Sure, it’s more than 100 degrees outside. Inside my store, and in countless coffee shops around this sweltering nation, it’s clearly Halloween. Overpriced life-sized animatronics occupy an entire corridor where I toil, giving customers the option to invest what they otherwise might in necessary repairs for the chance to turn their lawn into a theme park attraction. Chucky, Jack Skellington and the “dog” from Fear Wolf cackle their way through my day, buoyed by audio files from their actual films. The only time I do chuckle is when Beetlejuice is activated.
Which makes it all the more apropos that that’s exactly what Warner Brothers Discovery is doing this weekend, nearly two full months in advance of the holiday where the original 1988 film by Tim Burton has been a staple of marathons practically since it ended its theatrical run and has made ensuing generations more aware and appreciative than those of us who sort of ignored it when it was released. While it did generate a not-insignificant $75 million in box office revenue off a $15 million budget, as an Easter Weekend release it was hardly seen as a tentpole. But as a film that took full advantage of rising stars like Geena Davis, Winona Ryder and, of course, Michael Keaton, it became known as a launching pad for eventual Oscar nominees and a fun albeit scary hang.
And now 36 years later, BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE is resurrecting itself, all the more timely for a company that judging by its stock price is rapidly heading for its own demise. And if the early reviews and box office projections are any indication, they just may have found a way to at least impede that inevitability. CINEMABLEND’s Mike Reyes offered a shining example in his piece that dropped late last night:
Any time a movie like Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is announced, fans of the original are usually the first to ask a question familiar to anyone who’s worked on a legacyquel: “Why?” With several decades passing since director Tim Burton’s horror-comedy blockbuster struck it big, the many false starts of this return trip to the afterlife have only upped the ante of anticipation. Now that the hour is finally upon us, I can gladly say that those of you who never said die on a Beetlejuice sequel will not be disappointed, as Burton and company’s love and respect for the 1988 original is shown off in every fiber of this tale. It’s a great example of understanding why that movie worked and how to bring it back for a new generation to behold.
There’s a refreshing lack of overthinking when it comes to how Beetlejuice Beetlejuice picks up the torch. Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) is hosting her own TV show focused on (what else) ghost hunting. An enterprising boyfriend/producer (Justin Theroux) encourages her, and she has a daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega) who thinks she’s a fraud… and it ends up being the worst time in the world for a death in the family to send our strange and unusual protagonist back home.
It is Ortega’s presence that is driving the anticipation and expectation that in one week this will eclipse the total take of the original. And don’t think those that were involved with that original don’t recognize that, as DEADLINE’s Glenn Garner noted:
While promoting Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which premieres Sept. 6 in theaters, returning stars Michael Keaton and Catherine O’Hara credited Jenna Ortega for helping the director see his long-awaited sequel to fruition after first working together on Netflix‘s Wednesday.
Noting that the actress “literally didn’t exist” yet when the original 1988 movie premiered, Keaton said to Burton for USA Today, “She gets born, you end up doing a thing with her. Then you go, wait a minute. Her? It? If she’s not around, we may never make this thing.”
“We had to wait for you to live,” O’Hara joked to their 21-year-old co-star Ortega, who quipped: “The powers have shifted in the room.”
If you’re seeing parallels between the casting of Ortega, already a sensation to the Netflix-and-chill generation thanks to her contemporizing a beloved ghoulish teenage girl and that of Ryder, who PARADE’s Levi Leidy reminds was just 15 years old when she starred in the original Beetlejuice (1988), you’re not alone. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Kyle Smith, for one:
Selecting Jenna Ortega—today’s Winona Ryder—for the cast of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” to play Ms. Ryder’s daughter was a witty choice given Ms. Ortega’s profile in shows like “Wednesday” and movies like “Scream.” This 21st-century successor to the Goth girl Ms. Ryder played in “Beetlejuice” is, the movie suggests, a global-warming alarmist. “This is a safe space” and jokes about people being consumed by their cellphones also nod to the passage of time since the 1988 horror-comedy(.)
Now add to that mix what Andrew Shearer of the ATHENS BANNER-HERALD observed is perhaps an emerging trend of good old fashioned nostalgia:
Back in 2022, “Top Gun: Maverick” proved that sequels can sometimes be better late than never, with $1.49 billion in box office receipts by the time the jet engines cooled off. Though it didn’t spark a trend of 1980s nostalgia on the big screen, the “Ghostbusters” franchise has been enjoying a pretty sweet afterlife, and Netflix finally got another “Beverly Hills Cop” off the ground earlier this year.
It’s likely why even a more nuanced and jaundiced observer like Smith came away with relative optimism:
Aptly enough considering its title, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is two pictures in one: a dead section set with the living and a lively part that takes place among the dead. Alfred Gough and Miles Millar’s screenplay can’t come up with anything funny for Ms. Ryder and Co. to do in the scenes set in the normal world, but things get enjoyably loopy when the action shifts to Beetlejuice’s domain of the departed, with its armies of bureaucrats taking their time to process the paperwork of people who would die of boredom if they weren’t dead already, as if they’re in a DMV where it’s Halloween every day.
And in a world where Aug-tober was already in vogue during last weekend’s heat wave, we’re practically in a world where it’s Halloween every day of late anyway. At least that’s how I feel when I’m staring animatronic Michael Keaton in the face all day.
So it’s all looking pretty good for BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE, at least at this point. But be careful if you’re looking for a franchise. True fans know what happens if you say that name thrice.
Until next time…