37 years later, one of the most famous characters in Tim Burton’s universe made his return to the cinema in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”. For a farewell or better to come back a third time?
WARNING – This article contains minor spoilers for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” as it revisits some plot points, including the ending. So please pass by if you haven’t seen it yet.
In 1988, Tim Burton presented us with Beetlejuice: a demon who calls himself “bio-exorcist” whose name you shouldn’t say three times, or you’ll see him appear and wreak havoc. It wasn’t his first feature film (that was Pee Wee Big Adventure in 1985), but it was the one that really brought him to the mainstream, and allowed him to sign the first Batman shortly after.
A trip to Gotham City that was also made to the detriment of a Beetlejuice sequel. Entitled Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiianthe project was quickly launched by Warner, who had ordered a script, and had to see Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder return in the lead roles. Until the filmmaker got tired of it and decided to go see Bruce Wayne if he was there.
But, like Winona Ryder at the beginning of the film released on September 11 in our theaters, Beetlejuice has not stopped pursuing him. Especially since 2011, when the question of a sequel came back on the table. To not really move forward. Then fall through in 2019. And resurrect four years later, with an arrival on world screens in 2024, after a detour via the Venice Film Festival, which it opened.
The feature film is called Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Which, from the beginning, implies the possibility of a Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice long to pronounce at the cinema cash register, but logical, just to close a loop opened in 1988. And the end does not close the door, quite the contrary.
If Lydia (Winona Ryder) has once again managed to escape a marriage with the demon, which burst like a balloon when she said his name three times again, the final scene, with this dream that turns into a (double) nightmare, implies that she is not done with Beetlejuice. Neither are we?
“If so much time passes [36 ans, ndlr] that between the first two films I will be over 100 years old. So I doubt it.”Tim Burton replied to Hollywood Reporter on the subject. Without denying the importance of this gap with regard to the story of this sequel.
“If as much time passes between the first two films as there was, I’ll be over 100 years old.”
“Getting older makes us think about what’s going on in life. [Lydia] started out as a cool teenager. Then comes the question of relationships… Do you have kids? What are they like? What do you like? How do you change? These are things I know and experience. So it seemed more relevant to me to do it now than it would have been in 1989.”
For the moment, a third episode seems compromised. But the success of this film (which has already brought in XXX million dollars worldwide) could change the situation, and the case of Beetlejuice has clearly shown that you should never say never, for several decades.
Especially since there is still something unresolved with Astrid’s (Jenna Ortega) father, and not just on a psychoanalytical level. And we are dying to find out what the Beyond-beyond looks like, greatly teased in this opus. Not you?