The Long Road to Beetlejuice 2

Credit: Beetlejuice/The Geffen Company

The original Beetlejuice was released in 1988 with a fantastic cast that is well known to generations born after the film was released, but with such a famous cast and a cult following, a sequel is always down the line. However, Beetlejuice hasn’t had an easy path to a potential sequel, even when the actors, writer, and director all have been eager to make it happen. With Beetlejuice being one of the most popular and oldest Tim Burton creations, it’s completely understandable why a sequel has had such a hard time coming to life. Below, we’ve detailed Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice, the potential of a long-awaited sequel, and the scrambled history of the attempts of a sequel to get created that led to the long road of Beetlejuice 2.

Credit: Beetlejuice/The Geffen Company

Beetlejuice

While the character of Beetlejuice appeared throughout the film, the film had more to do with a recently deceased couple and their attempt to scare the new inhabitants of their home by enlisting the help of Beetlejuice, a bio-exorcist. Overall, Beetlejuice features the original couple that occupied the house, the second family that occupied the house, their daughter, Beetlejuice, and plenty of other strange characters from the mysterious realm like Beetlejuice. As a bio-exorcist, Beetlejuice was tasked with removing the living from the houses of the deceased.

However, Beetlejuice hatched a plan to marry the daughter of the second family, portrayed by Winona Ryder, so that he could roam the human world as he pleased, but this was interrupted when the original family stopped the wedding and ultimately dispatched Beetlejuice to the waiting room of the after-life, much like the original family had done early in the film. While in the waiting room, Beetlejuice, of course, with his unique attitude and demeanor, believed that he could pull off a new look granted to him by a witch doctor he swapped tickets within the waiting room, which earned him a shrunken head.

That could have easily been the end of Beetlejuice, the film and the infamous character, but with his longing for the human world and his everlasting life, Beetlejuice could come back in any way. However, Burton wants the perfect movie, so the long road to Beetlejuice 2 has quite the history over the years since the original’s release, and even the Broadway adaptation will end soon.

Credit: Beetlejuice/The Geffen Company

Beetlejuice 2

Talked about for decades, especially since the film was released in the late 80s, and in the age of constant reboots and revivals, it’s no surprise it’s come back into the spotlight. The long road to Beetlejuice 2 started in 1990 when Tim Burton hired someone to write the script for his supposed Beetlejuice sequel, Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian, which Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder agreed to do if Tim Burton would direct yet again. However, Tim Burton and Michael Keaton became preoccupied with Batman Begins.

Tim Burton’s interest in Beetlejuice 2 remained in 1991, but it wasn’t until 1993 that he hired another writer to perform a rewrite of the previous script he had created by another writer. Most interestingly, from that point, Kevin Smith was reached out to by Tim Burton to rewrite the script but turned it down for the equally as elusive Superman Lives.

Overall, Beetlejuice 2 would feature everything from Beetlejuice surfing in a Hawaiian setting and, of course, a new plot with the original cast. Still, its path to creation has been a long road for Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian.

Credit: Beetlejuice/The Geffen Company

Long Road to Beetlejuice 2

The long road to Beetlejuice 2 may have started with several rewrites through the 90s, but it has been shuffled around even in recent years. Beyond rewrites, the script being owned exclusively held by The Geffen Company, and even an animated series, the decades-long pursuit towards the load road of Beetlejuice 2 has been interesting, to say the least, as noted by Kevin Smith’s almost involvement.

From the near inclusion of Kevin Smith in the Tim Burton sequel of Beetlejuice to the movie was on hold after 1997 when the original writer of Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian stated that The Geffen Company still owned the script and an animated series that had nothing to do with the original movie, or cast, the movie’s future was silent until 2011. After 1997, it seemed that the original plot, Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian, was dropped as a collaborator of Tim Burton was hired by Warner Bros. to write and produce a new sequel.

From 2011 to 2017, Seth Grahame-Smith held Beetlejuice 2 in his hands and was responsible for its long road. Still, before 2017 was over, Warner Bros. hired someone else to write a script, but by 2019 the movie was shelved by Warner Bros, similar to the Bat Girl movie that also featured Michael Keaton. Fortunately, in association with Warner Bros., Plan B Entertainment has revived the project, and the long road of Beetlejuice 2 finally seemed to be coming to its end with its original cast, and possible plot, especially with Winona Ryder confirmed for the newest script.Beetlejuice 2.