Frankenweenie is an upcoming 3D black and white stop motion

Stop motion

Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...

 film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 and remake

Remake

A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...

 of the 1984 short film of the same name. Like the 1984 version, it is a parody of and an homage

Homage

Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....

to the 1931 film Frankenstein

Frankenstein (1931 film)

Frankenstein is a 1931 Pre-Code Horror Monster film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and adapted from the play by Peggy Webling which in turn is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Shelley. The film stars Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles and Boris Karloff, and features...

based on Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...

's book of the same name. It is directed by Tim Burton

Tim Burton

Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...

, and scheduled for release on October 5, 2012.

Plot

The synopsis of the film reads:

Cast

Five actors who previously worked with the director, Catherine O'Hara

Catherine O'Hara

Catherine Anne O'Hara is a Canadian-American actress and comedienne. She is well known for her comedy work on SCTV, and her roles in the films After Hours, Beetlejuice, Home Alone, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, and also in the mockumentary films written and directed by Christopher Guest...

, Winona Ryder

Winona Ryder

Winona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...

, Martin Landau

Martin Landau

Martin Landau is an American film and television actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s. His early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest . He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space:1999...

, Martin Short

Martin Short

Martin Hayter Short, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer. He is best-known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live...

, and Conchata Ferrell

Conchata Ferrell

Conchata Galen Ferrell is an American actress. She is best known for playing Berta the housekeeper in the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, for which she received two Emmy Award nominations in 2005 and 2007.-Personal life:...

, will rejoin him on this project providing the voices.

• Winona Ryder
  Winona Ryder
  Winona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
  
   as Elsa
• Catherine O'Hara
  Catherine O'Hara
  Catherine Anne O'Hara is a Canadian-American actress and comedienne. She is well known for her comedy work on SCTV, and her roles in the films After Hours, Beetlejuice, Home Alone, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, and also in the mockumentary films written and directed by Christopher Guest...
  
   as Susan Frankenstein, Victor's Mom / Edgar / Weird Girl / Gym Teacher
• Martin Landau
  Martin Landau
  Martin Landau is an American film and television actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s. His early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest . He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space:1999...
  
   as Mr. Rzykruski
• Martin Short
  Martin Short
  Martin Hayter Short, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer. He is best-known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live...
  
   as Bob / Nassor / Toshiaki / Victor's Dad / Mr. Bergermeister
• Robert Capron
  Robert Capron
  Robert Capron is American child actor who is best known for starring as Rowley Jefferson, Greg Heffley's best friend in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies. He started off with a role in Bride Wars and later had small parts in Hachiko: A Dog's Story and the Disney film The Sorcerer's Apprentice...
  
  
• Atticus Shaffer
  Atticus Shaffer
  Atticus Shaffer is an American actor known for portraying Matty Newton in the 2009 supernatural horror-thriller film The Unborn and Brick Heck in the ABC sitcom The Middle.-Personal life:...
  
  
• Charlie Tahan
  Charlie Tahan
  Charles "Charlie" Tahan is an American child actor.Tahan was born and raised in Glen Rock, New Jersey. His sister is actress Daisy Tahan, and he has an older brother named Willie as well. Tahan portrayed Ethan in I Am Legend, appeared in Burning Bright, and co-starred with Zac Efron in the 2010...
  
  
• Conchata Ferrell
  Conchata Ferrell
  Conchata Galen Ferrell is an American actress. She is best known for playing Berta the housekeeper in the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, for which she received two Emmy Award nominations in 2005 and 2007.-Personal life:...
  
  

Production

Development for a full-length stop motion version of Frankenweenie dates as far back as November 2005, when scripts had been written by Josann McGibbon

Josann McGibbon

Josann McGibbon's first major success as a screenwriter was the early Brad Pitt film, The Favor. Her biggest hits since then include Three Men and a Little Lady and Runaway Bride. In 2007, she co-wrote and produced the hit Debra Messing miniseries, The Starter Wife...

 and Sara Parriott. John August

John August

John August is an American screenwriter and film director.  He also writes and maintains the popular screenwriting blog , and develops screenwriter-targeted software....

 was approached for a rewrite in 2006, but was not hired until January 2009. Burton signed with Disney to direct two films in Disney Digital 3D, which included Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland (2010 film)

Alice in Wonderland is a 2010 American computer-animated/live action fantasy adventure film directed by Tim Burton, written by Linda Woolverton, and released by Walt Disney Pictures...

and his remake of Frankenweenie. Like the original, the feature version is to be shot in black & white. Many of the animation artists and crew from Corpse Bride

Corpse Bride

Corpse Bride, often promoted as Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, is a 2005 stop-motion-animated fantasy musical film directed by Mike Johnson and Tim Burton. It is set in a fictional Victorian era village in Europe. Johnny Depp led an all-star cast as the voice of Victor, while Helena Bonham Carter ...

are involved.

Filming began at Three Mills

Three Mills

The Three Mills are former working mills on the River Lea in the East End of London, one of London’s oldest extant industrial centres. The largest and most powerful of the four remaining tidal mills is possibly the largest tidal mill in the world...

 Studios in July 2010.

Release

The film was initially set for release in November 2011, before Disney moved it to March 9, 2012. In January 2011, Box Office Mojo

Box Office Mojo

Box Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. Brandon Gray started the site in 1999. In 2002, Gray partnered with Sean Saulsbury and they grew the site to nearly two million readers when, in July 2008, the company was purchased by Amazon.com through...

 announced the film's new release date for October 5, 2012 with John Carter replacing the movie for the once planned March 9, 2012 release.