When in doubt, sequelize. Franchise and IP cinema have dominated Hollywood for over a decade, and the suffocating corporate control of the industry has been discussed ad nauseam. However, as audience trends have altered in a post-pandemic climate, one would suspect that studios would try to meet new demands. For a legacy studio like Warner Bros., which struggled mightily in 2024 and began 2025 on the wrong foot untilA Minecraft Movietook over pop culture, doubling down on adapting brands and established labels is seen as their get-out-of-jail-free card.
In arecent Deadline interview, WB headsMichael De LucaandPamela Abdyrevealed that talks ofa sequel to one of their lone bright spots of 2024,Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, are transpiring “imminently.“For Warner Bros., this decision was inevitable and preordained as soon as the film became a smash hit. For directorTim Burton, calling Beetlejuice’s name for a third time is a recipe for disaster.
‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ Was a Rebound for WB and Tim Burton
After the financial failure of big auteur swings likeKevin Costner’sHorizonandGeorge Miller’sMad Maxprequel,Furiosa, but before the calamitousJoker: Folie à Deux, Warner Bros desperately needed an overperformer likeBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, whichgrossed over $450 million worldwide. More in dire need of a rebound was Tim Burton, who hadn’t directed a feature film in five years. Over the last 20 years, his reputation as one of the premier visionary directors in America took a nosedive after a string of uninspired and formulaic blockbusters and odd curios. Suddenly,the most idiosyncratic voice behind the cameradevolved into an impersonal director adapting Disney IP and became a parody of himself.Rather than serving the loose interests of theBeetlejuiceuniverse, the 2024 legacy sequel assured Burton that he could have fun again with practical effects and blending Gothic horror with black comedy.
AlthoughA Minecraft Moviewas a needed boost for the theatrical industry, which was off to a bumpy start in 2025, its success will prompt studios to continue chasing after IP to draw in a mass audience. In their sit-down with Deadline, De Luca and Abdy opened up new opportunities for reboots and revivals of films in the WB library, includingThe Bodyguard,The Matrix,Gremlins,The Goonies, and aLord of the Ringsspin-off centering around Gollum. It was recently rumored thatDe Luca and Abdy’s jobs are in jeopardy,so greenlighting these projects seems like an attempt to appease WB-Discovery shareholders. In fairness, between the releases ofMickey 17,Sinners, andOne Battle After Another, they are still getting behind original, auteur-driven films.
Tim Burton Needs To Find a New Path
When asked about a sequel toBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, De Luca responded that the studio isdeveloping a project “imminently.“Looking past the necessity of anotherBeetlejuicestory, especially considering the recent legacy tied things up nicely after 36 years, returning to another pre-existing property would send Tim Burton down the wrong path in his current late-period stage. Needing to recover from lifeless films likeDark ShadowsandMiss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,Beetlejuice Beetlejuicebrought comfort to Burton in his quest to attain a whiff of his halcyon days after experiencing the"soul-destroying” side of working for Disney. Now that we know he hasn’t lost his touch as a visual storyteller, personal, or at the very least, original, stories should be on his horizon.
By remaining complacent in the endless barrage of IP filmmaking,Burton will likely return to his creatively fallow period of the last decade.Rather than embodying the lovable but tortured outsiders portrayed inBatman Returns,Edward Scissorhands, andEd Wood, Burton ostensibly became a cog in the machine, churning out live-action adaptations ofAlice in WonderlandandDumbo. While he tried to infuse his eccentric darkness into these glossy blockbusters, the effort came off as incredibly hollow. Despite his distinct style, which features enough shorthand images for any casual viewer to identify, Burton never writes his own movies, which explains why his vision has clashed with stories in recent years.The best script that Burton could encounter is one thatdoesn’t appease his natural sensibilities.His 2014 dramaBig Eyeswas a noble effort to branch out, but the end result was a mixed bag.
As we stand, Burton has not commented on the status or his interest in directing a thirdBeetlejuice. However, the titular star,Michael Keaton, eagerly awaits to re-summon the afterlife demon.“I’d do it every year, yeah,“Keaton said. A Burton-directedBeetlejuicemovie is aguaranteed source of mild entertainment,but he will never reinvent himself in familiar territory. The director became boring after a while, with decisions like these being the reason why.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
