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While Tim Burton‘s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is one of Warner Bros‘ biggest theatrical success stories of the year, at over $264 million in worldwide grosses and counting, there was a period in the decade-plus the studio was mulling the sequel in which execs advocated for the film to go straight to streaming on Max.
“That was never going to work for Tim,” said Pamela Abdy, who along with Michael De Luca, has headed up Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group as Co-Chair since the summer of 2022, in a new interview with the New York Times. “You’re talking about a visionary artist whose films demand to be seen on a big screen.”
Still, for studio executives, the budget would have to come down, in order for them to take the film to theaters. While Burton and team had projected a $147M budget, much of which went to paying cast and producer fees, the filmmaker would need to get the budget to below $100M in order to move forward.
Helping Burton to achieve this was Mike Simpson, his agent at WME, who shared, “Two months went by where every day the movie almost died.” In the end, though, he was able to get talent and most producers to reduce their upfront payments, in exchange for a bigger piece of the back end, and after some “additional financier maneuvering,” per the Times, pertaining to “tax incentives” and “some cost cuts related to shooting,” the project got off the ground.
Per De Luca, the success of the film, marking the first completed entirely during his and Abdy’s regime, has resulted in “Dancing in the hallways, smiles on faces” at the studio. Added the exec, “There is really nothing better for morale than a hit.”
Looking ahead, Warner Bros’ film chiefs seemed optimistic about a slate that includes Joker: Folie à Deux, Clint Eastwood’s Juror No. 2, their mystery project reteaming Creed’s Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan, and more. But at the same time, there are perhaps few real lessons to be taken from the success of any one film, including Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Said De Luca, “It’s a crapshoot. It always will be. I think that’s part of the excitement.”
Hitting theaters on September 6 after world premiering in Venice, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has now topped the box office for two weekends in a row. The long-awaited follow-up to Burton’s classic 1988 supernatural comedy Beetlejuice picks up with Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) as an adult still haunted by experiences earlier in life with the mischievous ghost, Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton). Her life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it’s only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice’s name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.
Reteaming Burton with original cast members Ryder, Catherine O’Hara and Keaton, the sequel’s newcomers apart from Ortega include Willem Dafoe, Justin Theroux, Arthur Conti and Monica Bellucci.
Wednesday’s Alfred Gough & Miles Millar penned the script from their story conceived with Seth Grahame-Smith, which is based on characters created by Michael McDowell & Larry Wilson. Pic’s producers included Burton, Tommy Harper, Plan B, Marc Toberoff and David Geffen.
With all the buzz around Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Burton finally got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on September 3.
