You’d be forgiven for losing track of the long-rumored Beetlejuice 2. For years now, key members of the original creative team – Tim Burton included – have entertained the idea of pushing on with a sequel on multiple occasions, resulting in an archive of conflicting reports and unfounded rumors.
For that vocal minority pining for a bona fide follow-up, it’s disappointing – frustrating, even. But according to Michael Keaton, it’s very possible that that ship has now sailed.
When pressed on the matter during an interview with Variety, the Oscar-winner claimed that Beetlejuice ought to be left alone in fear that any continuation would ruin what he considers to be a “sacred, beautifully handmade” experience.
“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.”
What really drives that point home is the fact that Keaton seemingly knows “zero” about the purported sequel. At one stage, the prospect of reuniting the dream team of Tim Burton, Keaton and Winona Ryder – who is back in the public thanks to her heartfelt turn in Netflix’s Stranger Things – was certainly intriguing, but at least for now, Beetlejuice 2 remains on ice. And there’s no sign of that changing anytime soon.
Remaining in the realm of cooky weirdness, next up for Tim Burton is fantasy adaptation Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (see the latest trailer). It’ll open on September 30. Michael Keaton, meanwhile, holds the villain role in Spider-Man: Homecoming.