Tim Burton Discusses if He’d Ever Make Another Superhero Movie After Batman Returns

Tim Burton isn’t interested in making another superhero movie at this point in time.

Burton directed 1989’s Batman starring Michael Keaton along with the 1992 sequel Batman Returns . He was attached to helm a Superman movie starring Nicolas Cage for a time; however, the project never came to fruition.

Speaking with Variety , Burton was asked if he’d ever be interested in returning to the world of superheroes or if that time in his career had passed.

What did Tim Burton say about possibly directing another superhero movie?

“At the moment, I would say no,” Burton 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.”

He added, “I was lucky because at that time, the word ‘franchise’ didn’t exist. Batman felt slightly experimental at the time. … It deviated from what the perception [of a superhero movie] might be. 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 further noted that working on Batman Returns made him feel “reenergized,” though that feeling quickly went away. “That was when we started hearing the word franchise and where the studio started going, ‘What’s the black stuff coming out of the Penguin’s mouth?’ It was the first time the cold wind of that kind of thing came upon me.”

He also said about his unmade Superman movie, “There’s always this Jason and the Argonauts-style journey that everyone goes through to get a movie made. I’ve worked on a couple movies that didn’t happen after working for years on them, and those are quite traumatic. I just try to focus on things that I feel strongly about and get rid of all the noise surrounding them.”

Burton’s next movie is Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which is a sequel to his 1988 film and will see Keaton reprise his role as the titular character. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice opens in United States theaters on September 6, 2024.