After making his film debut in 1985 with Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Tim Burton followed up the Paul Reubens-led feature with 1988’s Beetlejuice, the kooky fantasy horror comedy that marked his first collaboration with Michael Keaton, with the two teaming up soon after for Batman. For decades, Beetlejuice was simply a standalone movie, but over the last several years, a sequel has been making steady progress forward. Well, good news for those of you looking forward to Beetlejuice 2, which has looped in Jenna Ortega: not only does it have an official release date, there’s a new casting to share.
First things first, Warner Bros. Pictures announced today that Beetlejuice 2 will open in theaters on September 6, 2024. That’s the same day the upcoming Marvel movie Blade is set to come out, although considering that the Mahershala Ali-led feature has paused preproduction, it’s possible it will end up being delayed. In any case, Beetlejuice 2 now joins a lineup of other spooky-themed Warner Bros. Pictures has released on Labor Day weekend, with others including the IT movies and The Nun.
Along with that official piece of information, Deadline reports that Justin Theroux has been added to the Beetlejuice 2 cast, though no details have been revealed. He’s the fourth actor now attached to the sequel, with Michael Keaton reprising the title character, Winona Ryder back as Lydia Deetz and Jenna Ortega playing Lydia’s daughter. Theroux’s notable credits include Mulholland Drive, The Leftovers and The Mosquito Coast, and HBO viewers/HBO Max subscribers can currently see him starring opposite Woody Harrelson in White House Plumbers.
Additionally, Beetlejuice 2 will see Tim Burton back in the director’s chair, reuniting him not just with Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, but also Jenna Ortega, as they previously worked together on Wednesday, the popular Netflix series she almost passed on. For Justin Theroux, however, this will be his first time collaborating with the filmmaker. Deadline’s article mentioned that production on the sequel will begin Wednesday in the United Kingdom, and Alfred Gough and Miles Millar wrote the screenplay’s most recent draft.
There’s been talk of making Beetlejuice 2 stretching back to 1990, when a script titled Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian was written, but the current iteration of the sequel started gaining traction in the mid-2010s, only for Warner Bros. to shelve in in 2019. However, three years later, the studio announced that the Beetlejuice sequel was back on, with Keaton and Ryder officially on board. It’s unclear if any other familiar faces from the first movie will be back, and we remain in the dark on what this follow-up story will be about.
While we wait for more information to flesh out the Beetlejuice 2 picture, remember that you can stream the original with a Hulu subscription. If you’re interested in cinematic entertainment arriving much nearer in the future, then you’ll want to check out our guide of 2023 new movie releases.
