Tim Burton and 'Smallville' Creators To Relaunch The Addams Family

[ZariusTwo]

In what would mark his first major live-action TV series, Tim Burton is setting his sights on The Addams Family, looking to develop a new series focused on the famous clan. Sources tell Deadline that Burton is negotiating to executive produce and possibly direct all episodes of this new take on the franchise. Smallville developers/executive producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar will be head writers on the show and serve as showrunners as well as exec producers along with Burton.

MGM TV, which controls underlying rights to the IP, financed the development of the series. As of right now, the package has multiple buyers bidding for it, including Netflix, which sources say is at the top of the list of landing the project.


While not confirmed, sources say the new live-action series would be set in present times and be from the perspective of Wednesday Addams and what the world would look like to her in 2020.



The tale of The Addams Family, a fictional household created by American cartoonist Charles Addams in 1938, has had a number of screen iterations over the years including two live-action TV series; a film franchise starring Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston and Christopher Lloyd; and most recently an animated movie from MGM with the sequel dropping in 2021.



The pairing of Burton and The Addams Family would be a perfect fit as the dark themes of the spooky clan line up so perfectly with what you see in classic Burton films like Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands. Burton clearly has interest in series with dark comedic themes, having also adapted the ’70s series Dark Shadows into a feature film starring Johnny Depp.



Burton previously developed and executive produced the animated series Beetlejuice, loosely based on his 1988 movie, which ran for four seasons from 1989-91. He had been focused on features over the past two decades but, with the industry constantly changing and so many A-list directors venturing into TV, it makes sense that Burton would make a return to the medium and embark on live-action series — and The Addams Family seems to be the perfect vehicle for that.



As for Millar and Gough, the two are no strangers to developing hit TV series as they were key components to the success of the long-running Superman series Smallville. Other big credits include the Shanghai Noon franchise and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2.

https://deadline.com/2020/10/tim-bur...1840/#comments

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

I don't know about the Smallville creators, but I think Burton could be a great choice for live-action Addams Family (if, admittedly, a little cliche).

[AquaParade]

Tim Burton is so perfect for The Addams Family that it's boring.
Give it to Deni Villenuve and let's get weird.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by AquaParade

Tim Burton is so perfect for The Addams Family that it's boring.
Give it to Deni Villenuve and let's get weird.

Yeah... it's the obvious choice. It'll be good, but will it be surprising?

I don't think I'd want to see a Denis Villeneuve take on the family, though. That'd be surprising and weird, but not good. IMO

Anyway, Burton is a far better choice than that weird animated feature the Minions studio did.

[sdp]

I liked the new addams family live action show from abc / fox family back in the early 2000's, I used to watch it as a kid. If this can be more like the live action addams family movies from the 90s then even better.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by sdp

I liked the new addams family live action show from abc / fox family back in the early 2000's, I used to watch it as a kid. If this can be more like the live action addams family movies from the 90s then even better.

Love those movies. We watch them every year; Addams Family for Halloween, Addams Family Values for Thanksgiving.

[Sumac]

On one hand, Burton and Addams Family should go together like bread and butter.

On the other hand, Burton has become an artisan as opposed to being an artist. He can deliver visuals, sure, but I feel like his latest works were lacking that extra special thing that made his early stuff amazing. Nowadays, its just style, with no substance.