Burton’s next a Weenie?

Well word is in on Tim Burton’s next project after SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET. After SWEENEY TODD, Burton will apparently be getting to work on a remake of one of his own short films, FRANKENWEENIE. According to /Film, Dick Cook (Chairman of Walt Disney Pictures) announced that a new stop-motion animated film would be in production soon, he added that it would be by “the creative mastermind behind the majority of stop-motion pictures in the last decade.”

Alright, interesting enough. Well that, coupled with the news over at AICN that ‘completely anonymous’ dropped them an email stating that ‘It’s a feature length remake of his short “FRANKENWEENIE” All stop motion.”, seems to mean that Tim Burton is remaking his short film FRANKENWEENIE. Now AICN strongly stresses this is only a rumor, but all the signs point to it being true at this point. FRANKENWEENIE was a 30 minute black and white short Burton made in 1994. According to IMDB, the synopsis is:

When young Victor’s pet dog Sparky (who stars in Victor’s home-made monster movies) is hit by a car, Victor decides to bring him back to life the only way he knows how. But when the bolt-necked “monster” wreaks havoc and terror in the hearts of Victor’s neighbors, he has to convince them (and his parents) that despite his appearance, Sparky’s still the good loyal friend he’s always been.

According to /Film, Disney had shelved the project, thinking it was too dark for children. With Burton’s early success though, they decided to release it with the DVD of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. The original short starred Daniel Stern, Shelley Duvall, and Sofia Coppola. If this is more than a rumor, who wants to bet Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter (below) will be lending their voices? (not saying that’s a bad thing.)