The Game of Nerds is celebrating 30 years of Beetlejuice hitting the silver screen and we are no closer to getting the sequel that we have all been promised. Beetlejuice is a movie about a couple who dies and gets sent to the afterlife only to have the Deetz family buy the house. The ghostly couple summons Beetlejuice then chaos and madness ensue.
The legendary Tim Burton directed Beetlejuice and it hit the silver screen on March 30th, 1988, and became the first film to showcase Tim Burton’s Iconic style. Tim Burton began work on Beetlejuice while waiting for the green light on the original Batman movie. The studio gave Tim Burton 15 million dollars with only 1 million dollars dedicated to special effects, which is why Tim Burton developed his iconic fake-looking, B-movie horror effects.
Beetlejuice had an all-star cast composed of Micheal Keaton, Alec Baldwin, and Winona Ryder to name a few. Micheal Keaton would come back to play Batman in the original Tim Burton Batman Film and reprise his role in its first sequel. The acting sold the special effects making the film a true masterpiece. Beetlejuice earned 74 million dollars at the box office and would get a child-friendly cartoon called Beetlejuice made in 1989.
Beetlejuice the cartoon ran from 1989 to 1991 having a total of 94 episodes and 4 seasons. The cartoon was extremely successful selling a bunch of merchandise and even getting its own Gameboy game. The Beetlejuice cartoon differed from the live-action movie in a number of ways. To make the cartoon more child-friendly it changed the dynamic between Lydia and Beetlejuice to that of best friends who go on adventures together. Lydia’s character in the series goes from her darker more gothic portrayal in the movie to a positive but weird girl.
Beetlejuice’s character in the cartoon changed from the sleazy, dark, and loathsome exorcist for the living in the first movie to a lovable prankster. None of the other characters from the afterlife in the movie make an appearance in Beetlejuice and Beetlejuice’s neighbors in the cartoon. The cartoon also had those learning moments that were all too common in kids’ cartoons in the 80s and 90s.
Currently, Tim Burton said that he would only do a sequel if Micheal Keaton would return and reprise his role. Micheal Keaton said that Beetlejuice 2, is the only sequel that he is interested in doing. According to an article by Game Rant, Warner Bros said that a sequel is in production as of 2022. However, Warner Bros has not given any more updates since then. All we can do is speculate and wait to see if we are going to get another addition to this iconic franchise.
