This week’s EW not only has the unstoppable Melissa McCarthy on the cover, it also features a first look at Frankenweenie.

Here’s Sparky contemplating a ball:

There’s something very important on the other side of that fence, but I can’t tell you what. You’ll have to wait until the movie comes out on October 5, 2012.

Yes, a year from now. Stop-motion animation takes a bit.

By the way, back in 2007 when I denied I was writing Frankenweenie, that was true. Tim Burton asked me to write it in September 2008, and most of my work on it was finished back in 2009.

Although IMDb says otherwise, I’m not writing Tim Burton’s recently announced Frankenweenie feature.

Here’s the long-ish version: I had a meeting with Disney Animation about a year ago, in which they pitched the idea of doing a feature version of Tim’s Frankenweenie short film. They even had production art for it. Then, separately, I had a conversation with Tim about doing another stop-motion animation project like Corpse Bride.

But they’re not the same thing. And as far as I know, I won’t be working on either one. (That said, I didn’t think I was working on Corpse Bride until I was halfway on a plane to London, so never say never.)

To further confuse matters, there’s a different and as-yet-unannounced Tim Burton project (live action) which I almost certainly will be writing post-strike. And yes, I’d love to tell you what it is. But I can’t.