Summary
- Despite popular belief, Tim Burton did not direct the film Coraline. The misconception has persisted due to similarities in style and genre.
- The confusion surrounding Coraline highlights a problem for Tim Burton, as many movies, even those he didn't direct, are falsely attributed to him.
- Other films, such as The Nightmare Before Christmas and the Addams Family movies, have also been mistakenly associated with Tim Burton, showcasing the extent of the misconception.
Coraline is gothic in tone, stop-motion in style, and definitely weird, but did Tim Burton make Coraline? Since Coraline’s release, the movie has been mistakenly associated with The Nightmare Before Christmas creator and Corpse Bride director Tim Burton. It’s true that Coraline shares a lot of things in common with many Tim Burton movies like Frankenweenie — it’s a kid-friendly, stop-motion horror film with the gothic vibe Tim Burton has become synonymous with over his decades-long career. Despite those similarities, Tim Burton actually had nothing whatsoever to do with Coraline's production.
The filmmaker behind Coraline is Wendell & Wild director Henry Selick, but this hasn't stopped the beloved adaptation of the Neil Gaiman comic from being falsely attributed to Burton by far too many people. Despite the fact Selick is clearly credited as the Coraline director, the misconception that Tim Burton directed it still persists. The issue appears to trace back to The Nightmare Before Christmas. The classic stop-motion spook-fest was released in 1994 and is based on a book by Burton. Tim Burton didn't direct Coraline, but sadly for the legacy of the phenomenal Henry Selick, the comparisons between them don't stop there.
Henry Selick's Work Often Gets Mistaken For Tim Burton's
It's unfortunate that so many people ask "did Tim Burton direct Coraline," and it must be frustrating for the Coraline director to have his movies attributed to Burton so frequently. Like Coraline, many people don't know Tim Burton didn't direct Nightmare Before Christmas. Jack Skellington's holiday escapades were, rather ironically, also helmed by Coraline director Henry Selick (in his feature filmmaking debut, no less). So, when posters for Coraline bore a tagline proclaiming that the movie was “from the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline aren’t the only Henry Selick movies plagued by the misconception, either. When Selick released his second feature James And The Giant Peach in 1996, it too was mistakenly assumed to be a Burton-helmed movie even though his only involvement with the Roald Dahl adaptation was as a producer. Given how creepy the 1996 movie adaptation is and how unique the animation is, audiences once again wrongly attributed the film to Tim Burton.
In 2022 Netflix released Selick’s first feature film since Coraline. Titled Wendell & Wild, the dark fantasy film featuring Selick’s trademark stop-motion animation and the voices of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele as the titular Wendell and Wild – a pair of scheming demon brothers who escape from hell. It bears a passing stylistic resemblance to The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline, but thankfully stands apart from Selick's former animated features. Thus far Wendell & Wild appears to have avoided the Tim Burton comparisons. A good thing too, since Selick's is long overdue credit for his movies (instead of falsely praising Tim Burton).
The Coraline Confusion Exposes A Tim Burton Problem
While Tim Burton is a wildly talented director with an illustrious career, the fact that people think Coraline is a Tim Burton movie proves that he has a problem on his hands. The Wednesday director has such a distinctive style anything even vaguely resembling his movies, especially animation, seems to get mistakenly credited to him. However, this isn't a problem that needs to be solved by movies like Coraline or directors like Selick — it's a setback for Burton himself. Over the years, Burton's movies have become tonally near-identical. It surprises many to learn just how short the list of animated movies he's directed actually is.
Tim Burton has only directed two stop-motion movies, Frankenweenie and Corpse Bride, although obviously, the full title of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas puts it in the "Animated Tim Burton Movie" category too. The gothic look and feel of these stories have been repeated across pretty much all of Tim Burton's movies, from Sweeney Todd to his widely hated Planet Of The Apes reboot. While it speaks volumes for his success that "Tim Burton Movie" is basically now a subgenre in its own right, it also raises questions about his artistic versatility.
There's a fine line between developing a distinctive style and being a one-trick pony. He's also not got a perfect track record, with outings like the aforementioned 2001 Planet Of The Apes and 2012's Dark Shadows failing to match anywhere near the acclaim of Edward Scissorhands or Beetlejuice, despite all four being unforgivingly Burtonesque in style. However, his nonexistent Coraline ties aside, Burton has once again received critical acclaim for his work on Netflix's Wednesday, and no Tim Burton movie project is more promising than the Beetlejuice 2 movie.
Other Films That Get Confused For Tim Burton Movies
Along with Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas, audiences have confused Burton for directing a number of other animated movies. 2009's 9 is a uniquely computer-animated movie about an apocalyptic war between humans and machines, and a living ragdoll is the key to humanity's salvation. The story is typically dark and the ragdoll is a typically quirky protagonist who can be found in almost every Burton-directed movie. However, Burton did produce the movie, and given that he has a huge fanbase, the filmmaker's name was used to promote the film, which didn't help the confusion.
It isn't just Coraline and other animated movies that audiences think Tim Burton directed, but live-action movies too. The most notable movie series that often gets mistaken for a Tim Burton project is the 1990s Addams Family movies. Both The Addams Family and Addams Family Values are directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, but they have the same gothic aesthetic as Beetlejuice, along with the creative practical effects, so it isn't surprising that viewers thought the 1991 movie was Burton's Batman follow-up. Ironically, Burton actually turned down The Addams Family after being offered to direct it.