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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
 Theatrical release poster

Directed by Tim Burton

Alfred Gough
Screenplay by
Miles Millar

Story by Alfred Gough

Miles Millar
Seth Grahame-Smith

Based on Characters
by

Michael McDowell
Larry Wilson

Produced by Marc Toberoff

Dede Gardner
Jeremy Kleiner
Tommy Harper
Tim Burton

Starring Michael Keaton

Winona Ryder
 Catherine O'Hara
Justin Theroux
Arthur Conti
Monica Bellucci
Jenna Ortega
Willem Dafoe

Cinematography Haris Zambarloukos

Edited by Jay Prychidny

Music by Danny Elfman

Production The Geffen Company
companies
Plan B Entertainment
Tim Burton Productions
Domain Entertainment

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

Release dates August 28, 2024 (Venice)
September 6, 2024 (United States)
Running time 104 minutes[1]

Country United States

Language English

Budget $100 million[2][3]

Box office $441.7 million[4][5]

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a 2024 American gothic dark fantasy comedy horror film
directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. A sequel
to Beetlejuice (1988) and the second film of the Beetlejuice franchise, the film
stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O'Hara reprising their roles
alongside new cast members Justin Theroux, Arthur Conti, Monica Bellucci, Jenna
Ortega, and Willem Dafoe. Set more than three decades after the first Beetlejuice, it
follows Lydia Deetz, now a mother, struggling to keep her family together in the wake of
a loss as the specter Betelgeuse[a] returns to haunt her.

After the success of Beetlejuice, plans for a sequel were announced by The Geffen Film
Company, its original producers, and little materialized until 2011 when Warner Bros.
Pictures hired Seth Grahame-Smith to pitch a story, which went through numerous
revisions before being shelved in late 2019. Plans for a sequel were revived in early
2022, with Burton set to co-produce with Brad Pitt's studio Plan B Entertainment. After
the casting process finished in early 2023, principal photography, supervised by
cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos, took place in parts of England and the U.S. from
May to November, despite being suspended for four months due to the 2023 actors'
strike. The official title was revealed in February 2024. During post-production, editing
was handled by Jay Prychidny, and the musical score was composed by longtime
Burton collaborator Danny Elfman.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice opened the 81st Venice International Film Festival on August 28,
2024,[6] and was theatrically released overseas on September 4, 2024, and in the United
States by Warner Bros. Pictures two days later. The film received generally positive
reviews from critics and grossed almost $441 million worldwide on an estimated $100
million budget, becoming the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2024.

Plot
[edit]
In 2024, Lydia Deetz hosts the supernatural TV talk show Ghost House. She has been
estranged from her daughter, Astrid, since Lydia's ex-husband and Astrid's father,
Richard, died while in the Amazon. While taping an episode, Lydia hallucinates seeing
Betelgeuse, the demon who tried to marry her 36 years earlier,[b] in the audience.

Shortly afterwards, Lydia's stepmother, Delia, informs Lydia that her father, Charles, has
died in a gruesome accident. They and Astrid travel to Winter River, Connecticut, for
Charles' funeral. At the wake, Rory, Lydia's boyfriend and producer, pressures her to
marry him on Halloween; she hesitantly agrees. Meanwhile, Astrid meets a local boy
named Jeremy Frazier, who invites her to spend Halloween with him.

In The Afterlife, Betelgeuse oversees an office of "bio-exorcists", assisted by Bob, an

anxious shrunken-head ghost. Betelgeuse is still obsessed with Lydia. Former actor-
turned-ghost detective Wolf Jackson warns Betelgeuse that his former wife, Delores,
has escaped captivity and gone on a murderous spree, draining the souls of the dead
searching for him. The couple met during the Black Plague in Italy, but Delores was a
cult leader who poisoned Betelgeuse as part of an immortality ritual; he killed her before
succumbing to the poison.

Astrid discovers she has inherited her mother's psychic abilities and realizes Jeremy is
a ghost; he persuades her to accompany him to the Afterlife to help regain his life. In
exchange, she can meet her father's spirit. Lydia learns from a local realtor that Jeremy
murdered his parents twenty-three years earlier and died when the police tried to arrest
him. Lydia reluctantly summons Betelgeuse and signs a marriage contract in exchange
for him taking her to the Afterlife to save Astrid. Betelgeuse blows open a hole between
the worlds of the Living and the Dead; he disguises Bob as himself as a decoy. Wolf
discovers Betelgeuse has brought a living person into the Afterlife and launches a
manhunt for him, capturing the disguised Bob. Delores meets Bob at the police station
while continuing her search for Betelgeuse and drains Bob's soul.

As Betelgeuse and Lydia search for Astrid, Jeremy escorts her through the Afterlife's
bureaucracy. He admits to tricking Astrid into exchanging her life for his. Astrid is taken
to the "Soul Train" to be sent to the Great Beyond, but her father, Richard, spots and
follows her. Lydia pulls Astrid off the Soul Train, and they escape through a portal
to Saturn's moon Titan, where Richard saves them from a sandworm. While Betelgeuse
sends Jeremy to Hell, Richard shows Lydia and Astrid how to return to the Living world.
Meanwhile, during a mourning ceremony for Charles, Delia is bitten by two venomous
asps that she was assured were defanged. She arrives in the Afterlife and summons
Betelgeuse to help find Charles; he agrees in exchange that Delia will help him find
Lydia.

After Lydia and Astrid escape from the Afterlife, Astrid tearfully apologizes to Lydia for
not believing her about ghosts. The two arrive at the church for Lydia and Rory's
wedding. Betelgeuse appears with Delia and interrupts the ceremony. Betelgeuse uses
a "truth serum" that forces Rory to admit he never believed in Lydia's abilities and has
only been using her for her money since they first met. Betelgeuse prepares to marry
Lydia when Delores arrives seeking revenge. Wolf also arrives, but Betelgeuse freezes
him and his comrades to avoid arrest and continue the wedding. Astrid opens a portal to
summon a sandworm from Titan, and Betelgeuse leads it to devour Delores and Rory.
Astrid reveals that because Betelgeuse illegally brought Lydia into the Afterlife, their
marriage contract is voided. Lydia recites Betelgeuse's name three times and banishes
him back to the Afterlife. Delia returns to the Afterlife with Wolf. She is reunited with
Charles' spirit as he is about to board the Soul Train to the Great Beyond.

As everything returns to normal, Lydia ends her Ghost House show to spend more time
with Astrid. However, Lydia has recurring nightmares about Betelgeuse, knowing that
he will never give up his obsession for her.

Cast
[edit]

The cast and crew of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice at the 81st

Venice International Film Festival

 Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse, an afterlife ghost and "bio-exorcist" who wants to

marry someone from the realm of the living. Both Keaton and director Tim
Burton opted to keep the character as politically incorrect as he was in the original
film due to their love for that character trait, with Burton deeming Betelgeuse as a
character whose whole point is that he does not undergo any character arc or
development, never evolving.[7]
 Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, the former gothic teenager who was almost forced to
marry Betelgeuse, now mother of Astrid Deetz and hostess of the Ghost House with
 Lydia Deetz show. Ryder initially imagined her character would live as a spinster in
the Maitland residence's attic, but appreciated the development of her character,
particularly around her relationship with daughter Astrid.[8]
 Catherine O'Hara as Delia Deetz, Lydia's stepmother, Astrid's stepgrandmother, and
Charles Deetz's widow, now the hostess of a real art show located in
a SoHo gallery[8]
 Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz, Lydia's teenage daughter and Delia's step-
granddaughter[9][10][11]
 Justin Theroux as Rory, Lydia's current boyfriend and a television producer.[8][12] Rory
was inspired by Otho, Delia Deetz's interior design and exorcist friend played by the
late Glenn Shadix in the original film. Writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar devised
him as a character who everyone wanted to see getting his comeuppance, like
Otho, and enjoying the idea of Lydia being in a weird codependent relationship
which everyone sees that way, herself included. Gough and Millar wanted the
audience to understand why Rory is with Lydia and that he was a "schmuck", but
they felt that they needed to find Rory's humanity without him being a mere
punchline. Once Theroux was cast and connected with the writers over Zoom, he
provided Gough and Millar with ideas they incorporated.[13]
 Willem Dafoe as Wolf Jackson, a ghost detective who, in life, was a B movie action
star[14]
 Monica Bellucci as Delores, Betelgeuse's ex-wife who, in life, was a mysterious
soul-sucking witch who poisoned Betelgeuse several centuries earlier during
the Black Plague before he killed her with an axe in retaliation
 Arthur Conti as Jeremy Frazier, an undead teenage murderer who is Astrid's brief
love interest[15][16]
 Burn Gorman as Father Damien, a reverend in Winter River[17]
 Santiago Cabrera as Richard, Astrid's late father and Lydia's former husband who
disappeared in Brazil's Amazonas
 Danny DeVito as an afterlife janitor whose soul was consumed by Delores
 Nick Kellington as Bob, a zombie with a shrunken head and Betelgeuse's lead
worker whose soul was also consumed by Delores
 Amy Nuttall as local real estate agent Jane Butterfield Jr., the daughter of the first
film's Jane Butterfield Sr., portrayed in the previous film by Annie McEnroe
 Mark Heenehan (physical) and Charlie Hopkinson (voice) as Charles Deetz, Lydia's
father and Delia's deceased husband who was decapitated by a shark, hence why
he goes to the afterlife without his upper half. The character is depicted with the
likeness of original actor Jeffrey Jones through various means, including archival
photos, paintings and an animated stop motion sequence that describes the
character's death.[18][19][20] The character's death was inspired by a nightmare of
Burton's about his own death.[21][22]
Jane Leaney and David Ayres portray Mrs. and Mr. Frazier, Jeremy's murdered parents.
Georgina Beedle portrays Janet, Wolf Jackson's secretary who "keeps him real", while
Filipe Cates portrays Vlad, a young man dressed as a vampire who marries Astrid in
Lydia's dream.
Production
[edit]
Development
[edit]
After the success of Beetlejuice (1988), a sequel was fast-tracked by The Geffen Film
Company. Two Beetlejuice sequel scripts were commissioned in 1990: the
first, Beetlejuice in Love, was penned by screenwriter Warren Skaaren, who did a heavy
re-write on the first film's script. In Skaaren's sequel, Betelgeuse meets Leo, who
tragically plummets to his death while proposing to his girlfriend, Julia, on the Eiffel
Tower. When Leo enters the afterlife, Betelgeuse escapes to the world of the living and
pursues Julia. Skaaren died shortly after turning in his first draft of the In Love script.
[23]
That same year, Tim Burton hired Jonathan Gems to write a
potential Beetlejuice sequel titled Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian.[24] "Tim thought it would be
funny to match the surfing backdrop of a beach movie with some sort of German
Expressionism, because they're totally wrong together", Gems said.[25] The story
followed the Deetz family moving to Hawaii, where Charles is developing a resort. They
soon discover that his company is building on the burial ground of an ancient
Hawaiian Kahuna. The spirit comes back from the afterlife to cause trouble, and
Betelgeuse becomes a hero by winning a surf contest with magic. Michael
Keaton and Winona Ryder agreed to do the film, on the condition that Burton directed,
but both he and Keaton became occupied with Batman Returns (1992).[25]

Burton was still interested in Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian in early 1991. Impressed
with Daniel Waters' work on Heathers (1989), which also stars Winona Ryder, Burton
approached him for a rewrite. However, he eventually signed Waters to write the script
for Batman Returns.[26] By August 1993, producer David Geffen hired Pamela
Norris (Troop Beverly Hills, Saturday Night Live) to rewrite.[27] Warner Bros.
approached Kevin Smith in 1996 to rewrite the script, although Smith turned down the
offer in favor of Superman Lives. Smith later joked that his response was, "Didn't we say
all we needed to say in the first Beetlejuice? Must we go tropical?"[28] In March 1997,
Gems released a statement saying, "The Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian script is still owned
by The Geffen Company and it will likely never get made. You really couldn't do it now
anyway. Winona is too old for the role, and the only way they could make it would be to
totally recast it."[25] Burton had considered several other sequel ideas as well over the
years, saying in 2024, "We talked about lots of different things. That was early on when
we were going, Beetlejuice and the Haunted Mansion, Beetlejuice Goes
West, whatever. Lots of things came up",[29] but all those initial scenarios set in Hawaii,
the Wild West or Paris, France were all scrapped.[30]

In September 2011, Warner Bros. hired Seth Grahame-Smith, who collaborated with
Burton on Dark Shadows and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (both 2012), to write
and produce a sequel to Beetlejuice.[31] Grahame-Smith signed on with the intention of
doing "a story that is worthy of us actually doing this for real, something that is not just
about cashing in, is not just about forcing a remake or a reboot down someone's throat".
He was also adamant that Keaton would return and that Warner Bros. would not recast
the role. Burton and Keaton had not officially signed on but would return if the script was
good enough.[32] Grahame-Smith met with Keaton in February 2012, "We talked for a
couple of hours and talked about big picture stuff. It's a priority for Warner Bros. It's a
priority for Tim. [Michael's] been wanting to do it for 20 years and he'll talk to anybody
about it who will listen."[33]

I don't wanna be the guy that destroys the legacy and the memory of the first film, I
would rather die. I would rather just not make it, I'd rather just throw the whole thing
away than make something that pays no respect and doesn't live up even close to the
legacy of the first film. The story would be set in a real time frame from 1988. This will
be a true 26 or 27 years later sequel. What's great is that for Beetlejuice [sic], time
means nothing in the afterlife, but the world outside is a different story.
—Seth Grahame-Smith (writer)[34]

In November 2013, Ryder hinted at a possible return for the sequel as well by saying,
"I'm kind of sworn to secrecy but it sounds like it might be happening. It's 27 years later.
And I have to say, I love Lydia Deetz so much. She was such a huge part of me. I would
be really interested in what she is doing 27 years later." Ryder confirmed that she would
only consider making a sequel if Burton and Keaton were involved.[35] In December
2014, Burton stated, "It's a character that I love and I miss actually working with
Michael. There's only one Betelgeuse. We're working on a script and I think it's probably
closer than ever and I'd love to work with him again."[36] In January 2015, writer
Grahame-Smith told Entertainment Weekly that the script was finished and that he and
Burton intended to start filming Beetlejuice 2 by the end of the year, and that both
Keaton and Ryder would return in their respective roles.[37]

While negotiating to join the Netflix show Stranger Things as Joyce Byers in mid-2015,
Ryder accepted that role under the sole request to the Duffer Brothers that if
a Beetlejuice sequel ever got greenlighted, they would let her take a break from the
series to film it, as she and Burton had been having conversations about the project
since 2000; the Duffers agreed.[38] In August 2015, on Late Night with Seth
Meyers, Ryder confirmed she would be reprising her role in the sequel.[39] In May 2016,
Burton stated, "It's something that I really would like to do in the right circumstances, but
it's one of those films where it has to be right. It's not a kind of a movie that cries out [for
a sequel], it's not the Beetlejuice trilogy. So it's something that if the elements are right
—because I do love the character and Michael's amazing as that character, so yeah
we'll see. But there's nothing concrete yet."[40] In October 2017, Mike Vukadinovich was
hired to re-write the script.[41] In April 2019, Warner Bros. stated the sequel had been
shelved.[42]