Tim Burton Felt “Lost” Before Returning to His Roots with ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’

Tim Burton is back, baby!

The legendary cult filmmaker was in high spirits at the 81st Venice Film Festival for the world premiere of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. The long-awaited sequel to Burton’s 1988 fantasy-horror-comedy will open the 2024 Venice Film Festival Wednesday night. Burton mentioned that the movie felt like a return to his roots, embracing the improvisational and chaotic spirit of the original.

“Over the past few years, I got a little bit disillusioned with the movie industry, I sort of lost myself,” said Burton. “For me, I realized the only way to be a success is that I have to love doing it. For this one, I just enjoyed and loved making it.”

Burton explained that it took him so long to revisit Beetlejuice because he “never quite understood why it had been a success.” For Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, he decided to return to the “spirit of the original,” opting for a faster, more improvisational approach compared to his recent film projects.

“We did everything quickly. The things that usually take months we did quickly,” said Burton. “There was a lot of improvisation. Even the ending wasn’t written in the script. We were playing with everything… It just gave [the new film] an energy and a personal nature to it that everyone contributed to.”

It’s taken Burton a generation to return to the twisted world of Beetlejuice, but fans seem to think it will be worth the wait. The Warner Bros. title is tracking to open as high as $80 million at the North American box office when it hits theaters on Sept. 6, according to sources with access to data from leading research firm NRG. Warner Bros. has been more conservative in its estimates, suggesting an opening weekend in the $65 million to $75 million range. Either way, the movie is expected to pull in a significant return for the studio and for Burton, who has not released a feature since 2019’s Dumbo.

Burton was joined by much of the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice cast at the Venice press conference, including Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, and Catherine O’Hara — all reprising their roles from the original — as well as franchise newcomers Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe, and Monica Bellucci.

Even the special and practical effects were done quickly, giving the movie a homemade feel.

“It’s not going to win any Academy Awards for special effects, but it doesn’t matter,” joked Burton, who admitted he didn’t even rewatch the original film before starting the sequel.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice focuses on Ryder’s character, Lydia Deetz, now a TV psychic, who returns with her family to her home after the death of her father. Ortega plays Lydia’s daughter, Astrid, who doesn’t believe in ghosts or the afterlife. As seen in the teaser trailer released in March, Keaton returns as the titular demon, once again set loose to wreak havoc.

Burton directed the sequel from a script by Wednesday showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, with Seth Grahame-Smith credited for his work on the film’s story.

While he had been thinking of the Beetlejuice sequel for some time, Burton said making Wednesday re-energized his passion for filmmaking.

However, regardless of the reception of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Burton said fans shouldn’t hold their breath for Beetlejuice 3.

“Well, let’s do the math,” he said, noting it took more than 30 years between the first and second films. For the third, “I’d be over a hundred. I guess it’s possible with medical science these days. But I don’t think so!”

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