Superman Lives is one of the most bizarre and criticized unmade films of all-time, and now thanks to Jon Schnepp we have new insights into the failed project, along with an interesting look in at the equally bizarre nature of the mainstream Hollywood filmmaking machine. The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened? begins with Schnepp surveying fans at Comic-Con about the idea of a Tim Burton directed, Nicolas Cage starring Superman movie, showing them the leaked picture of Cage (with flowing hair) wearing an early test version of the new suit. Reactions are mixed.

Schnepp then dives into the history of the film, beginning with producer Jon Peters’ acquisition of the film rights and hiring of Kevin Smith as screenwriter. It’s clear Peters and Smith were never on the same page, as most of their recollections of early meetings never match up. Smith claims Peters wanted a modern, heavily misguided take on the iconic superhero in which he doesn’t fly and doesn’t don his famous outfit and cape; Peters immediately denies this when Schnepp asks him about it later. Peters represents the creatively bankrupt big Hollywood producer, and Smith represents the true fan fighting for the creative integrity of Superman (at least in Smith’s eyes). Their vision is clearly a mess, with the only thing they seem to agree on being that Tim Burton should direct. And so Burton comes on board, but he hates the script, so Smith gets replaced by Batman Returns script doctor Wesley Strick.

This is where things really get rolling, with plenty of interesting developments. Nicolas Cage gets involved in the production, and after getting reminded of his incredible performances in films like Adaptation and Wild at Heart, he seems perfect for the vulnerable, outsider Superman that Burton wants to portray. Schnepp also lets viewers see and hear from the incredible, versatile team of visual artists and art directors Burton put together for the project, a group reminiscent of the team Alejandro Jodorowsky put together for his failed adaptation of the Frank Herbert novel Dune (profiled in last year’s Jodorowsky’s Dune). But the studio keeps reigning the production in, tightening the budget and creative control, forcing Burton to fire Strick and bring on screenwriter Dan Gilroy (writer/director of Nightcrawler). Eventually it’s revealed that what really killed Superman Lives wasn’t fan outrage over the leaked photo of Cage, Jon Peters’ constant interference, or anything from Burton or his team; it was because of the spectacular string of big budget box office failures (like Batman and Robin) Warner Brothers put out in the late ‘90s that made the studio nervous of making another dud.

The revealing interviews Schnepp gets for his film makes it an enjoyable and informative watch throughout, but the film also does a great job highlighting the humor that comes out of the behind the scenes tensions. Schenpp also edited the film, and he shows a masterful hand at putting together differing accounts of what was going on behind the scenes to play up the comedy of the situation. Most of that comes into play in the early scenes with Peters and Smith. One of the funniest moments in the film sees Smith talk about how Peters seemingly fell into a producing career after working as a hairdresser for Barbra Streisand, followed by Peters defensively talking about how people don’t take him seriously because he started out as Barbra’s hairdresser.

But what’s most impressive is how Schnepp turns you around one of the most massively criticized attempts at a blockbuster ever. The film seems like a joke in Peters and Smith’s hands full of both misguided ideas (from Peters) and unneeded fan service (from Smith), but once Burton comes on to the project, the film surprisingly appears to come to life under his direction. And that leads into the other great victory of this documentary: it shows the real issues with today’s superhero movies. It’s not so much that they’re oversaturating the market, but that something like a Marvel cinematic universe is too safe, to the point where studios are dropping a new superhero into their template of choice. Superman Lives could have been a disaster if it had actually been made, but it definitely would’ve been a strange and unique take on an iconic superhero, and that’s something we don’t really get anymore.

The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened? is currently out on Blu-Ray, DVD and VOD.

With Disney bringing to life Maleficent in 2014, Cinderella in 2015, and all of Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass, The Jungle Book, and Beauty and the Beast set for 2016, one might wonder what other tricks they might have up their sleeve—and the answer would be…a live-action Dumbo?

Of the classic Disney cartoons, Dumbo might be the strangest one of them all, and the most intriguing as to how exactly they are going to do it. Who else to bring on board, in that case, then the ever-odd master-of-the-strange Tim Burton himself? Having collaborated for Alice in Wonderland in 2010, this will definitely be an intriguing pairing.

Known best for the highly popular but always divisive Transformers franchise, screenwriter Ehren Kruger has already written the script and will be producing it with Justin Springer, who was behind Tron: Legacy and Oblivion.

It’s hard not to picture that poor little elephant flying through a lot of futuristic explosions with those two at the helm, but we’re excited for what’s to come! Though, it’s a little strange to consider what Burton could do with that childhood-scarring, acid-trip of a dancing elephant scene.

What’s in store for the fantastical world of Tim Burton?

Aside from the incredible confirmation that he will be directing Beetlejuice 2 which is rumored to be in the works for 2016 and includes a screenplay by original screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith (and for which Michael Keaton has expressed deep enthusiasm for reprising his role as the title character) he is in post-production right now for Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass, that is also set for 2016.

Burton has also been slowly but surely adding to the cast of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Based on the 2011 YA novel of the same name, the freshman work of author Ransom Riggs, it follows the story of tragedy-stricken 16-year-old Jacob, who Asa Butterfield has been cast to play. He discerns that there are clues in his grandfather’s old photographs—which, in the book, are actual professional photographs picked from archives. He is led to a former home for special children that is no longer occupied… or is it? And said former occupants might have a lot more to them than meets the eye. The book was a New York Times Bestseller and was #1 on the list for children’s chapter books for 45 weeks.

Along with Butterfield, the newly announced cast includes Burton favorite Eva Green as Miss Peregrine and the great Samuel L. Jackson as Barron.

It seems the sort of work written especially for the unusual and strange talents of Tim Burton. According to IMDB, the film is slated for an early 2016 release as well. Is there really a possibility for three movies from Tim Burton in one year? Our hearts can barely sustain it. What can we say? It sounds like it is going to be a mystical Burtonesque 2016! All we have to say is, Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!!

Following a string of fantastical films with hefty budgets (and less-than-desirable critical responses), Tim Burton takes a deep breath and a long step back with Big Eyes, his smallest, most reigned-in production since Ed Wood. It’s a smooth, dreamy-looking film on the surface, but its two leads, Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz, are so out of sync and polarized they spoil the movie like acid curdles milk.

What do you get when you curdle milk? Why, cheese, of course! And boy, does Waltz bring the cheese as Walter Keane, an artist who in the ’60s was the source of a global phenomenon, selling millions paintings (and prints and postcards and posters) of waifs with eyes so big and round they put Disney cartoons to shame. Walter drank up his stardom like cheap wine, touring the world and selling his masterpieces to the masses, taking all the credit and raking in all the money. In the ’70s, however, the world learned of Walter’s grand deception: The paintings, all signed “Keane”, weren’t painted by Walter at all, but by his wife, Margaret Keane (Adams).

For years the egomaniacal Walter held his wife and her artistry hostage, swindling the world as he basked in his unearned celebrity, the painted kids’ giant saucers staring back into the eyes of the deceivers. (Willingly or not, Margaret was part of the scandal, too.) Big Eyes‘ sole fuel source is the power struggle between the rival, betrothed artists. The film’s big question goes unanswered: Are Margaret’s paintings high art for dignitaries or throwaway kitsch for dummies? I would have loved to have heard Burton’s answer. Fixating narrowly on the Keane’s broken marriage (which, if it hadn’t been for the absurdly sexist constraints of marriage in the ’60s, wouldn’t have lasted nearly as long) isn’t necessarily a doomed game plan, but the way the relationship is depicted is woefully uneven, uncompelling, and unconvincing.

Adams’ Margaret is in a fevered rush, packing her things and her daughter Jane (Delaney Raye, later Madeline Arthur) into her car as the film opens. She’s leaving her first husband (who we never see), heading to San Francisco to start life anew. Selling her work at a park fair, Margaret is charmed by a fellow vendor and artist, Walter, who, after a few wolfish grins, clever lines, and fanciful stories over the course of a few dates, makes her his wife. (Aside from Walter’s keeping custody of Jane also goaded Margaret into the union.) With his keen business savvy and schmoozing skills, Walter manages to get he and Margaret’s paintings on the walls of a hip North Beach night club, though the ritzy clientele heavily gravitate toward Margaret’s “big eyes”, passing up Walter’s classical landscape paintings. Seizing a fiendish opportunity, he takes credit for his wife’s work because, as he explains later, “People don’t buy lady art.”

If you follow the screenplay’s every move, it’s pretty clear that this is a story about a woman’s self-liberation from cold servitude, but when you sit there and watch the domestic drama play out, with Margaret ultimately triumphing over Walter and exposing his scam, the story surprisingly doesn’t feel empowering or energetic at all. The film falls flat, not because Adams and Waltz’s performances themselves are subpar, but because their performances pull in opposite directions.

Adams plays Margaret grounded in realism, at first rife with insecurities, later pulsing with the confidence and resilience of a woman reborn. She’s sweet and sensitive, coveting her canvas as her only outlet for true, unbridled expression. Though the dialogue is awfully unremarkable, she infuses as much emotion as she can, emoting with subtle body language. Waltz…well, Waltz goes overboard. He’s a total ham in this one. He’s always had a hit-or-miss tendency with his delivery; either his lines sound emphatic, electric, and brave, or they sound cheesy, theatrical, and kinda creepy, like when your uncle gets all animated and overly excited when he tells an outdated joke no one finds funny but him. The most interesting wrinkle in Walter as a character is that, while he’s a fraud of an artist, he’s undeniably genius when it comes to the art of the con. This gets buried, however, under all of Waltz’s mad-man antics. With Adams aiming for gravitas and Waltz aiming for wackiness, the confusion causes the film to miss the mark with a big whiff.

The film has a pleasant, feathery look to it, like taking Burton’s signature style and upping the brightness so all of the dark, twisted elements get washed out in a haze of pastel. San Francisco serves as a heavenly backdrop for the story and works well with the film’s color palate. The loud art design on Burton’s recent projects needed to be reeled in a bit, and with Big Eyes he does just that, applying his artistic vision not to a distant fantasy land, but to a world we’re actually familiar with. It’s a shame his leads couldn’t find the same sweet spot together.

It’s been two years since Tim Burton brought us Frankenweenie and Dark Shadows. One of which was a lovely dark children’s story, and the other a sad and uninspiring take on a gothic soap opera. After these, and the so-bad-why-is-it-getting-a-sequel-? Alice in Wonderland, it’s an incredible relief to see something rather, well, normal coming from Tim Burton’s workhouse.

Big Eyes is the tale of mid-century artist Margaret Keane (Amy Adams), whose husband Walter (Christolph Waltz) took credit for the unique paintings Margaret made, featuring children with abnormally large eyes. The drama focuses on Margaret’s path to take ownership of her art and pull herself out of an abusive relationship.

If Burton employs the emotional mastery he showed us in Big Fish and even Edward Scissorhands, while letting the abstract art of Margaret Keane be the majority of his necessary strangeness factor, Big Eyes could be his most accessible film yet, and one that already looks to be full of great performances. If there’s one thing Burton does well, it’s a story about a misfit. We love you no matter what you do Burton, but when it’s a film we can show Grandma, even better!

Big Eyes is set for a Christmas Day release in the U.S. Check out the trailer below!