Michael Keaton was hesitant to return for Beetlejuice sequel

Michael Keaton says he was hesitant for years to return for a Beetlejuice sequel in fear that it wouldn't live up to the original.

The first movie, released in 1988 and directed by Tim Burton, starred Keaton, Winona Ryder, Alec Baldwin, Catherine O'Hara and Geena Davis. It was a critical and commercial success, earning $74.7 million on a budget of $15m.

Mahjong Scenes in Cinema: What They Reveal About Character and Culture

Thursday 8 January 2026, 08:23

From jump scares to jackpots: why horror movie aesthetics persist in modern online casino design

Tuesday 23 December 2025, 10:29

There was talk of a sequel for years and the project went through development hell before officially being announced in February of 2022, with Keaton, Ryder and O'Hara returning, with Jenna Ortega and Willem Dafoe being added to the cast.

A year later, the official title was confirmed - Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Over the couple of decades since Beetlejuice was released, it seems Keaton softened his stance on returning as the character.

“We (Keaton and Tim Burton) thought, ‘You got to get this right. Otherwise, just don’t do it. Let’s just go on with our lives and do other things.’" he told People.

"So I was hesitant and cautious, and he was probably equally as hesitant and cautious over all these years. Once we got there, I said, ‘Okay, let’s just go for it. Let’s just see if we can do it, if we can pull this off.'”

Beetlejuice 2 will be titled Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. pic.twitter.com/NB8q4HsswE

— MovieMeter (@MovieMeter_) February 2, 2024

Keaton had enormous fun making Beetlejuice 2

An official premise hasn't been released yet, but we know that Ortega is playing the daughter of Lydia Deetz from the first movie.

Cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos said of the movie: "At its heart, Beetlejuice (2) is a story about a family. And now it’s 30 years later and what are the intricacies and the human condition in keeping a family together all that time set in the craziest world possible?"

One thing is for sure, we'll see Keaton hamming it up again and having fun while doing so, particularly without a reliance on CGI.

“The one thing that he and I decided on early, early, early on from the beginning, if we ever did it again, I was totally not interested in doing something where there was too much technology,” the star revealed. “It had to feel handmade.

“What made it fun was watching somebody in the corner actually holding something up for you, to watch everybody in the shrunken head room and say, ‘Those are people under there, operating these things, trying to get it right.'

“When you get to do that again after years of standing in front of a giant screen, pretending somebody’s across the way from you, this is just enormous fun.”