"Beetlejuice 2" Gets a New Writer
Beetlejuice, an iconic movie from 1988 may see light again in the 21st century, but in the form of a sequel. Tim Burton and Michael Keaton haven't worked together in the last 25 years (up until the recent collaboration of Disney's live-action version of Dumbo), but supposedly the two haven't dropped the thought of collaborating on the sequel. This might not be the first time in recent years where you heard of the potential sequel to the cult classic. Back in 2012, a writer by the name of Seth Grahame-Smith wrote a sequel script and pitched it to Burton. Back in 2012, it got green-lit by Burton, who then was speaking to Keaton and Winona Ryder about their returns to the franchise. For some reason, it just fizzled out. Burton told the Collider in 2016 that,
"This is the thing, it’s something that I’m interested in, but there’s so many stories [online], dumping Michael Keaton for Johnny Depp and this or that, and I’ve talked to these people and they didn’t wanna hear this so they just made up a story. But the fact of it is I have talked to Michael and I have talked to Winona, I’ve talked to a few people. It’s something that I really would like to do in the right circumstances, but it’s one of those films where it has to be right. It’s not a kind of a movie that cries out [for a sequel], it’s not the Beetlejuice trilogy. So it’s something that if the elements are right—because I do love the character and Michael’s amazing as that character, so yeah we’ll see. But there’s nothing concrete yet.”
But today we get updates! Warner Bros. Has given Mike Vukadinovich, writter of the Sundance sci-fi indie, Rememory, the chance to rewrite Grahame-Smith's script.
Since Burton and Keaton have been working together on Dumbo, the two have had plenty of time to talk it out and get excited for the sequel. Keep in mind that there aren't any reports of any kind of deals between anyone. Nothing that we know of is officially signed and done (except probably the deal between Warner Bros. and Vukadinovich). We don't even have proper deadlines. Also, with the last bit of hype we had in 2012, how sure are we that this is even going to make it passed pre-production? Does Beetlejuice even need a sequel like Burton had said? Who knows... we don't.
