Beetlejuice Beetlejuice | September 6, 2024 | RIP Harry Belafonte

[Lucas]

Apparently the third act is Burton operating at full power more than he has in a long time, along with Elfman and the cast.

[filmlover]

11 hours ago, Mojoguy said:

I admit a Beetlejuice sequel being a big hit was never on my 2024 boxoffice bingo card.

 

What makes Beetlejuice so much bigger than Ghostbusters? Is Jenna Ortega really a bit hit with younger audiences?

In addition to the reasons already mentioned (the absurd backlash to the 2016 reboot getting so nasty it probably put a lot of people off of the property forever), Keaton's a much more relevant star to today's audience than the Ghostbusters guys are (Keaton was still around appearing in the occasional hit before it but Birdman arguably rejuvenated his career in a big way, while Bill Murray's most memorable film credit in the past 20 years that wasn't a part in a Wes Anderson movie was the live-action Jungle Book, a voiceover role). If there ever was a massive scale demand for a Ghostbusters legacy sequel, it likely vanished forever after Ramis passed away, which guaranteed any reunion was bound to feel incomplete (no matter if they "resurrected" him through CGI for a cameo - like they did in Afterlife - or not).

 

Beetlejuice is lucky that not only Keaton remains a star and Ortega has become one, but also Ryder and O'Hara remain as active as ever and have found new followings over the years through recent projects like Stranger Things and Schitt's Creek. Thus, you have what's looking to be the hit that WB tried to force Keaton's convoluted Batman return in The Flash into being (Ezra's behavior reportedly cost that movie its promotional partners that would've given it a massive campaign like this is, so they had to rely on some manufactured word-of-mouth campaign to try and will the movie into being a smash that unsurprisingly failed).

Edited August 28 by filmlover

[AniNate]

There is the awkward business of Jeffrey Jones... but seems they were able to conveniently address that narratively

 

Ofc Geena and Alec's ghost characters probably wouldn't be convincing presences in any kind of legacy sequel unless they were willing to invest a lot of money in de-aging tech. Alec's Rust ordeal probably deterred them from that path anyway. They did have some curveballs to deal with for this production, but the hook they've ultimately gone with with a multigenerational family drama arc with three popular actresses does seem to have worked out quite well.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 28 by AniNate

[Jonwo]

I think if we going to brutally honest, people don't care about the Maitlands that much and so their absence isn't that big a deal.

[filmlover]

24 minutes ago, Jonwo said:

I think if we going to brutally honest, people don't care about the Maitlands that much and so their absence isn't that big a deal.

I doubt anyone expected Baldwin and Davis to even cameo in this to begin with.

[emoviefan]

3 hours ago, Maggie said:

Some mixed reviews on letterboxd from Venice

Have they had the screening already? I assume it's not for another 5 or 6 hours at least or something unless some people saw it early and are already posting their reactions.

[AniNate]

I'm guessing there's probably been a critic screening already so they can have their reviews ready to go by the time the official premiere lets out.

 

Overall average seems to be in the low 3s range right now

[Lucas]

Some more thoughts (not mine, a friend): Main takeaway is that it's really fun. There are a ton of subplots and no real story, it runs more on vibes and finding out what will set off the supernatural events again. Like the original, the ratio of human to supernatural is very skewed towards the former, which might not play to a modern audience.

[WittyUsername]

A nostalgia bait Beetlejuice movie doing great in 2024 sounds a little disheartening to me, especially after Deadpool, and to a lesser extent, the new Alien, did as well as they did. I guess nostalgia is here to stay. 

[AniNate]

At least even nostalgia slaves have standards judging from Borderlands and Crow.

[Flopped]

Are people here too young or too old to know how deeply meaningful Beetlejuice is to an entire generation of people born in the 80s/early 90s? Lydia is relatable/aspirational to people in a way no character in Ghostbusters is. Plus it's a "spooky" movie in a way Ghostbusters isn't, meaning better suited for annual Halloween rewatches. 

The nerve of crediting it to that Jenna girl. 

Edited August 28 by Flopped

[YM!]

18 minutes ago, Flopped said:

Are people here too young or too old to know how deeply meaningful Beetlejuice is to an entire generation of people born in the 80s/early 90s? Lydia is relatable/aspirational to people in a way no character in Ghostbusters is. Plus it's a "spooky" movie in a way Ghostbusters isn't, meaning better suited for annual Halloween rewatches. 

The nerve of crediting it to that Jenna girl. 

I mean no Jenna and this does slightly more than 200m. You don't get how big the Wednesday craze is helping it. Yes, BJ had nostalgia but it was also a flop at the box office and lived as a cult classic. BJBJ will live and die based on how it works as a movie but I doubt it does anywhere near it does now without Jenna. The popularity of Wednesday and Jenna playing a similar role really helped.

[filmlover]

1 minute ago, YM! said:

I mean no Jenna and this does slightly more than 200m. You don't get how big the Wednesday craze is helping it. Yes, BJ had nostalgia but it was also a flop at the box office and lived as a cult classic. BJBJ will live and die based on how it works as a movie but I doubt it does anywhere near it does now without Jenna. The popularity of Wednesday and Jenna playing a similar role really helped.

The original Beetlejuice adjusts to nearly $200M with 36 years of inflation. Not a Top Gun-sized smash obviously, but an impressive sum for 1988 nonetheless.

[Eric the Marxist]

3 minutes ago, YM! said:

Yes, BJ had nostalgia but it was also a flop at the box office and lived as a cult classic.

Beetlejuice ranked in the domestic top 10 for 1988. It made almost five times its budget. It was not, nor has it ever been a flop or cult hit.

[YM!]

Just now, Eric Ripley said:

Beetlejuice ranked in the domestic top 10 for 1988. It made almost five times its budget. It was not, nor has it ever been a flop or cult hit.

My mistake. Sorry got it confused with another movie.

Edited August 28 by YM!

[AniNate]

8 minutes ago, YM! said:

I mean no Jenna and this does slightly more than 200m. You don't get how big the Wednesday craze is helping it. Yes, BJ had nostalgia but it was also a flop at the box office and lived as a cult classic. BJBJ will live and die based on how it works as a movie but I doubt it does anywhere near it does now without Jenna. The popularity of Wednesday and Jenna playing a similar role really helped.

 

Most of this is true but the original Beetlejuice was not a flop.  $75mil box office on a $15mil budget (adjusts to more or less $200mil today). Maybe not the kind of humongous box office take you might expect from a nostalgic IP but it was a pretty lucrative media franchise almost from the getgo.

Edited August 28 by AniNate

[Cmasterclay]

Letterboxd reviews make it sound alot more interesting than I expected it to be tbh.

[Lucas]

 

Edited August 28 by Lucas

[ThomasNicole]

Solid reviews overall 

https://www.ign.com/articles/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-review-tim-burton-michael-keaton-winona-ryder-jenna-ortega 

 

https://screenrant.com/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-movie-review/
 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-review-sequel-needs-to-be-way-wackier
 

https://lwlies.com/reviews/beetlejuice-beetlejuice/
 

https://time.com/7015514/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-review/
 

[Lucas]