Credit: Edited by Inside the MagicA lot has been said about Disney revisiting canceled projects, but one scrapped scenario might be the key to reuniting the studio with a very famous friend. Mort might be the ticket to get Tim Burton back at Disney.
To say Disney has been struggling with identity issues lately would be the kind way of putting things. After a season of flops at Walt Disney Animation Studios, interest in some of its scrapped projects in the hope of discovering Disney’s former glory has grown.
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Collider gave The canceled Fraidy Cat an in-depth analysis, which made this writer wonder just how many other great concepts might be lurking somewhere in Disney’s archive. As delightfully bizarre as an animated comedy inspired by the works of Alfred Hitchcock might have been, one title in the studio’s cinematic graveyard has always been looming in the back of my brain.
Mort Brings Tim Burton and Disney Back from the Dead
Inspired by the novel of the same name by the late Sir Terry Pratchett, Mort would have the story of Death (as in the Grim Reaper), his human apprentice, and the absurdist fantasy set in the author’s famous Discworld. Naturally, this is all incredibly strange and unusual for the same studio that brought Frozen (2013) to life. However, Disney is well-acquainted with someone who knows how to handle the strange and unusual.
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Tim Burton was Disney’s lovable weirdo for years, and the relationship between the prolific director and the House of Mouse was complicated to say the least. While the studio was instrumental in getting his career off the ground, it also tried to stifle many of Burton’s ideas.
The director has also recently come forward about his experience with the modern Disney studio. In an interview with Deadline, Burton stated,
“My history is that I started out there. I was hired and fired like several times throughout my career there. 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. That movie is quite autobiographical at a certain level.”
Although he is reportedly “done” with Disney, everyone has a price. For Tim Burton, the opportunity to create something original again might be the avenue Disney needs to take to re-establish a successful partnership.
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Disney and Burton do have a history of working exceptionally well together. After all, Burton gave the studio one of its biggest cult-films of all time, The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Imagine what he could do in a setting that would allow him to be as weird as possible.
Marvelous things can happen when Burton is given total control, just look at movies like Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989) and Edward Scissorhands (1990). A narrative where the Grim Reaper is a central and eccentric character in a world populated by wizards, dragons, dwarves, and other weird creatures? The real question is, why wasn’t this brought to Burton sooner?
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If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas. That being said, is undoubtedly a concept that could and should be revisited. With other strange projects like Good Omens (a Pratchett collaboration with the legendary Neil Gaiman) and a huge selection from A24 getting so popular, what’s stopping Disney from getting in on the fun?
Do you think Disney can persuade Tim Burton to come back? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!