Many people have to say his name three times because Beetlejuice is conquering the box office.
The long-awaited sequel to Beetlejuice, directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega, has grossed $13 million at the box office in previews on Thursday.
The horror comedy is poised to conquer the box office after a slow end to August, and is expected to make $100 million to $110 million this weekend. That’s a shockingly strong opening, given the film has a $100 million production budget. Warner Bros., however, is predicting a weaker start at around $90 million – but many box office experts predict it will break the $100 million mark. The film could even rank among the highest-grossing September opening weekends of all time, putting Beetlejuice shoulder-to-shoulder with Pennywise the Clown in It (2017) ($123 million opening) and It: Chapter 2 (2019) ($91 million).
Michael Keaton’s undead ghoul returns after first terrifying movie screens in 1988 with Burton’s cult horror classic Beetlejuice. The original film grossed $75 million on a $15 million budget and was the 10th highest-grossing film of the year, winning the Oscar for Best Makeup, spawning a Tony-nominated Broadway musical, an animated series and more.
Keaton, Ryder’s Lydia Deetz and Catherine O’Hara’s Delia Deetz return in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” with “Wednesday” and “Scream” star Ortega as Lydia’s daughter Astrid. Other newcomers to the series include Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe and Monica Bellucci. Thirty-six years after the first film, Lydia now hosts a supernatural talk show but has visions of Beetlejuice. When a portal to the afterlife opens and Beetlejuice returns, the Deetzes must work together to prevent supernatural chaos from breaking out.
