Tim Burton's most frequent collaborators

Mainstream master of the macabre Tim Burton is finally unleashing his long-gestating sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and it's a project that offered him the perfect excuse to get some of the old gang back together.

Soon entering his 40th year as a movie maker, the 65-year-old has managed to nurture quite the squad of regular collaborators, from heavyweight actors to musical composers, screenwriters, production designers, cinematographers and makeup artists.

There's even a gentleman named Harry Taylor who's basically part of the furniture on a Burton set, having played six blink-and-you'll-miss-them characters (including Mr. Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) while simultaneously driving the headline talent to and from work.

Read more: The Nightmare Before Christmas at 30: Henry Selick shares the Tim Burton cameo that nearly happened

When it comes to the iconic Burton brand, his cast and crew know exactly what they're letting themselves in for: fairytale German expressionism, the colour black, and social pariahs in terms of characterisation.

So, who's such a fan of the experience that they went back for more?

7. Michelle Pfeiffer - 2 films

For the Christmassy 1992 follow-up to Burton's Batman, Michelle Pfeiffer replaced actress Annette Bening as Selina Kyle/Catwoman after she fell pregnant. In preparation, Pfeiffer endured months of kickboxing training ahead of the shoot and even became extraordinarily proficient with a whip.

In a 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, though, the filmmaker claimed it was the scene where Catwoman catches a bird in her mouth that left him most amazed. "I don't think I’ve ever been so impressed. She had a live bird in her mouth while the camera was rolling," he recalled. "It was four or five seconds, and then she let it fly out. It was before CG, it was before digital. It was so quick, it seems like it was an effect."

Two decades passed before Burton would cast Pfeiffer in another one of his movies, Dark Shadows, which featured her as the matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard.

Also on 2 appearances: Christina Ricci, Jenna Ortega, Steve Buscemi, Joanna Lumley, Paul Whitehouse, Christopher Walken, Terence Stamp, Timothy Spall, Martin Short, Alan Rickman, Paul Reubens, Missi Pyle, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jack Nicholson, Albert Finney, and Alan Arkin.

6. Jeffrey Jones - 3 films

Jeffrey Jones, now a registered sex offender, was there at the start of big-time Burton. As Charles Deetz in the original Beetlejuice, he had the pleasure of starring in one of the wildest-ever dinner table sequences.

In 1994, he played real-life physic Jeron Criswell King (self-styled The Amazing Criswell) in the black-and-white biopic Ed Wood. Amongst the auteur's filmography, Ed Wood is up there with the best of them despite not finding a huge audience.

Five years later, Jones fled the Headless Horseman as Reverend Steenwyck in Sleepy Hollow.

Also on 3 appearances: Eva Green, O-Lan Jones, Martin Landau, Catherine O'Hara, Carmen Filpi, Frank Welker, and Biff Yeager.

5. Winona Ryder - 4 films

Soon reprising Lydia Deetz in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, who was just a teenage goth when Michael Keaton's bonkers bio-exorcist first squirmed out of his grave, Winona Ryder has a couple of the Burton classics under her belt.

As the reluctantly spellbound Kim Boggs in Edwards Scissorhands, she bared witness to ice sculptures, haircuts, and topiaries all executed by the bladed limbs of Johnny Depp's castle-lurking loner. For the feature-length Frankenweenie remake, Ryder then provided the voice for the title character's classmate Elsa Van Helsing.

When Burton was brought onboard to direct a music video for The Killers tune 'Here with Me', she also stepped up for that.

Also on 4 appearances: Deep Roy and Lisa Marie.

4. Michael Keaton - 5 films

Michael Keaton reached the pinnacle of Hollywood notoriety thanks to the filmmaker, who went on to cast him as Bruce Wayne/Batman in his 1989 superhero movie after working on Beetlejuice together.

Across two of the darkest DC Comics adaptations ever made, Keaton's Caped Crusader locked horns with Jack Nicholson's Joker, Danny DeVito's Penguin and Pfeiffer's Catwoman before making way for Val Kilmer's interpretation of the character.

Squeezed in the middle of the Beetlejuice and Batman franchises is a part as the oily amusement park owner V.A. Vandevere in Burton's live-action Dumbo. What a rotter he was.

Also on 5 appearances: Danny DeVito, Michael Gough, and Christopher Lee.

3. Helena Bonham Carter - 7 films

Oscar-nominated veteran Helena Bonham Carter married Burton after joining forces on Planet of the Apes in 2001. Even though their stale remake failed to thrill the most loyal of fans, the pair (who share children Billy and Nell but divorced in 2014) ticked off a further six reunions on the big screen.

Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride and Dark Shadows display her understatedness, but as the murderous Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland, Carter goes for broke and walks away as the highlight in both.

"Our relationship was always somewhat special, and I think it'll always remain special," said Bonham Carter during a chat to Red magazine.

2. Johnny Depp - 8 films

The only individual you could truly describe as Burton's 'muse' would be Johnny Depp.

Rising from relative obscurity to lead 1990 cult classic Edward Scissorhands, the world was Depp's oyster after that and he capitalised on his popularity with golden roles in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Donnie Brasco, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Finding Neverland.

He never shied away from freakier work though, and Burton proved to be an exquisite foil. Between 1994 and 2012, the power couple (so to speak) treated cinemagoers to seven more idiosyncratic combinations: Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd, Alice in Wonderland, and Dark Shadows.

They were the Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro for fantasy lovers.

1. Danny Elfman - 17 films

Although we're slightly cheating here, music composer Danny Elfman has notched up a record amount of Burton credits. On 17 separate occasions they've come together, excluding Netflix series Wednesday and The Nightmare Before Christmas, the latter of which Burton created but did not direct.

It all began with Pee-wee's Big Adventure in 1985, marking the major film studio debut for both in their respective fields, and led to standout scores in the likes of Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Mars Attacks!, and Big Fish.

Thank God they found each other.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is due out in cinemas on 6 September.