Production is supposed to start this month.

Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie is shaping up to be an interesting mix of “Ewwwww!’s” as well as “Awwwww’s.”

His latest stop-motion gothic-fest (rendered in 1950s-style black-and-white as well as 3-D) tells the story of a little boy named Victor, who loves his pet dog Sparky more than anything in the world. Naturally — or rather, unnaturally — Victor decides to use his science kit to bring the pup back from the grave after an accident claims the pooch’s life.

As with Mary Shelley’s original 1818 tale of men playing god and science run amok, pandemonium follows the creation of the “monster,” who in this case is just a stitched-up, resurrected undead buddy.

Many know that Burton lost his job as an artist at The Walt Disney Co. for making this dark comedy as a live-action short in 1984, but few know the true story from Burton’s past that inspired it. As Halloween approaches, EW reveals that long-ago tale, along with first-look stills from the movie.

The original concept was basic: take the standard, beloved tale of a boy and his dog – then twist it into creepy, comedic shapes. “It just tries to keep that idea of a very, simple pure relationship,” he says. What’s more pure than the story of a kid and his first pet?

“Mix that with the Frankenstein myth,” Burton adds with a chuckle, “and it causes problems.” But the big beating heart in the story (apart from the re-animated one inside Frankenweenie’s chest) is the sad fact that we all outlive those four-legged pals from our childhood, and goodbye can be a painful thing. The idea of bringing a lost friend back to life? “It has its good side and repercussions,” Burton says. “Ultimately, we try to go with the slightly more positive aspects of keeping that [boy-and-his-dog] relationship going.”

Frankenweenie, though a stitched-together, hodgepodge and scientific abomination, is ultimately still a cute little bugger. The goofy name itself was chosen to suggest something harmless. “It’s like a small pet name, a hot-dog kind of thing,” Burton says.

When he originally created the idea for his 1984 short, it was buried for 10 years after Disney executives found it too weird to release. After The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride, a lot has changed. The movie Disney once fired Burton for making is now being remade as one of their most important titles of next year.

As for what happened in 1984? “I don’t know, they got freaked out or something, but they still allowed me to make the film,” Burton says. “Even though I was frustrated about the release — or not release of it — it was still a great experience, and did a lot for me, so I couldn’t really complain.” That short became a calling card that led to his first feature, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, and all that followed.

As outlandish as Frankenweenie was, it also had roots in a real-life pet dog Burton had while growing up in Burbank. “It’s such an unconditional relationship,” Burton recalls. “A lot of kids have that experience – I certainly had that experience with a first pet. You’ll probably never have it again in your life in that way, it’s so pure and memorable.”

“His name was Pepe — we lived in a Spanish neighborhood,” Burton recalls. “Our dog had this thing called distemper, and wasn’t supposed to live more than a couple of years. He lived much longer than that, which kind of fed into this Frankenstein mythology as well.”

What kind of dog was Pepe? “It was a mix, kind of a mutt, with a bit of terrier, and a bit of something else,” Burton says. “I don’t know what it was. It was kind of a mixture.”

That adds to Frankenstein mythology too.

It’s a surprisingly sweet origin for a lovingly weird movie. (Admit it, you were expecting something much stranger.)

Above we see a look at the adorable dog Sparky before the accident that claims his life, leading to his monster moniker of Frankenweenie. “He doesn’t have any stitches yet,” Burton laughs. “That’s only a short part of the film. Don’t get too used to that look.”

Frankenweenie, with voices by Winona Ryder, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara and Martin Landau, will be in theaters Oct. 5, 2012.

Source

You can find a new poster up in the gallery:

Walt Disney Pictures have released the official title treatment/logo for Tim Burton‘s big screen adaptation of Frankenweenie.

FRANKENWEENIE
WALT DISNEY PICTURES
Genre: Comedy adventure
Rating: TBD
U.S. Release date: October 5, 2012
Voice Cast: Winona Ryder, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Landau, Charlie Tahan, Atticus Shaffer
Director: Tim Burton
Producers: Tim Burton, Allison Abbate
Executive Producer: Don Hahn
Screenplay by: John August
Based on an original idea by: Tim Burton

From creative genius Tim Burton (“Alice in Wonderland,” The Nightmare Before Christmas”) comes “Frankenweenie,” a heartwarming tale about a boy and his dog. After unexpectedly losing his beloved dog Sparky, young Victor harnesses the power of science to bring his best friend back to life—with just a few minor adjustments. He tries to hide his home-sewn creation, but when Sparky gets out, Victor’s fellow students, teachers and the entire town all learn that getting a new “leash on life” can be monstrous.

A stop-motion animated film, “Frankenweenie” will be filmed in black and white and rendered in 3D, which will elevate the classic style to a whole new experience.

In Tim Burton’s “Frankenweenie” young Victor conducts a science experiment to bring his beloved dog Sparky back to life, only to face unintended, sometimes monstrous, consequences.

Source: /Film

I have this screen captures settled here for a while, but was waiting to find a better quality version to cap and upload. I didn’t had success on my journey, so decided to go with the regular screen captures anyway. Enjoy it!

At Loomstate’s celebration of Earth Day last night at Good Units, Winona Ryder apologized to us for seeming flustered. “I’m a little disoriented, I just came from work and I’m overwhelmed,” she said. She had just started shooting Jay Anania’s The Stare opposite James Franco two days earlier, “and today I had a six-page scene,” she laughed. “It’s going really great, it’s a fantastic project, I’m really super, super excited about it. It’s such a good script, it’s obviously a great opportunity to work with a great actor like Franco, and the other cast” — including Josh Hamilton, Marin Ireland, and Katherine Waterston — “is fantastic.” The synopsis for the film, which casts Ryder as a playwright who begins to mentally unravel before premiere night, initially recalls Black Swan (which Ryder also appeared in), and the actress didn’t dispute the comparison last night: “There’s a big twist that I can’t reveal, but it’s sort of almost that Black Swan thing where things are coming out in her play.” But does she get to go mano a mano with Franco (who co-stars as an actor in the play), the way Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis had a physical throwdown in Black Swan? “I can’t say,” Ryder admitted after much hesitation. “There’s one very, very … Ah, I can’t even say. But there’s something that happens, so it’s going to be great.”