Tim Burton at SDCC

Tim Burton was at the San Diego Comic Con this weekend where Disney is promoting the new feature-length Frankenweenie.  There was an art display of the puppets used to make the film and here's a look at some of the exclusive collectables available at the convention.

The Frankenweenie grab bag includes a glow stick, a pouch of green seeds and a bingo game card:

The Disney Store has a new Frankenweenie vinylmation figure and a Sparkysaurus statue:

The SDCC is also celebrating the 50th anniversary of Mars Attacks.  Here are some exclusive items:

If any of you Burtonites have better photos of the art exhibit please send them to me so I can post them!

Trailers At Last!

Greetings!

I've gotten quite behind on my blogging so most of you have probably already seen the trailers for Dark Shadows and Frankenweenie that were released in the last two weeks.  If you haven't, here they are:





It looks like Dark Shadows is going to be quite a bit more comedic than I expected.  I've seen a number of online discussions in which fans are pretty divided about it.  For the most part, the purists don't seem too pleased with the direction of the film but I have a feeling it will appeal quite a bit to younger audiences who have no history with the original series.

The official Dark Shadows site has now (finally) been launched and a poster was released yesterday.

Frankenweenie Official Site and Facebook Page

Contrasting what Warner Bros. is doing or (not doing) with Dark Shadows, Disney is beginning to do some promotion for Tim's 2012 Frankenweenie (a re-make of his 1984 short).  There is an official website up with a brief synopsis of the film and a single image of Victor with Sparky.

There's also an official Facebook Page where several behind the scenes photos of animators at work have been posted.

Frankenweenie will be released in October so I'm hoping for a trailer by the spring.

Martin Landau at Fan Expo 2011

I was privileged to meet the great Martin Landau at the Fan Expo in Toronto this past weekend.  Landau has had a decades-long career and at the age of 83 he shows no signs of slowing down.  Landau has worked with Tim Burton on four films: Sleepy Hollow, Ed Wood, 9 and the currently in-production Frankenweenie.

I asked Mr. Landau what it was like working with Alfred Hitchcock on North By Northwest.  He paused for a moment and then told me that Hitchcock had been "an interesting man" and that he had enjoyed the experience.  I asked if the rumours of Hitchcock ignoring his actors were true and Mr. Landau replied that Hitchcock had not been that way with him.

I explained that Ed Wood was one of my favourite of his films and also one of my favourite Tim Burton films and Mr. Landau was excited to chat about the new full-length version of Frankenweenie for which he is supplying the voice of Mr. Rzykruski.  I'm looking forward to that one!

I had to have Mr. Landau sign a photo of himself as Bela Lugosi from Ed Wood.  This is the role for which he won his Oscar and the one for which he will probably always be remembered best.