This Tim Burton $101.4 Million Box Office Flop Is Secretly Part Of His Christmas “Trilogy”

Tim Burton has an unofficial Christmas trilogy formed by some of his most popular movies, but there’s another, secret entry in this group that ended up becoming a big box office flop. Tim Burton has become one of the most recognizable filmmakers of his generation thanks to his unique combination of Gothic elements, horror, and fantasy, which are present in almost all of his works. Burton’s feature-length directorial debut arrived in 1985 with Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, but it wasn’t until his second movie, Beetlejuice (1988), that he was able to fully display his unique visual style.

Burton has brought to life a variety of characters that have now become part of pop culture, such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Victor Van Dort, and has also given his touch of horror and fantasy to other works, as he did with his takes on Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd, and even Batman. Despite all of his works being part of their own worlds, Burton has a “Dark Christmas trilogy” formed by some of his most popular works, but one of his biggest box-office failures is also secretly part of this select group of movies.

Mars Attacks! Was Designed To Fit It’s Christmas Season Release

Tim Burton’s “Dark Christmas” trilogy is formed by Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Despite all of them being very different, they all feature Christmas in some capacity, with Burton’s whimsical and dark style. Edward Scissorhands sees the title character (Johnny Depp) being rescued and adopted by Peg Boggs (Dianne Wiest), and in the third act of the movie, the Boggs and Edward are preparing for Christmas, with the latter carving an angelic sculpture modeled after Peg’s daughter, Kim (Winona Ryder).

Batman Returns is set during the Christmas season and follows Max Schreck (Christopher Walken) and Oswald Cobblepot a.k.a. The Penguin (Danny DeVito) as they search for power in Gotham City. The Nightmare Before Christmas follows the king of Halloween Town, Jack Skellington (voiced by Chris Sarandon) as he tries to bring Christmas to his town, with disastrous results. However, there’s another Burton movie that, even though it doesn’t directly address Christmas, was designed to fit it subtly: Mars Attacks!.

Mars Attacks! is a black comedy sci-fi movie based on the Topps trading card series of the same name. Mars Attacks! sees an army of aliens from Mars who visit Earth and meet the President of the United States under peaceful pretenses, but their real plans are soon revealed and humans have to fight for their survival. Mars Attacks! got a Christmas season release, and because of that, Burton styled the remains of the Martians and the explosions to be bright green and bright red (via Consequence). Because of this, Mars Attacks! is Burton’s secret Christmas movie and a secret member of the Dark Christmas group.

Why Mars Attacks! Is Burton’s Lowest-Rated Christmas Movie

Mars Attacks! is one of Tim Burton’s lowest-rated movies on Rotten Tomatoes with a 56% score, and while some critics praised it for its 1950s sci-fi style and cheesy humor, many others criticized it for it. The sense of humor of Mars Attacks! wasn’t well-received by critics, and it was constantly compared to other alien movies released in the 1990s, despite being done in very different styles. Mars Attacks! has found its audience as years go by, but it’s still one of the worst-received Tim Burton movies and, unfortunately, one of his most forgetful projects, as well.