The highest-grossing Ghost seems to be looking to inject a little life into a sluggish box office.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” the sequel to Tim Burton’s 1988 film about a troublesome ghost, is looking to make a whopping $100 million to $110 million in its opening weekend. Based on estimated ticket sales, the sequel could slot between 2017’s “It” ($123 million in its debut) and 2019’s “It: Chapter 2” ($91 million) as one of the biggest September debuts ever.
Warner Bros., the distributor of Beetlejuice 2, expects its budget to be $80 million at the outset. Anything above $80 million would be very scary considering the film’s $100 million production budget.
Box office analysts and exhibitors expect that nostalgia for the original film, as well as talk of a sequel, will push initial ticket sales into the triple digits. Burton returns to direct and brings with him Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice, Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz and Catherine O’Hara as stepmother Delia Deetz. Jenna Ortega, Monica Bellucci and Steve Buscemi have joined the cast. Varieties Chief film critic Owen Gleiberman wrote that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice doesn't “give you the same shock value that the original did.” But he goes on to say, “There's good fan service and bad, and as contrived and cliched as it may be at times, I had a great time.”
The first Beetlejuice film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $74.7 million and inspiring a Tony-nominated Broadway musical. The story follows a cunning ghost from the underworld who helps a recently deceased couple haunt their former home. The sequel picks up 36 years later when the daughter of Lydia Deetz (whose family was the subject of horror in the original film) discovers a portal to the afterlife and accidentally unleashes the spirit of everyone’s favorite exorcist.
“Beetlejuice” is the only new movie out this week, so whether or not audiences say its name three times, the film will top the domestic box office charts. The horror-comedy will displace Disney’s Marvel movie “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which has held the top spot for five of the past six weeks on its way to $603 million domestically and $1.26 million worldwide.
Despite blockbusters like “Inside Out 2,” “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Despicable Me 4,” the summer at the box office ended with a 14.3% drop in domestic revenue from 2023, according to Comscore. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” looks set to shake up the fall season, which hopes to continue with Paramount’s animated “Transformers One” (Sept. 20), Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” (Sept. 27), Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga’s “Joker: Folie à Deux” (Oct. 4), Sony’s “Venom: The Last Dance” (Oct. 25) and the horrific horror film “Smile 2” (Oct. 18).
