Tim Burton Isn’t Interested in Directing Another Superhero Movie: When I Made ‘Batman,’ ‘The Word Franchise Didn’t Exist’

variety.com:

Andrés Buenahora editor Tim Burton pioneered the comic book blockbuster at the start of his career, directing Michael Keaton in both “Batman” and “Batman Returns” for Warner Bros.

However, the filmmaker says he’s not interested in returning to superhero films in today’s industry, with its focus on long-term continuity and cinematic universes. “At the moment, I would say no,” Burton tells Variety in a new interview. “I come at things from different points of view, so I would never say never to anything.

But, at the moment, it’s not something I’d be interested in.” The filmmaker, promoting his new sequel “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” shares that he was afforded a certain creative freedom and faced relatively modest studio supervision during the 1988 production of “Batman” in England. “I was lucky because at that time, the word ‘franchise’ didn’t exist,” Burton says. “‘Batman’ felt slightly experimental at the time. … It deviated from what the perception [of a superhero movie] might be.

So you didn’t hear that kind of studio feedback, and being in England, it was even further removed. We really just got to focus on the film and not really think about those things that now they think about even before you do it.” Burton also shares that he initially didn’t possess significant interest in pursuing a sequel to the original “Batman,” but changed his mind after being drawn to the villains of the Penguin and Catwoman.