It has been a long time coming, but after a handful of false alarms, the Beetlejuice sequel is finally happening. With the release date edging closer, the secretive project has begun to take shape, and every new detail revealed only increases our expectations.
Beetlejuice 2 official title and release date, revealed
It’s official! Beetlejuice 2 has a proper title, and it’s proper genius. Warner Bros. took to social media on Feb. 1 to announce that the film is now titled Beetlejuice Beetlejuice — a reference to Tim Burton’s 1988 predecessor where, when you say the “bio-exorcist” demon’s name three times, you summon him into the world of the living. The production studios even captioned the image of a teaser poster with a cheeky “Dare you to say it again.”
The same announcement also confirmed the release date for the film, which despite the impact of the double Hollywood strikes of the summer of 2023, has maintained its Sept. 6, 2024 post-Labor Day slot. According to Variety, it is expected to make its way to Max a good few months after that.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was filmed both in England and the United States, between May and November 2023, pausing in July because of the Actors’ Strike. The crew went back to shoot on location in East Corinth, Vermont, where the original movie’s outdoor scenes were filmed, during which the set was burglarized, with a couple of pieces taken.
Beetlejuice 2 cast
The most important aspect of a possible sequel to Burton’s 1988 runaway hit was that Michael Keaton agreed to return as the title ghoul. Thankfully, the Birdman actor has always been eager to reprise the mischievous character, and has been confirmed by Variety to be coming back for 2024’s Beetlejuice 2.
The outlet also confirms Winona Ryder’s comeback as goth queen Lydia Deetz. Wednesday star, goth princess, and most recent Tim Burton muse Jenna Ortega will join the cast as Lydia’s daughter. Spider-Man‘s Willem Dafoe will be a police detective in the afterlife who used to be a B-movie action star in life, while Irréversible‘s Monica Bellucci is reportedly playing Beetlejuice’s wife, according to The Hollywood Reporter. THR also confirms Catherine O’Hara’s return to the role of Lydia’s stepmother, and therefore Jenna Ortega’s grandma, Delia Deetz (what a trio!). Mulholland Drive‘s Justin Theroux, as well as Athurt Conti and Burn Gormar are also attached in unknown roles. Neither Alec Baldwin nor Geena Davis are set to return.
Burton obviously returned to direct. The filmmaker has been on a true high since his Netflix sensation about the cantankerous older daughter of the Addams family. Beetlejuice was his first big success, followed by consecutive smash hits in Batman, Edward Scissorhands, and many more. In the 2010s, Burton hit a creative lull, but the Wednesday fortune seems to have been completely revitalizing.
Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment co-produced the film with the director’s own Tim Burton Productions, with Wednesday scribes Alfred Gough and Miles Millar penning the screenplay, Variety reports.
Beetlejuice 2 plot
There is no official synopsis for the upcoming Beetlejuice sequel, but it’s presumably a real-time continuation of the first film, with Lydia returning 35 years later, now with a daughter. Director of photography Haris Zambarloukos described the movie as a “very, very personal intimate story for Tim [Burton]” and teased that the sequel will be maintaining the original’s use of “puppeteering and in-camera effects.”
The project has been in development purgatory since the early ‘90s, with director Tim Burton initially planning to set the sequel in Hawaii, where Beetlejuice would fight the ghost of a Kahuna, after moving to the island with the Deetz family. It’s unknown whether that is still the plan for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but it’s highly unlikely.