Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Did You Know?

• Danny Elfman, who scored the original Beetlejuice, returned for the sequel.
• A cover of Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) performed by Alfie Davis and the Sylvia Young Theatre School Choir was released on May 23, 2024.
• The film ranked eighth on Netflix in the United States during the week of May 5–11, 2025.

Plot

Lydia Deetz now hosts a paranormal talk program, Ghost House, but her daughter Astrid keeps her distance, skeptical of her mother's psychic claims and convinced ghosts aren't real after her father Richard perished in the Amazon. During a taping, Lydia spots Betelgeuse in the crowd. She and Astrid head back to Winter River when stepmother Delia reports that Charles died from a shark attack. At the funeral, Lydia's pushy boyfriend and producer Rory pressures her into agreeing to marry him on Halloween.

Astrid connects with a local boy, Jeremy Frazier, who invites her to join him for the holiday. In the Netherworld, Betelgeuse runs a call center staffed by shrunken-headed workers and still wants to wed Lydia. Detective Wolf Jackson, a former actor, warns him that his ex-wife, occultist Delores LaFerve, has returned. Astrid discovers she has inherited her mother's abilities and learns Jeremy is a ghost.

He convinces her to go to the Afterlife to meet Richard. When Lydia finds out Jeremy murdered his parents and plans to use Astrid to come back to life, she reluctantly calls Betelgeuse, who will help only if she marries him. Betelgeuse condemns Jeremy to the Fires of Damnation, and Lydia and Astrid flee with Richard's aid. At Charles's mourning ceremony, Delia is killed by a pair of asps and arrives in the Netherworld.

Cast

Michael Keaton returns as Betelgeuse, a ghastly bio-exorcist with a desire to marry a living person. Keaton and director Tim Burton kept the character as malicious and politically incorrect as in the original, a trait they both love. Burton also voices a newborn version of the character. Winona Ryder plays Lydia Deetz, the former gothic teen now mother to Astrid and host of a talk show called Ghost House.

Ryder initially thought Lydia would live as a spinster in the attic but appreciated her character’s development, especially her relationship with Astrid. Catherine O'Hara is Delia Deetz, Lydia’s stepmother and Charles’s widow, now hosting a real art show in a SoHo gallery. Jenna Ortega plays Astrid, Lydia’s teenage daughter. Justin Theroux is Rory, a TV producer and Lydia’s ex-fiancé, inspired by the original film’s Otho Fenlock.

The writers wanted a character everyone would enjoy seeing get his comeuppance, and Theroux contributed ideas after being cast. Willem Dafoe plays Wolf Jackson, a Netherworld detective who was a B-movie action star killed by a live grenade. Monica Bellucci is Delores LaFerve, Betelgeuse’s ex-wife, a soul-collecting occultist who poisoned him during the Black Death before he axed her in retaliation. Arthur Conti plays Jeremy Frazier, a ghost who murdered his parents and briefly romances Astrid.

Burn Gorman is Father Damien, a comically eloquent Irish priest. Santiago Cabrera plays Richard, Astrid’s late father and Lydia’s ex-husband, eaten by piranhas and now working in Netherworld civil service.

Production

After the success of Beetlejuice, a sequel was fast-tracked by The Geffen Film Company. Two sequel scripts were commissioned in 1990: Beetlejuice in Love by Warren Skaaren, and Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian by Jonathan Gems. Skaaren died after turning in his first draft. Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder agreed to do the film on the condition that Burton directed, but both he and Keaton became occupied with Batman Returns. Plans for a sequel were revived in early 2022, with Burton set to co-produce with Brad Pitt's studio Plan B Entertainment. Principal photography took place in parts of England and the U.S. from May to November 2023, suspended for four months due to the 2023 actors' strike. The official title was revealed in February 2024.

Reception

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice took in $294.1 million domestically and $157.9 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $452 million. On its opening weekend, playing in 4,200 theaters, it earned $111 million, including $42 million on its first day and $13 million from Thursday previews. That debut ranked as September’s second-biggest opening, the second-largest in Tim Burton’s career, and the year’s third-biggest. It also surpassed the original film’s entire $74 million run.

The movie held first place for three straight weekends, grossing $51.6 million in its second frame and $25.9 million in its third, before being overtaken by The Wild Robot in week four. Internationally, it opened to $36.2 million across 69 markets, with top performances in the UK, Mexico, Australia, Spain, and Italy. By the end of its run, it was the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2024 in the U.S. and Canada. CinemaScore audiences gave it a B+, an improvement over the first film’s B. PostTrak reported 81% positive scores, with 68% saying they would definitely recommend it.