Man, if you’re a Beetlejuice fan (and really, who isn’t?) then what a rollercoaster of emotions this weekend has been. Talk about a sequel to Tim Burton’s much beloved 1988 spook-tacular fantasy-comedy has been haunting Hollywood water coolers for ages now, but on Friday things finally appeared to move from the ethereal realm to the physical one (and I promise that’s the last ghostly pun).
Chatting to ShowbizSpy, Burton himself confirmed that the sequel is now finally officially happening:
The film is a go and has been approved by the Warner Bros. team, we have talked with the cast members we wanted for the film and they are all on board, this includes both Winona [Ryder] and Michael [Keaton]. We have the script in hand everything is in place all we need to do now is get ready to start filming.
And the crowd goes wild!
This certainly sounded like good news, in particular Burton’s confirmation Michael Keaton returning as the titular ghost and Winona Ryder resprising her role as the grown up version of cute girl Lydia. Keaton has of course been having a massive career resurgence as of late and Ryder… Well, she… Man, have you guys seen Birdman yet?! Keaton is fantastic in that!!
And that bit of fanfare was all great, but there was a slight problem: Burton actually never spoke to ShowbizSpy. That’s according to the filmmaker’s rep who was contacted by The Independent for more information.
“It turns out those eagerly anticipating a Beetlejuice sequel are having to wait a while longer; we received word from Tim Burton’s spokesperson who said the following: “I rep Tim Burton and wanted to let you know that Tim did not provide a statement to confirm Beetlejuice 2 as the movie is not in development. Tim’s focus is entirely on Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children and developing Dumbo.”
Well, bummer.
ShowbizSpy is sticking to their story though, arguing semantics with Burton’s rep in that yes, Burton didn’t say that the film is currently in development, but he did say it was given the go-ahead. They also point out that the studio has hired David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith in the last year to work on a script for the sequel, so something is definitely happening. Burton himself hasn’t actually said anything to support either way. Personally, I’m actually quite okay with a sequel not happening. Beetlejuice works perfectly fine as just a single movie. What do you guys think?
Last Updated: March 14, 2016
