Tim Burton is back, darling!
The legendary cult director was in great spirits at the 81st Venice Film Festival for the world premiere of Beetle Juice Beetle Juice. The long-awaited and eagerly anticipated sequel to Burton’s 1988 fantasy-horror comedy will open the 2024 Venice Film Festival on Wednesday night. Burton said the film felt like a return to his roots, to the free-form, improvisational chaos of the original.
“In recent years I have been a little disappointed by the film industry, [I sort] of losing myself,” Burton said, “For me, I realized the only way to be successful is to love doing it. So, I just had fun and loved doing it.”
It took Burton so long to revisit it Beetle Juicedespite constant fan requests for a sequel, because he “never quite understood why it was a success.” For Beetle Juice Beetle Juice He said he decided to return to the “spirit of the original film” by abandoning the typical lengthy production and shooting process of his more recent films in favor of a fast-paced, improvisational approach.
“We did everything quickly. Things that usually take months, we did quickly,” Burton said. “We'd go buy a Toy Story doll, tear it apart, put rods on it, and do stuff. That was the spirit, and that doesn't always happen in movies. It had an energy and a personal nature that everyone contributed to.”
Burton encouraged improvisation on set. “The ending wasn't even written. We played with everything,” he said.
The special and practical effects were also created quickly, giving the film a hand-crafted look.
“It’s not going to win any Academy Awards for visual effects, but that doesn’t matter,” joked Burton, who admitted he didn’t even rewatch the original film before starting the sequel.
It took Burton a generation to return to the twisted world of Beetle JuiceBut fans seem to think the wait will be long. The Warner Bros. title is aiming to gross as much as $80 million at the North American box office when it opens Sept. 6, according to sources with access to data from leading research firm NRG. Warner Bros. has been more conservative in its estimates, suggesting a weekend opening of between $65 million and $75 million. Either way, the film should provide a healthy return for the studio and Burton, who hasn't released a feature since 2019. Dumbo.
Burton was joined by almost everyone Beetle Juice Beetle Juice Actors in attendance at the Venice press conference include Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton and Catherine O'Hara, reprising their original roles, and franchise newcomers Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe and Monica Bellucci.
Beetle Juice Beetle Juice focuses on Ryder's character, Lydia Deetz, now a TV psychic, who returns to her family's home after her father's death. Ortega plays Lydia's daughter, Astrid, who doesn't believe in ghosts or the afterlife. As seen in Beetle JuiceBeetle JuiceIn the teaser trailer released in March, Keaton returns as the titular demon, once again free to wreak havoc.
Burton directed the sequel from a screenplay by Wednesday showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, while Seth Grahame-Smith is credited for his work on the film's story.
As he said he was thinking about the Beetle Juice sequel for a while now, Burton said filming Wednesday gave him “new energy” to get back to making movies.
“And meeting [Wednesday star] Genna [Ortega] “It was obviously such a big thing for me,” Burton said. “Working with her and just thinking about Lydia's character and what happened to her 35 years later, and thinking about my own life, what happened to having kids or relationships. It became a very simple, emotional movie. It's like a weird family movie, you know? It's never been [about making] a big following for money or something. I just wanted to do it for very personal reasons.”
Whatever the reception of Beetle Juice Beetle Juicein Venice and at the box office, Burton said fans shouldn't hold their breath for Beetle Juice 3.
“Let's do the math,” he said, noting that it took more than 35 years between the first and second films. For the third, “I would be over a hundred years old. I imagine that's possible with today's medical science. But I don't think so!”