‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’: Everything we know so far with Jenny Ortega, Willem Ortega and more
36 years after the release of the cult classic, a sequel to Beetlejuice will be arriving in cinemas later this year. With that, original director Tim Burton is back after being convinced to jump aboard the project over a decade ago, pending a decent script.
Fans of the first film have been waiting on tenterhooks for over a decade, with the rumour mill churning amid actor soundbites and studio briefs. Well, we need to wait no longer. The ghost with the most is back for more.
It seems Burton’s career has come full circle, returning to the horror-comedy that kickstarted his career in the late 1980s. But it’s not just Burton that’s back.
Who else is returning for ‘Beetlejuice 2’, as the movie has been unofficially dubbed? What’s in store for us in this second helping of bio-exorcism? Is it going to make our millennium? Well, here’s what we know so far about Beetlejuice, the sequel.
First up, what’s the official title of ‘Beetlejuice 2’?
Well, it’s not actually called ‘Beetlejuice 2’. The official title of the film is Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. That might sound like we’re getting a double serving of juice, even though Betelgeuse previously insisted he wouldn’t be doing two shows a night anymore.
The double-naming is more likely a reference to the motif of the first film in which only saying the titular character Betelgeuse’s name multiple times can summon him. And saying it twice does nicely for a second film title.
And who’s in the new Beetlejuice cast?
So far, we know that natural-born horror actor Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci, Justin Theroux, You star Jenny Ortega, and Game of Thrones actor Burn Gorman are all in the cast.
Interestingly, it’s been announced that Monica Bellucci will be playing Betelgeuse’s wife. Could love be
Which Beetlejuice characters are being reprised?
Firstly, is Beetlejuice/Betelgeuse himself still alive? This is probably what you’re all wondering. The last time we saw him at the end of the first movie, he’d been banished to the afterlife’s waiting room and had his head shrunk by a witch doctor.
It’s important to remember, though, that he was already dead to begin with. It isn’t much of a stretch to see him returning in this second instalment of his own film series. The only question is, how?
Aside from the film’s title character, we’ll be seeing ghost seer Lydia Deetz and her mother Delia again, with Catherine O’Hara reprising her role as the latter.
Who is playing Betelgeuse in the new movie?
There’s only one actor for the job. As Beetlejuice Beetlejuice storyboarder Seth Graeme-Smith claims he told Warner Bros, “No Michael Keaton, no dice.”
As the actor who played Beetlejuice/Betelgeuse in the first film, Keaton was the number one condition for this sequel getting off the ground. He was alongside Tim Burton and Graeme-Smith throughout the development of the project, and will be reprising his titular role in ‘Beetlejuice 2’ as eagerly anticipated.
Keaton has described the film as “enormous fun” to make, particularly because of the live-action elements of its special effects. For him, this marked a change from “years of standing in front of a giant screen” to acting in movies with CGI effects superimposed after shooting.
Who plays Lydia in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice?
There was some concern that Winona Ryder, the actor who played the hero of the original Beetlejuice Lydia Deetz, would be too old to reprise her role in ‘Beetlejuice 2’. However, this notion was based on the assumption that Lydia would have to be a similar age in the new movie as she was in the first one.
Ryder is indeed back as Lydia, which means we can expect the film to begin with a generation having passed since the events of the previous Beetlejuice. In fact, Jenny Ortega will play Lydia’s own daughter, indicating that we’ll see a generational shift in the Deetz family dynamic of the first film.
Who does Willem Dafoe play in Beetlejuice?
Willem Dafoe has landed the part in the movie that arguably sounds most off-the-wall, making audiences rapt with excitement at seeing him in action. His character, Wolf Jackson, is a ghost detective who played a B movie star before he died.
It’ll be interesting to see what the Platoon and Green Goblin actor brings to such a wonderfully ludicrous role. Dafoe could be the dark horse of dark comedy that steals the film.
Where was the Beetlejuice sequel filmed?
The production of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice involved multiple shooting locations, including the town of East Corinth, Vermont, where much of the first movie was shot.
Interior shooting also took place in the former school Princess Helena College, in the South of England. And it was completed in Melrose, Massachusetts as well as back in East Corinth last November.
Production was delayed multiple times due to the Screen Actors’ Guild strikes of last year, whose cause against the replacement of actors with AI images Burton supported. Shooting also briefly hit a snag when a sculpture was stolen from the East Corinth set last July.
Is there a ‘Beetlejuice 2’ trailer?
Multiple trailers for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice have now been released. Back in March, Warner Bros shared the film’s first teaser trailer, while in recent days the main trailers have been premiered.
The second trailer ironically includes a joke referring to the famous news headline for OJ Simpson’s televised police car chase prior to his arrest in 1994. “The juice is loose” works great as a tagline for the sequel to Beetlejuice, but Simpson’s recent death lays the dark humour on even thicker.
When is the ‘Beetlejuice 2 release date?
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will be released worldwide simultaneously on Friday, September 6th.
Just in time for the end of the school holidays. On the other hand, this release date should give the film a good run into the month before Halloween, when it’s likely to have maximum impact.
Where can I watch Beetlejuice Beetlejuice?
The movie will be out in cinemas everywhere, including IMAX screenings.
No streaming service deal has been announced for the film as yet. Given that Warner Bros are its distributor, though, it could end up on HBO Max at some point next year.