The first movie directed by legendary filmmaker Tim Burton is about to be available to stream from the comfort of your home. Burton is known for bringing projects rooted in goth culture to the larger masses, with hits like Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands helping to cement his place among the greats. We also can’t forget how Burton brought the iconic DC hero Batman to the big screen for the first time. But let’s not forget the movies that helped filmmakers make a name for themselves. Such is the case with the movie in which Tim Burton made his directorial debut — Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.
Max released the movies and TV shows heading to the streamer in May 2025, and on the list is Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, directed by Tim Burton and starring Paul Reubens as the titular Pee-wee Herman. Burton was brought on to direct Pee-wee’s Big Adventure after impressing Reubens and the producers with his work on a set of short films: 1982’s Vincent and 1984’s Frankenweenie. As for Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, it followed Pee-wee on an adventure to find his stolen bicycle. The success of the movie helped it spawn two sequels: 1988’s Big Top Pee-wee and 2016’s Pee-wee’s Big Holiday.
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Some of the other notable titles heading to Max in May to join Pee-wee’s Big Adventure include The Silence of the Lambs, Enter the Dragon, The Princess Bride, The Goonies, and all three Madagascar movies. It’s notable that all of these films land on Max on May 1st, with streamers typically choosing to dump the majority of their content at the beginning of the month. The advantage of this is that it gives subscribers the longest period of time to watch a movie, because sometimes these films will leave the service at the end of the month.
Tim Burton impressed Warner Bros. with his successes on Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and Beetlejuice, leading the studio to hire him to direct Michael Keaton in 1989’s Batman. This was a seminal movie for comic book projects, proving to critics that audiences do want to see their favorite heroes on the big screen. Of course, that has led to a boom in comic book movies from both DC and Marvel over the decades.
Burton and Warner Bros. reunited to bring Beetlejuice out of mothballs for 2024’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. The film brought back Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, who were joined by Wednesday star Jenna Ortega. Beetlejuice 3 is already in the works. Speaking of Wednesday, Burton revived The Addams Family property with a Wednesday spinoff featuring Ortega as Wednesday Addams. Wednesday is coming back to Netflix for Season 2 later this year. Part 1 arrives on August 6th, followed by Part 2 on September 3rd.
After Beetlejuice 2, Burton said he isn’t looking to make any sequels for his other films, like Edward Scissorhands.
“There are certain films I don’t want to make a sequel to. I didn’t want to make a sequel to [Edward Scissorhands] because it felt like a one-off thing,” Burton told attendees during a Marrakech Q&A. “I didn’t want to have a sequel for The Nightmare Before Christmas because it also felt like a one-off thing. Certain things are best left on their own and that for me is one of them.”
Will you be checking out Pee-wee’s Big Adventure on Max on May 1st? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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