Throughout his career Tim Burton has made some of the most iconic and memorable movies and characters including the Joker and Edward Scissorhands, which launched the movie career of Johnny Depp.Despite some of his material being dark and grim it's a style of filmmaking that cinema go-ers have come to love, providing the director with a string of box office hits.Top five Tim Burton movies:

1. Big Fish

Big Fish was a welcome break from the macabre and dark movies that everyone had come to love and expect from this unorthodox director,Big Fish was, instead, a fantasy movie starring Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup and Jessica Lange.Will Bloom (Crudup) returns home to Alabama with his pregnant wife to visit his dying father Edward (Finney), whom he hasn't spoken to for years.Despite being near to death Edward still has a knack of telling tall tales and begins to tell his life's story, in his own exaggerated way.

But Will struggles to believe his father. It's only at his funeral, when he comes face to face with his father's unusual friends that he realises that his father did have an extraordinary life and that story telling was his finest achievement; stories Will passes on to his son.

Production on Big Fish was scheduled to get underway as early as 200 with Steven Spielberg directing and Jack Nicholson in the role as older Edward Bloom before Spielberg got caught up in other projects and Burton stepped in.

The film was hailed as Burton's masterpiece, a smaller budget picture that allowed the director to use his offbeat surrealism in the unique fantasy tale.

The film received four Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture - Musical/Comedy and an Oscar nomination for Danny Elfman's score.

2. Batman

Despite development on a Batman movie starting back in the seventies it wasn't until 1989 that the DC Comic character made it to the big screen.

Burton and producers clashed over who should be cast in the lead role, Burton wanting and eventually getting Michael Keaton whom he had worked with in Beetlejuice.

Gotham City is suffering under the iron grip of Carl Grissom, a mob boss. And stories of a masked crusader are being investigated by journalists Vicki Vale and Alexander Knox.

Grissom's second in command Jack Napier is sent to carry out a raid on a chemical factory but is set up by Grissom over an affair with his mistress.

After an altercation with Batman Napier falls into a vat of toxic waste which shapes his face into a hideous and permanent grin, turns his skin white and his hair green.

Adopting the name of The Joker he kills Grissom and takes over his empire.

Despite fans of the comic voicing their disapproval over the casting of Keaton the film grossed over $400 million at the worldwide box office, breaking the $100 million in just ten days.

The film was backed by the biggest marketing campaign in film history at the time, the film itself only costing $40 million to make.

Despite Keaton winning over fans Jack Nicholson's performance as the Joker became one of cinema's most iconic villains of all time.

3. Edward Scissorhands

Set in an exaggerated vision of the suburbia in America Edward Scissorhands is a modern day story of Beauty and the Beast.

Peg, an Avon lady, encounters a shy young man called Edward when she is doing her Avon round in the neighbourhood.

The man, who was living in a decaying mansion and appears to have scissors for hands, is adopted into Peg's typical all American family.

At first Edward struggles to fit in with his new suburban home but his good natured personality and naivety wins over the local neighbourhood.

However they grow to distrust Edward, who has fallen in love with Kim Peg's teenage daughter, and he is ostracized after a series of misinterpreted events make him appear dangerous and out of control.

Despite the studio demanding Tom Cruise for the role as Edward Burton found him difficult to work with, there was also a scheduling clash with Days of Thunder.

The casting of a young Johnny Depp was to kick start the then TV actor's career and begin a successful partnership that has lasted almost two decades.

The film grossed over $50 million the twentieth highest grossing movie of 1990 as well as winning an Oscar for Best Make-Up and securing a Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy nomination for Johnny Depp.

4. The Nightmare Before Christmas

The stop motion animation movie The Nightmare Before Christmas would see Burton hand over the directing responsibilities to Henry Selick and take on the role of producer.

Jack Skellington is the leader of the holdiay-themed world known as Halloween Town. But he is bored with his job and feel is life in Halloween and lacks meaning.

He accidentally stumble upon the world of Christmas Town and Jack attempts to combine the two holidays making the Yuletide his own - with disastrous results.

The film was met well critically and was heavily praised for the stop motion animation aspect of their work. The film would receive an Academy Award nomination for Visual Effects but lost out to Jurassic Park.

But over the years The Nightmare Before Christmas gained a cult status, particularly among American and Japanese teenagers.

5. Sleepy Hollow

In 1999 Burton was to re-unite with actor Johnny Depp for the third time in an interpretation of Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

The film follows New York City police constable Ichabod Crane who is sne to the town of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of grisly murders, where the victims have been decapitated and the heads are missing.

A keen user of new technologies including finger printing and autopsies Crane is told by the town's elders that the murderer is a headless supernatural warrior from beyond the grave.

Crane doesn't believe them and begins his own investigation certain that the killer is of flesh and blood, until he comes face to face with the headless horseman.

When released the film was criticised by some for the amount of bloodshed and violence which Burton ended up having to defend in a press conference.

Despite some criticism Sleepy Hollow was met well critically and went on to gross over $200 million at the global box office.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is released 25th January.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

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