Frankenweenie, the much beloved cult short that, ostensibly, got him fired from Disney in the 1980s, is back with a feature length 3D IMAX release from Disney this autumn. Yeah, there had to've been a li'l victory dance at Chez Burton on that one.
The studio's marketing is revving up in earnest, announcing a Comic-Con panel and its world premiere at Austin's genre-friendly Fantastic Fest's opening night on September 20th.
The trailer offers two-and-a-half minutes of the expected Edward Gorey-by-way-of Brooklyn Renegade Craft Fair that, as I'm sure you are well aware, has no small share of its fans.
One of the more interesting things about the upcoming film will be doing a compare and contrast on the voice talent versus the short. Shelly Duvall is now Catherine O'Hara? But I love them both! Daniel Stern switched for Martin Short? Don't make me choose! The great Paul Bartel was a voice in the original, but, alas, his death in 2000 makes it impossible for him to join this time. Unless... is there a way, you think, to resurrect idiosyncratic character actors?
The film, of course, looks terrific, though I'm curious to see if the Burton schtick is enough to get kids – normal kids - to overcome their natural disinclination for black & white. With the financial windfall Burton handed Disney with Alice in Wonderland (as Warner Bros. scratches its head over Dark Shadows) and the licensing juggernaut that is The Nightmare Before Christmas, I'm sure they were more than happy to throw the director a bone (zing!) on what was, I'm surmising, a not terribly expensive production.
Either way, Frankenweenie looks like the only movie on the horizon that will be appropriate to watch while both in your jammies and drinking absinthe.