Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a 2024 American dark fantasy comedy horror film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. A sequel to Beetlejuice (1988) and the second film of the Beetlejuice franchise, the film stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara reprising their roles alongside new cast members Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Jenna Ortega, and Willem Dafoe. Set over three decades after the first Beetlejuice, it follows Lydia Deetz, now a mother, struggling to keep her family together in the wake of a loss as the specter Betelgeuse[a] returns to haunt her.
After the success of Beetlejuice, plans for a sequel were announced by The Geffen Film Company, its original producers, but did not materialize until 2011 when Warner Bros. Pictures hired Seth Grahame-Smith to pitch a story and went through numerous revisions before being shelved in late 2019 and eventually got revived three years later. Burton co-produced the film with Brad Pitt’s studio Plan B Entertainment, and the casting process continued till early 2023. Principal photography, supervised by cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos, took place at parts of England and United States from May to November 2023, despite being suspended for four months due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. The official title was revealed in February 2024. During post-production, editing was handled by Jay Prychidny and the musical score was composed by longtime collaborator Danny Elfman.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice opened the 81st Venice International Film Festival on August 28, 2024,[6] and was theatrically released overseas on September 4, 2024, and in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures two days later. The film has received generally positive reviews from critics and has grossed $264 million worldwide on a $99–100 million budget.
