Coming soon: Tim Burton's Frankenweenie

The latest adventure from director-writer-producer Tim Burton is set for release on October 5th, 2012. In anticipation of this sure-to-be Halloween hit, Disney Studios have released some images to get youngsters pumped up. Introduce these new creations to your kids!

Fun fact: Both of Tim Burton's prior stop-motion animated films — The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Corpse Bride — were nominated for Academy Awards. However, Frankenweenie will mark the first time Burton will direct an animated feature for Disney.

Fun fact: Stop-motion is one of the oldest styles of animation. There are 24 frames per second in Frankenweenie. This means that the animator must stop and position the puppet 24 times to get one second of filmed action. On average, one animator will produce five seconds of animation per week. Multiple puppets of the same character allowed animators to work on more than one scene at once. There were as many as 18 animators working independently of each other at one time.

Fun fact: All of the characters in Frankenweenie are based on Tim Burton’s drawings. He did some of the drawings back in 1984 when the original live-action short of Frankenweenie was first released. The others he drew especially for this new, feature-length animated version.

Fun fact: The all-star voice cast includes four actors who have worked with Burton on previous films: Winona Ryder (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands), Catherine O’Hara (Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas), Martin Short (Mars Attacks!) and Martin Landau (Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow).

Fun fact: Classic horror films from the 1930s, like Frankenstein and Dracula, inspired several of the character names — Victor, Elsa Van Helsing, Edgar 'E' Gore and Mr. Burgemeister.

Fun fact: More than 200 puppets and sets were created for the film; there were 17 Victors and 12 Sparkys. Since each animator worked independently on different scenes, multiples were needed. They also needed backup in case a puppet required repair.

Fun fact: The film takes place in the fictitious town of New Holland, a suburban development circa the 1970s, much like Burbank, California, where director Tim Burton grew up. A windmill sits on a hill overlooking the town and adds just the right touch for New Holland’s annual Dutch Days celebration.