beetlejuice-2

For several years now, Warner Brothers has been teasing a sequel to the 1988 classic ‘Beetlejuice’Seth Grahame-Smith (‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’, ‘Pride & Prejudice & Zombies’) was attached to pen the script with David Katzenberg and everyone from original director Tim Burton to stars Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder have offered optimistic updates.  But now, Keaton at least is singing a different tune.  “It’s possible that ship has sailed,” he recently admitted.

Keaton has never hurt for work, but over the last few years has mounted something of a comeback in high-profile films like ‘Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)’ and ‘Spotlight’.  He is now signed to play the villain The Vulture in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’.  But when asked if he knew anything concrete about the ‘Beetlejuice’ sequel, he flatly replied, “No. Zero. You always hear things, that this is happening, and people seem to know more about it than I do.”

He elaborated, saying:

The only way to do it is to do it right. So much of it was improvised and so much was beautifully handmade by the artist that is Tim Burton. If you can’t get close to that, you leave it alone.

There are certain movies that are like Indian burial grounds. You never ride over them. Bad s— happens if you cross that. You don’t touch certain things. They are sacred.

He may be 100% right as the weak performance of the reboot of ‘Ghostbusters’ proved.  Even those who weren’t immediately convinced this film was a good idea, were likely disappointed by the rocky finished product.

So things aren’t looking great… and maybe that’s not so bad.  ‘Beetlejuice’ is getting close to thirty years old.  Maybe it’s best to leave well enough alone.  Then again, if studios smell even the whiff of potential profits, they are going to keep raiding their back catalogues for remakes and sequels as often as they can.

Are you disappointed that it doesn’t appear that ‘Beetlejuice 2’ is going to happen?  Or do you think there is still potential there for a great new film?

Source: /Film