Disney’s continued dip into their Disney Vault got peculiar when they announced they will be doing a live action Dumbo film. A script by Ehren Kruger, the guy who wrote Transformers? And with CGI effects to recreate a flying elephant? Adapting a 64-minute movie for toddlers from 1941 into a mega-blockbuster?
Well now Disney has signed Mr. Peculiar to direct the Dumbo reboot: Tim Burton. Variety is reporting via The Wall Street Journal that Burton’s version will combine live action and animation in order to tell the story of an elephant with exceptionally large ears meeting his full potential with the help of a mouse. Sounds right up Burton’s alley.
Of course, the last time Burton adapted a Disney classic, he cast Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter in the mega-hit Alice In Wonderland, which grossed $334 million domestically back in 2010. Would Depp or Helena Bonham Carter end up in Burton’s cast here?
Currently Burton is working on Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, a novel adaptation about a teenage boy who discovers crumbling ruins once home to children with exotic powers. That film just added Allison Janney and also stars Eva Green, Samuel L. Jackson and Asa Butterfield. IMDb also lists that Burton is on board for an announced Beetlejuice 2, which could still happen given Michael Keaton’s resurgence.