Unrealised Projects

Batman 3
Beetlejuice II
Catwoman
Conversations With Vincent
Dinosaurs Attack!
The Fall of the House of Usher
Geek Love
Go Baby Go
Hawkline Monster
Lost in Oz
Mai the Psychic Girl
Mary Reilly
Superman Lives
X: The Man With X-Ray Eyes

Over the years Burton has been involved with various projects that never made it to the screen. Here are some of the movies and TV shows he was planning to make (or at least rumoured to be making) until fate intervened . . .

Batman 3
Despite the backlash against Batman Returns, Burton actually considered making the third film, until Warner Bros. gave him strong hints they no longer supported his directorial vision. We can only dream of how Burton would have closed the trilogy. One thing's for sure, there would have been no nipples!

Beetlejuice 2
A sequel that was promised for years (possible subtitles: Beetlejuice Falls in Love and Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian) but never materialised. It’s probably too late now, but rumours still spring up occasionally (the last one involved Beetlejuice meeting up with an “urban” version of himself).

Catwoman
Even after he left the Batman franchise, Burton was still set to make this spin-off with Michelle Pfeiffer reprising her role. But it got stuck in development hell before finally being made with Halle Berry in that awful costume.

Conversations With Vincent
Burton filmed interviews with his idol between the making of Edward Scissorhands and Price’s death in 1993. Tragically, the incomplete film is unlikely to ever see the light of day.

Dinosaurs Attack!
Another Topps trading cards property, Burton considered making this but decided to go for Mars Attacks! to avoid any comparisons with Jurassic Park. But then Independence Day came out of
course . . .

The Fall of the House of Usher
Mars Attacks! screenwriter Jonathan Gems reportedly wrote a script for this for Burton. It was to be a remake of the 1960 horror film directed by Roger Corman and starring Vincent Price. However, it never got as far as the pre-production stage.

Geek Love
Burton supposedly bought the rights to the book by Katherine Dunn some years ago. The story, about a traveling circus that uses chemicals to create genuine freaks, seems perfect for Burton, but there has been no word about it since.

Go Baby Go
This variation on the B-movie The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman was said to be inspired by cult filmmaker Russ Meyer. Jonathan Gems helped develop it, but the idea was scrapped when HBO remade the 50 Foot Woman.

Hawkline Monster
This sounds like it could have been a very interesting film. Clint Eastwood and Jack Nicholson would have played aging cowboys hired by twin sisters to kill a monster in the basement. Apparently, both stars dropped out before it got anywhere near production.

Lost in Oz
Burton signed on to executive produce this series based on The Wizard of Oz, but he left the project when it failed to get a commitment for a full series.

Mai the Psychic Girl
This project was rumoured for Burton to direct back in the early 90s, with Winona Ryder possibly starring as the Manga title character.

Mary Reilly
Burton was ready to make this with Winona Ryder in the lead, but jumped ship when Sony refused to finance his black and white Ed Wood. It was made instead with Julia Roberts (shudder).

Superman Lives
This came closer to actually going into production than any of Burton’s other unrealised projects. Nicolas Cage was cast as the Man of Steel and almost a year of pre-production was undertaken. But when Burton asked for rewrites to Kevin Smith’s script it led to delays that the film never recovered from.
You can read more about the project here.
And you can see some concept art here!

X: The Man With X-Ray Eyes
Burton briefly toyed with remaking this bizarre sci-fi film about a man who finds x-ray vision soon becomes a curse when he starts seeing through more and more things.

Arran McDermott 2006