Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!
After 35 years since the first film’s premiere in 1988, Warner Bros. has announced that Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice will finally receive a sequel.
Some of the first film’s actors, including Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, will return for Beetlejuice 2. Meanwhile, newcomers Jenna Ortega and Justin Theroux will make their debuts in Burton’s spooky realm.
The long-awaited sequel comes after many unsuccessful attempts at a second film, including a screenplay for Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian in the 1990s. The characters were revived for a sequel in the 2010s, but development stagnated, and Burton said in 2019 that he doubted Beetlejuice 2 would be realized.
The project appeared to be revived in 2022 when Deadline claimed that Brad Pitt’s production firm, Plan B, had signed on.
Here’s everything you need to know about Beetlejuice 2, from the actors to the narrative.
Many of the original film’s key actors, including Keaton as Beetlejuice and Ryder as self-proclaimed “strange and unusual” adolescent Lydia Deetz, are set to reprise their roles. O’Hara, who was most recently seen in Schitt’s Creek, will reprise her role as Lydia’s quirky mother, Delia Deets.
Multiple sites stated in March 2023 that Ortega was in discussions to portray the daughter of Ryder’s character in the Beetlejuice sequel. When Warner Bros. formally announced the picture two months later, the Wednesday star was labeled “Lydia’s daughter.”
Days later, it was revealed that Monica Bellucci, who is said to be dating Burton, is one of the sequel’s new cast members. The Mafia Mamma actress has been cast as Beetlejuice’s wife.
Willem Dafoe has also joined the cast and is expected to portray a law enforcement officer in the future.
Theroux will also appear in Beetlejuice 2, but his role has not yet been confirmed.
But Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis, who played Adam and Barbara Maitland in the first film, may be unable to reprise their roles. Davis said in October 2022 that she “would of course like to revisit” the Beetlejuice concept but recognizes that since her and Baldwin’s characters are ghosts, the performers’ more adult features may be tough to explain. “I have a feeling that ghosts don’t age,” she speculated. “How would they explain the fact that they’re older?”
Where did Beetlejuice end? Burton’s 1988 picture depicts Adam and Barbara Maitland, a recently deceased married couple, who discover that a new family, Charles and Delia Deetz and their teenage daughter Lydia, have moved into their house. The couple shortly hires Beetlejuice, a boisterous, green-haired ghost from the afterlife, to assist them in scaring the family away.
When Beetlejuice develops his own strategy and seeks to marry young Lydia in order to cause chaos in the mortal realm, their plan backfires. Lydia’s parents and the Maitlands step in to interrupt the wedding and vanquish Beetlejuice. In the end, both families live harmoniously in the home.
What is the plot of Beetlejuice 2? While narrative specifics are yet unknown, fans might infer from the casting that the movie would follow a mature Lydia and her daughter as they encounter Beetlejuice and the land of the dead.
The script was written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who collaborated with Burton on Wednesday.
Who is in charge of directing Beetlejuice 2? Burton is returning to direct the sequel to his 1988 blockbuster. Plan B, Pitt’s production firm, is in the works.
When did the filming start? Filming is expected to begin in London in May 2023.
Ryder was observed shooting a scene for the film in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, the same month. She was seen in the passenger seat of a Tesla with her character’s jet-black hair and black outfit.
When is Beetlejuice 2 coming out? Beetlejuice 2 will be released in theaters on September 6, 2024.
