Editorial Staff
A sizzle reel of logos for upcoming fare from Warner Bros titles screened today at the studio’s panel at CinemaCon 2023. Among the films highlighted, the on-again off-again on-again Beetlejuice sequel – essentially confirming that the sequel is officially on the way!
Last we heard, Jenna Ortega is set to play the on-screen daughter of Winona Ryder’s daughter in the film with Michael Keaton, of course, reprising his role as the Ghost with the Most. Rumor has it production begins mid-year.
The film has been in development for the better part of three decades now. This most recent incarnation has Brad Pitt’s Plan B producing, and Tim Burton directing a script by David Katzenberg, Seth Grahame-Smith, and Mike Vukadinovich.
Despite years of rumours about the project, Birdman actor Keaton said in 2017 that any Beetlejuice 2 talk was little more than a fanboy dream.
Speaking to Karl Quinn from The Sydney Morning-Herald, Keaton said that while he’s a huge fan of the original 1988 film, and while he might be interested in reprising the role, the project hasn’t moved an inch in the years it’s been discussed.
“I can go back 20 years, maybe longer, maybe I was the one who even brought it up. I maybe said, ‘If there’s one thing I’d like to remake it’s Beetlejuice’ – and that might be 20 years ago that I said it. Nobody paid attention, but all of a sudden people tell me, ‘I hear you’re doing it’, and I’m like ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about’. Wait a minute, am I crazy? Why are people still talking about this?
“This is a thing that’s come and gone like 10 times. People say, ‘Hey, it was announced today’, and I say ‘Really? Well I haven’t heard’. Then it goes away and then it comes back again. Then another four years pass.”
Keaton says if it was going to happen, it likely would’ve happened already.
“Whoever is in charge has had the opportunity to make it for many, many years,” he says. “They should have just pulled the trigger and done it. But they didn’t, and it had nothing to do with me or Tim.”
The original cult classic starred Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis as ghosts who haunt their old home. When a little girl (Winona Ryder) accidentally unleashes a mischievous ghost (Keaton), the ghosts try to drive the homeowners (Catherine O’Hara and Jeffrey Jones) out of the house.
