I do what I want to do, because then everybody will benefit."

Burton Gets Real About Dumbo

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Tim Burton's long career has taken him some place.

- Netflix/Disney)

Dumbo was a traumatic sort of experience for Tim Burton. The director is still beloved by fans all over the world. Successes with Wednesday and the fervor around Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice help prove that he still got some goodwill out there. But the experience on Dumbo helped Burton see that his home at Disney might not have been compatible with his vision anymore.

"My history is that I started out there. I was hired and fired like several times throughout my career there," he illustrated in an interview from 2022. "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."

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In recent years, that desire for originality and autonomy over his work has become more pressing for him. The creator previously responded to a BuzzFeed article that rendered Disney princesses in his signature style in an interview with The Independent. Needless to say, Burton was horrified at the very prospect of something like that. "I can't describe the feeling it gives you," Burton would begin. "It reminded me of when other cultures say, 'Don't take my picture because it is taking away your soul.' What it does is it sucks something from you. It takes something from your soul or psyche; that is very disturbing, especially if it has to do with you. It's like a robot taking your humanity, your soul."

What do you want to see Burton make next? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media!

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