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Johnny Depp and Tim Burton made eight feature films together with Burton directing, from Edward Scissorhands (1990) to Dark Shadows (2012). Here they are ranked by how well each film brings Burton’s visual imagination, Depp’s performance, and the story together—not by an objective consensus. A ranking weighted more toward visual style or personal attachment could come out differently.
How many films did Johnny Depp and Tim Burton make together?
There are eight Burton-directed features in the collaboration. Burton’s official project list provides the set, and D23 identifies Edward Scissorhands as the first film in their partnership. Depp’s role in Corpse Bride is a voice performance, so the collaboration includes a stop-motion animated feature as well as live-action films.
![Tim Burton's Corpse Bride [Blu-ray] by Johnny Depp](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/519XFWvU4pL._SL160_.jpg)
This count is limited to films Burton directed. It does not include Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), for which Burton was a producer rather than director.
The Depp–Burton films, ranked
1. Ed Wood (1994)
Depp plays filmmaker Ed Wood in a film that shifts the partnership away from gothic fantasy and toward a portrait of a real person. That change of register gives Depp room to build a character through earnestness and persistence rather than an elaborate visual transformation. Burton’s stylized approach serves the story without making the central performance feel like an accessory to the look.
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2. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
The first film in the partnership remains its clearest meeting point: Burton’s outsider fantasy and Depp’s quiet, expressive performance are built around the same character. Edward’s physical difference shapes the story, but the film’s emotional force comes from the vulnerability beneath the striking design. It is the essential starting point for understanding the collaboration.
3. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
This adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s musical thriller puts the partnership into a demanding form: Depp must carry a character through song as well as performance, while Burton directs a dark, heightened story. Paramount describes it as a big-screen adaptation of Sondheim’s musical. Its theatrical intensity is a strength, though its concentrated mood makes it a less flexible showcase than the pair’s most emotionally open films.
4. Corpse Bride (2005)
Depp voices Victor in Burton’s stop-motion feature, and that distinction matters: this is a collaboration through vocal performance, not an on-screen Depp transformation. The animation gives Burton’s gothic imagery a crafted, storybook quality, while the voice work keeps the character gentle rather than grandstanding. It earns its place by showing that the pairing could work beyond live action.
5. Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Burton’s gothic mystery gives Depp a nervous, cerebral take on Ichabod Crane, surrounded by an atmosphere of shadow and menace. The film is a strong match for Burton’s visual sensibility, but its chilly horror tone gives the partnership less room for emotional intimacy than the films above it.
Rank #3
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6. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Depp’s Willy Wonka is an eccentric interpretation of a character from Roald Dahl’s book, while Burton builds a world of saturated color and unsettling whimsy around him. The performance’s strangeness is memorable, but unusual characterization alone does not make the film the pair’s most complete work; the story and its emotional center carry less weight than in their strongest collaborations.
7. Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Depp plays the Mad Hatter in Burton’s fantasy adaptation. The role gives him a conspicuous visual and performance identity, but the film’s scale and emphasis on spectacle leave the central relationship between director and actor feeling less tightly integrated than in the higher-ranked titles.
Rank #4
8. Dark Shadows (2012)
As a gothic comedy built around a vampire returning to a changed world, Dark Shadows reunites the pair with familiar ingredients: stylized gloom, comic oddness, and Depp in heavy character makeup. Those elements do not cohere as strongly here as they do in the films above it, leaving the collaboration’s visual trademarks more apparent than its emotional or narrative payoff.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What counts as a collaboration?
The eight-film list covers Burton-directed features from 1990 through 2012. It includes Corpse Bride because Depp performs a voice role in a film Burton directed. It excludes later projects where Burton’s involvement was as producer rather than director; friendship or shared production work alone does not add a title to this ranking.
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