Tim Burton Squashes a Beetlejuice 3: "I'd Be Over 100"

Rule no. 3: Everything comes in threes — except Beetlejuice.

By Cameron Bonomolo

Tim Burton isn't saying Beetlejuice three times. 36 years after a recently-deceased couple summoned "bio-exorcist" Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) in the 1988 original, Burton is bringing back the Ghost with the Most one more time in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. The sequel — which also stars Winona Ryder and Catherine O'Hara, reprising their roles from the first film alongside Wednesday's Jenna Ortega, Monica Bellucci, Justin Theroux, and Willem Dafoe — will screen out of competition at the 81st Venice Film Festival on Wednesday, where Burton banished the wait for a Beetlejuice 3 to the Neitherworld's eternal waiting room.

"Let's do the math. It took 35 years to do this one," Burton, 66, answered when asked about a Beetlejuice Beetlejuice sequel during a Venice press conference, according to Deadline. "For another, I'd be over 100 [years old]. It could be possible thanks to medical science. But I don't think so."

1988's Beetlejuice, which saw Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis' dead Maitlands enlist Keaton's sleazy spirit to haunt the Deetz family out of their home, earned nearly $75 million at the box office — making back its budget five times over. Its success spawned not only a hit stage musical and an animated series that ran for four seasons, but landed Burton his next major directing gig: 1989 blockbuster Batman.

"As much as I love it, I never understood why it was a success," Burton said of the first Beetlejuice. "I could never place the film as something other than personal to me. So after all these years being able to work with Michael, Winona and Catherine again made it more personal and special along with Jenna, Monica, Justin and Willem — new people who got into the spirit of it." (Keaton agreed, adding that the new cast "might be better than the former cast, which was impossible.")

Burton described the decades-later sequel as "a very personal project," not a cash grab made "for loads of money." In making his first sequel since 1992's Batman Returns, and his first feature since 2019's live-action Dumbo, Burton said he was "energized" by the success of Netflix's Addams Family spinoff series Wednesday, which he directed.

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"Over the past few years, I got disillusioned with the movie business. So I knew if I was going to do something I wanted to do it from my heart," Burton said. "I lost myself a bit, so this movie was re-energizing. Getting back to the things I love and working with the people I love. With this one, it didn't matter how it turned out. I just enjoyed making it with these people."

Beetlejuice 2 opens only in theaters September 6th. Now calling number 9,998,383,750,000...

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