Over three decades later, we might still get that sequel!
Released in March 1988, Beetlejuice was a weird little comedy that wasn’t a massive blockbuster ($74 million on a $15 million budget), but it did generate an immediate cult following, and in the decades since, that following has only grown bigger and bigger.
It was the movie that put Michael Keaton and director Tim Burton on the map (and was the reason why Batman fan-boys reacted so negatively when they were both announced for the 1989 movie), but in the years since, despite calls for a sequel, one has never arrived.
There were strong rumours that one was on the way around 2015, with Burton, Keaton, and Winona Ryder all back on board, but nothing ever came of it, until Warner Brothers announced they have re-shelved the project.
However, it does sound like there is still some activity around the movie, according to composer Danny Elfman.
Elfman has worked with Tim Burton on pretty much all of his movies, and will be heading to Dublin in early December to perform a live version of Nightmare Before Christmas in the 3Arena (full details on that event here), so when JOE had the opportunity to chat to Elfman about his future projects, we of course had to ask has Burton chatted to him about coming on board for the afterlife sequel:
“No, you know, oddly, he has not mentioned it to me. The last… a year ago, I saw Michael Keaton, and he mentioned ‘So, we’re doing Beetlejuice 2?’, and I said ‘Well, you’d know more than I do.’ And I’ve heard nothing about it since.”
When JOE said that Keaton asking Elfman about it must mean that Burton is working on it in some capacity, and just hasn’t got round to asking him about it, Elfman seemed to agree:
“Yeah, projects will be in development for quite a long time. So I think it is something that has been in development for a few years, but I don’t know where it is in that process. I’m always the last one to hear, believe me.
“Often, I’ll hear about whatever movie Tim is doing, it is kinda funny, because he’ll call me and he’ll say ‘Danny, I’m doing such and such a film, would you like to come on board?’, and I’ll already have read about it in Variety two weeks earlier. So I’m not the first one to hear about things, let me put it that way.”
You can listen to our full interview with Elfman below, including his revelation that The Simpsons may well be heading into its final season, right here:
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