A news item has been making its away around the Internet today, following a Dread Central report that says they had a conversation with Paul “Pee Wee Herman” Reubens, and asked the actor if he would like to work with Tim Burton again (they first collaborated on “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” in 1985). Reubens responded that he would, but the director was tied up doing a number of projects, among them, a sequel to “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Well, perhaps someone is misinformed or heard wrong.
Derek Frey, producer and executive at Tim Burton Productions — who worked as an assistant to Burton on “Mars Attacks!,” “Sleepy Hollow,” “Planet of the Apes,” “Big Fish” and the 2006 3D version of a little film called “The Nightmare Before Christmas” — has told us there is “no truth to the rumor” and expressed gratitude for squashing the rumor quickly. The prospect of a sequel seems reasonable considering the single film has become a merchandising machine, but with Tim Burton busy prepping “Dark Shadows” and producing “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” it seems that for now he has his hands full (and that’s not even counting the myriad projects he has in development like “Monsterpocalypse” and the “Addams Family“).
The wait for the next Burton picture won’t be too long as he’s gearing up for an April shoot on “Dark Shadows,” the big screen adaptation of the cult 1960s television show that will find him once again paired with Johnny Depp, who will play the lead role of vampire Barnabas Collins. So plenty of ghoulish delights in store for the Burton faithful. No release date yet on that picture, but expect it to be one of the major tentpole films of 2012.