It is behind a thick velvet curtain overhung by one of the emblematic creatures of the American filmmaker that the experience begins in La Villette, north of Paris.
"We wanted to represent Tim Burton's thought and that's why we chose the shape of a maze," Alvaro Molina, head of the scenography, told AFP.
"Love, ghosts and cemeteries", "friends and enemies", "monsters misunderstood", rooms imagined around "constant themes in the work of Tim Burton" are linked behind numbered doors.
In each room, animated by light effects and background music, different doors allow everyone to create a unique itinerary.
Visitors to Tim Burton's immersive exhibition "The Labyrinth" on May 19, 2023 at Parc de la Villette in Paris © Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP
If "each visitor travels 15 rooms during his visit", assured Alvaro Molina, the total number of rooms that make up the labyrinth is kept secret by the organizers.
"There are iconic rooms that all visitors pass through. And there are other small pieces that trace other universes, with different points of view," he said.
In total, on the walls, "153 drawings and original sketches" to which are added "about fifty cartoons", punctuate the visit according to the head of collections and exhibitions Tim Burton, Brandi Pomfret.
Visitors to Tim Burton's immersive exhibition "The Labyrinth" on May 19, 2023 at Parc de la Villette in Paris © Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP
The exhibition also allows you to discover unpublished life-size statues of emblematic characters of the director, such as the queen of hearts from "Alice in Wonderland" (2010), Emily, the bride from "Funeral Wedding" (2005) or Edward Scissorhands from the eponymous film of 1990.
On Thursday, the day before the opening of the exhibition in Paris, "nearly 60,000 tickets" were already sold and all premium tickets" (which include a second visit) more than a month earlier, said Sandrine Marrel, director of development at Caramba Culture Live, executive producer of the exhibition in France.
American director Tim Burton signs an autograph in the "Labyrinth" during the inauguration of the immersive exhibition, May 20, 2023 at the Parc de la Villette, in Paris © Christophe ARCHAMBAULT /
During the first stage of the exhibition, which took place in Madrid between September and April, the event gathered "nearly half a million visitors".
© 2023 AFP