10 Directors Suffering From George Lucas Syndrome

6. Tim Burton

His Success: Tim Burton's career successes speak for themselves: Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, two Batman movies, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd, Frankenweenie and Big Eyes. Hell, even his critical busts tend to turn a profit, and in fact the only sure financial duds in his entire career are Ed Wood (which nevertheless earned him huge acclaim) and Mars Attacks!, even if Big Fish and Dark Shadows were considered commercial disappointments too. People love his style, and so even his terrible movies tend to make money. His Failures: This is obviously more an artistic than commercial failure, because though Burton occasionally comes out with something totally different like Big Eyes, he's just too complacent and eager to stick to the same gothic stylings which define the vast majority of his output. It's what fans expect and so, given how much money these sorts of films tend to make, Burton seems reluctant to move away from the same tired palette and style, while usually finding a quirky supporting part for Johnny Depp or Helena Bonham Carter (though following his recent split from Carter, perhaps that's all about to change). From the last decade, Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows were the straws that broke the camel's back: wildly over-budgeted movies which, though stylish (even in that totally predictable Tim Burton way), boasted very little of substance to speak of, and as such were given mixed critical notices, while a lot of Burton fans began to lose their patience with his lazy filmmaking. How He Can Save His Career: Make something totally different. Big Eyes was an encouraging step away from Burton's typical work, and it'd be great to see him experimenting with different colours in his upcoming work. With Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Beetlejuice 2 and a live-action Dumbo movie on his slate, though, don't get your hopes up.