Is Tim Burton Working On A Saw Movie?

Tim Burton is a name that many people associate with films like "The Nightmare Before Christmas," "Beetlejuice," and "Edward Scissorhands." His frequent collaborators include Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Danny Elfman, and Burton's been nominated for two Academy Awards. Burton's most recent project was the Disney live-action adaptation of "Dumbo" in 2019, but since the film's release, he's been relatively quiet. There was talk of a "Beetlejuice 2" being in development, but that's seemed to have stalled in recent years. 

As Burton usually has a few projects in development at all times, fans are starting to wonder if there's a secret project that the auteur filmmaker is working on, and it's all thanks to his website. Looking at his personal site, TimBurton.com, there's not much there except for a one-page graphic. While Burton has always been a man of mystery, this secret image on his website is really intriguing. Along with his website name, the words "Coming Soon..." take up the bottom right corner of the screen, but the image right in the center is what really caught people's attention. It's a black-and-white illustration of a dark, silhouetted figure who appears to be looking into a huge spiral. 

Studying the image closely, a few particular characteristics have led some people to believe that Burton's next major project might have something to do with the "Saw" horror franchise. So, what's really going on here?

With both the spiral imagery and the figure that's reminiscent of the small, creepy puppet that Jigsaw uses in the film franchise, it's easy to see how some people would think that it ties into the "Saw" franchise and that Tim Burton is working on a new "Saw" movie. The spiral has grown to be a key symbol of the horror franchise, and the figure in the drawing looks pretty similar to the puppet. Plus, the black and white image paired with red text is the same color palette as Jigsaw's puppet.

However, this actually isn't related to "Saw" at all. In reality, the image seen on Tim Burton's site is the cover art for "The Art of Tim Burton," a compilation of his work originally released by Steeles Publishing in 2009. Burton is well-known for his personal art style, which frequently ventures into the creepy and unique. On top of that, a common characteristic found in his art is wild, sticking-up hair, similar to Burton's own hairstyle, and it even features in his live-action films like "Edward Scissorhands" (NPR). That explains the imagery seen on his website and the cover of "The Art of Tim Burton."

That said, there is something coming soon from Burton, as his site teases. The filmmaker has been very quiet over the past two years, though we do know that he's directing "Wednesday," the Wednesday Addams-focused series for Netflix. The series will be Burton's first live-action TV show and his first time directing for television. Whether this is what his site is teasing is "coming soon" is anyone's guess, but it's clear at this point that the similarities between the spiraly artwork and the "Saw" franchise are just a coincidence and not a sign that he's jumping into the gory horror genre anytime soon.