Tim Burton to Helm a Live-Action Remake of Walt Disney's ‘Dumbo’

Tim Burton, 56, best known for his work on such films as Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Batman, Dark Shadows, Planet of the Apes, Big Eyes, Alice in Wonderland, among others, will direct Disney's coming live-action remake of Dumbo, Walt Disney Pictures president of production Sean Bailey said [via Wall Street Journal].

Burton will be helming the project based on a script written by Ehren Kruger who is also producing the remake with Justin Springer. The film will use a mix of CGI and live action to bring the classic 1941 elephant story to life. As gathered by Wall Street Journal from Bailey, the plans for a new Dumbo story is that "it's a big world," indicating perhaps that the plot for the upcoming adaptation of the animated classic will be broader than the original tale of a circus elephant with large ears who learns to fly.

In the 1941 animation, the main character is Jumbo Jr., a baby elephant who is cruelly nicknamed Dumbo by his human handlers as well as his fellow animals at the circus, who also always like to make fun of him because of his disproportionately big ears. Throughout most of the film, his only true friend, aside from his mother Mrs. Jumbo, is the mouse Timothy, who later on helps him to learn how to fly by using his ears as wings.

Burton's last assignment as director from Disney was his live-action remake of Alice in Wonderland back in 2010, for which the studio garnered critical acclaim as well as commercial success. He, this time as producer, and the studio are partnering again on the sequel titled Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass which is scheduled for showing in theaters beginning March 27, 2016. Burton's latest directorial work was 2014's biographical drama film Big Eyes. He is currently also set to direct a film adaptation of Ransom Riggs novel "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" which scheduled for release on March 4, 2016.