Barmy Burton

Director extrordinaire Tim Burton is famed for his darkly quirky works, including Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas among others. He's also received acclaim for his slightly more conventional blockbusters, including his take on Batman. With his film remake of the classic novel Alice in Wonderland hitting cinemas in this week, we take a look at career of one of the most popular and individual directors of modern times.


Timothy Walter Burton was born in 1958 and as a child enjoyed making short films with stop-motion animation techniques. He attended the California Institute of Arts and later found work in the concept art department at Disney Studios.

1982 - Burton made his first short, Vincent named after and narrated by his hero Vincent Price.

1985 - Pee-wee's Big Adventure was Burton's first wide release film. It was made on a budget of $7 million and grossed $40 million at the box office, proving that he was commerically viable director. The score was written by Danny Elfman and since then Elfman has provided the music for all of Burton's films bar two. (Ed Wood and Sweeney Todd)

1988 - Supernatural comedy horror Beetlejuice was Burton's next triumph which has since become a cult classic.

1989 - His ability to produce hits on relatively low budgets impressed studio executives and he was chosen to direct big-budget film Batman. Despite casting worries throughout production, the film was a huge success (making $400 million at the box office) and Burton became established as a major director.

1990 - Edward Scissorhands was released - the first of his seven collaborations with Depp which also starred his hero Vincent Price.

1993 -The Nightmare Before Christmas was released and quickly became a favourite of Burton's works.


1999 - One of Burton's most popular titles Sleepy Hollow was released starring Johnny Depp.

2006 - Burton directs The Killers' video for their hit Bones in his trademark gothic style.

2008 - Burton was nominated for the Best Director Oscar for Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

2010 - Alice In Wonderland which features Depp as the Mad Hatter & Bonham-Carter as the Red Queen opens in cinemas this Friday available to watch in 3D.

Thirty9steps will be reviewing it shortly!

Timeline: Potter's Past

Harry Potter, one of the most successful franchises ever, is nearing its end with two films making up the final installment arriving in cinemas in 2010 and 2011, much to the collective anticipation and dismay of fans.

Potter’s story began in 1990, when author J.K Rowling had the idea of a lifetime. We chart the life of one of the most loved and successful creations of all-time.

1990
Whilst stuck on a delayed train from London to Manchester, Joanne Rowling gets the idea for Harry Potter. She speaks of how it all began to form in her head from the original idea, including main characters and the majority of the storyline. She began to write it up that night.

December – Rowling’s mother dies after a 10-year battle with multiple sclerosis. This later affects the tone of the Potter books: “Harry’s feelings about his dead parents had become much deeper, much more real.”

1995
Writing whenever she can, often in cafés, Rowling finishes her first book: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Her literary agent warns her “You do realise, you will never make a fortune out of writing children’s books?” How wrong they were.

1996
Several publishers reject the book, arguing that it’s too long and slow for children.

October – Publishers Bloomsbury accept the book.

Spring – Scholastic Books wins and auction for the U.S rights to the series. Rowling quits her teaching job and devotes all her time to writing.

June 26 – The first book in the series: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, is published in the United Kingdom with a print run of 500. Bloomsbury is concerned that young boys won’t want to read a book by a woman and they suggest she makes her author name more masculine. Joanne becomes J.K. Her book is an instant success and receives several accolades, including the Smartie Book Award.

1998
July 2 – The second book in the series: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is published in the U.K, with a print run of over 10,000 copies.

September 1 – Scholastic renames and publishes: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the United States. Changes are also made to the cover art illustrations.

1999
Warner Bros. buy the film rights to the first book.

June 2 – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is published in the United States, with an initial print run of 250,000 copies. The U.S. release had been scheduled for September, but Scholastic discovered that impatient fans of the first book were ordering copies of the sequel from the U.K. It shoots to the top of bestseller lists.

July 8 – The third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, is published in the United Kingdom. It sells more than 68,000 copies in the first two days.

September 8 – The third book is published in the United States, again ahead of schedule, with a first printing of 500,000 copies. The Harry Potter books hold the top three positions on the New York Times bestseller list.

November – Nancy Stouffer, author of the 1984 book The Legend of Rah and the Muggles, claims that Rowling stole ideas from her. In Stouffer’s book, muggles are little people who care for orphans; the book also includes a character named Larry Potter. Scholastic and Warner Bros. sue her.

2000
March – Nancy Stouffer countersues, claiming that Rowling did steal her ideas.

March 28 – Chris Columbus is chosen as the director for the first Harry Potter film.

August 21 – After a long search, the trio is found. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint are chosen to play Harry, Hermione, and Ron in the films.

July 8 – The fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is published in both the United Kingdom and the United States, with a record-setting combined first printing of more than 5 million copies. The much larger book is much darker than any of the previous books, leading some critics to predict that the Potter fad will end here.

2001
March 12 – Two schoolbooks from Harry’s world–Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages–are released. All the profits go to Comic Relief.

November 16 – The first film is released. On opening weekend, it grosses £16 million in the U.K and $90 million in America, setting records in both countries.

2002
September - The court deciding the lawsuits involving Nancy Stouffer rules in favour of Rowling, saying that there is no reasonable possibility of confusion between the books.

October 25 – Richard Harris, who played Dumbledore in the first two films, dies.

November 15 – The second film, once again directed by Chris Columbus, opens. On opening weekend, it makes almost £19 million in the U.K and $88 million in America, setting another record.


2003
June 21 – The fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is released. The first printing is 6.4 million copies in the U.S. alone— the most ever, by a wide margin.

2004
May 31 – The third film opens in the United Kingdom, taking in £5.3 million in one day, and £23.9 million on opening weekend; both are records. It opens four days later in the United States, grossing $93.7 million. There’s a new director, Alfonso Cuarón, and Michael Gambon takes over the role of Dumbledore.

2005
July 16 – The sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, is released. The U.S. first printing is a record-shattering 10.8 million copies.

November 18 – The fourth film is released. This time, the director is Mike Newell. It has biggest opening weekend of any Harry Potter film so far, taking in $101.4 million in the U.S. and £14.9 million in the U.K.

2006
February 1 – The publication date for the seventh and final Harry Potter book is announced to be July 21, 2007 at 12:01 A.M. The title of the book is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and Rowling states that two characters will die, leading fans to speculate that Harry is one of them.

2007
May 31 – Warner Brothers Entertainment and Universal Orlando Resort announce plans to create “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” at the Florida amusement park.

July 11 – The film version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opens in theaters around the world. In its first weekend, it earns $330 million, including $77.4 million in the U.S. The film has the most successful opening of any of the Harry Potter films.

July 21 – The seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is set to be released worldwide at one minute past midnight.

2008
December 4 – The Tales of Beedle the Bard is published for the public; Rowling created seven hand-made copies of the book and auctioned the seventh in 2007 for charity. The book consists of original fairy tales and is mentioned throughout Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

2009
July 15 – The film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth book in the series, is released which makes $58.4 million in one day alone.

A teaser trailer is released for the Deathly Hallows. See below:

Coming soon...

Alice in Wonderland review