It’s strange to think that, Tim Burton of all people, has become the go-to guy for family movies. I’d love to see him break out and try his hand at Rated-R action or hell even a PG-13 Katherine Heigl rom-com just to see what would happen. But nope, he’s sticking with weirdly engaging family fare. Next up, he’s directing a stop-motion take on The Addams Family.
Deadline says he’s working for Universal’s Illumination Entertainment, where they’ve acquired the rights to the series of Addams Family drawings which once appeared in the New Yorker and spawned the TV series which eventually spawned the movie and eventually spawned the rap music. Odds are MC Hammer will not be called in to work on Burton’s new movie.
Of course as there always is whenever any filmmaker does something that’s already been done, there’s a lot of prattle about how this will have no connection to the 60s TV show or the live-action movies which made Christina Ricci famous in the 90s. But how could it not be in some way influenced by them, even by accident? The Addams Family is an indelible part of pop culture. Anyone working on the film will, whether they like it or not, have the previous incarnation of America’s weirdest family bouncing around somewhere in their head.
But their intention is to go back and mine the original illustrations and mine them for material. And of course, after the success of Coraline, they'll do it in 3D. Burton’s last attempt at stop-motion animation was Corpse Bride, which was generally pretty awful. Let’s hope he can get that old Nightmare Before Christmas magic back.
