Despite reports claiming Beetlejuice 2 was on the verge of production, filmmaker Tim Burton has cautioned that he will only commit to the long-rumored fantasy sequel under the “right circumstances.”
Word of a follow-up to the cult 1988 horror flick has been doing the rounds for years at this point, with the latest development emerging when Seth Grahame-Smith penned a treatment of the screenplay, fuelling speculation that Burton was ready to get the gang back together – i.e. Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder – and push on with a bona fide sequel.
Alas, the director has now cooled talks that Beetlejuice 2 was nearing development, revealing to Collider that “it’s not a kind of movie that cries out” for the sequel treatment.
“This is the thing, it’s something that I’m interested in, but there’s so many stories [online], dumping Michael Keaton for Johnny Depp and this or that, and I’ve talked to these people and they didn’t wanna hear this so they just made up a story. But the fact of it is I have talked to Michael and I have talked to Winona, I’ve talked to a few people. It’s something that I really would like to do in the right circumstances, but it’s one of those films where it has to be right. It’s not a kind of a movie that cries out [for a sequel], it’s not the Beetlejuice trilogy. So it’s something that if the elements are right—because I do love the character and Michael’s amazing as that character, so yeah we’ll see. But there’s nothing concrete yet.”
In recent years, Hollywood’s penchant for spinning out reboots, sequels and/or TV series based on dormant franchises has resulted in comebacks for The Exorcist, Scream, and many, many more. Whether those new leases of life are entirely necessary is something we’ll leave to you, but Beetlejuice purists can at least take solace in the fact that Tim Burton won’t move forward with a Beetlejuice 2 until the necessary parts fall into place.