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Of Course, Jenna Ortega and Willem Dafoe Joined Tim Burton’s ‘Beetlejuice’ Sequel
By Shubhendu Vatsa - News Published:
As Michael Keaton‘s Betelgeuse said in the first film, “It’s showtime!” After being put on hold numerous times, Warner Bros. has announced the follow-up to Tim Burton‘s critically acclaimed classic horror comedy Beetlejuice. The still-unnamed Beetlejuice 2 movie is set to feature a full star-studded lineup that includes a few of its original cast members along with some new faces.
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Jenna Ortega in ‘Wednesday’ (2022) | Image: Netflix
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Willem Dafoe is one of the newcomers to join the sequel’s high-profile lineup of casts as a “law enforcement officer in the afterlife”. Alongside Dafoe, the movie will also welcome Netflix’s Wednesday lead Jenna Ortega as the daughter of Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder’s character for the first film), Monica Bellucci as Beetlejuice‘s wife and Justin Theroux, whose role is yet to be revealed. Unsurprisingly enough, plot details for the sequel are being kept tightly under wraps, however, we do know that the follow-up to the 1988 comedy film will see Michael Keaton reprising his role as the titular character.
Brad Pitt’s Plan B will be producing Beetlejuice 2 and Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who previously worked with Burton on Netflix’s Wednesday have written the screenplay for the sequel. Tim Burton will once again direct the sequel, marking his feature directorial return following Disney’s 2019 live-action movie Dumbo.
Michael Keaton in ‘Beetlejuice’ (1988) | Image: Warner Bros.
Burton had been trying to develop a follow-up film for a very long time now and was initially planning to set the sequel in Hawaii. But nothing came to fruition, up until last year when Brad Pitt‘s studio Plan B Entertainment and Warner Bros joined hands to produce a sequel.
Variety reported in March of this year that Beetlejuice 2 was officially in the works and was slated to enter preproduction in May. But preproduction had to be stopped due to the ongoing writer’s strike and it’s currently unclear when the filming will resume.
Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin in ‘Beetlejuice’ (1988) | Image: Warner Bros.
The first movie centred around a recently deceased married couple, portrayed by Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin, who find themselves greatly annoyed by the arrival of a new family with parents played by Catherine O’Hara and Jeffrey Jones, while Winona Ryder takes on the role of their teenage daughter.
In their desperation to drive the family out of the house, the dead couple enlists the help of Beetlejuice, a mischievous ghost hailing from the Netherworld, who agrees to offer assistance in haunting the home’s newfound occupants. Beetlejuice was both a commercial and critical hit and managed to rake in USD$74.7 million in box office sales. Beetlejuice 2 is set to hit theatres on September 6, 2024.
