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THE AFTERLIFE — News of another “Beetlejuice” film has been bouncing around for a while.
Last year, during the promotional tour for the 2012 film “Frankweenie,” reporters couldn’t help but notice the incidental ”Beetlejuice” reunion taking place with director Tim Burton making appearances with actresses Catherine O’Hara and Winona Ryder. When toofab.com asked about any involvement with a possible sequel to “Beetlejuice,” Burton replied:
“I love the character. If it's a good script, great. There's no point really for me thinking about it until I see it."
Fast-forward a year, and apparently Burton is happy with the project’s progress.
According to SchmoesKnows.com (and later confirmed by The Wrap), both Burton and actor Michael Keaton are in talks to revisit the character in a follow-up to the 1988 film.
“So we already know that the filmmakers wanted Burton’s blessing and ‘limited’ involvement, which they got,” Mark Reilly posted on SchmoesKnows. “And that they were always looking at Keaton to come back. All around good news.
“And today, we can happily confirm that Tim Burton IS looking to direct the sequel himself.“
If true, and Keaton and Burton are looking to revisit the foul-mouthed exorciser of the living, that’s at least a good sign for the seemingly unnecessary sequel.
Burton said he wasn’t coming back, if the script wasn’t right, and while Keaton hasn’t been choosing the best projects lately (I’m looking at you “Robocop”), I’m going to assume he wouldn’t jeopardize one of his iconic characters for a late-career cash-grab.
If in the near future we find out O’Hara and Ryder are also on board, I’ll probably let out my inner-80s and get excited for this. In fact, I'll probably ignore any warning signs right up until they name the film “Beetlejuice and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” Travis has been covering movie news, film reviews and live events for Deseret News and KSL.com since 2010, and currently co-hosts the FlicksJunkies podcast. You can contact Travis at tspoppleton@gmail.com
