After two weeks and over $250 million in grosses, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is clearly a huge hit. But that wasn’t always an obvious outcome. Making sequels to nearly 40-year-old movies is a gamble and Warner Bros. had to make some smart moves to curb that risk and, ultimately, direct the film to success.
The notion of making a sequel to Beetlejuice has been in the ether for over a decade. Numerous ideas, scripts, and more had been developed and at one point, Warner Bros. even thought the sequel might be perfect for its streaming service Max, according to the New York Times. That decision, however, was eventually scrapped, mainly due to the film’s director, Tim Burton. “That was never going to work for Tim,” Pamela Abdy co-chair of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, told the Times. “You’re talking about a visionary artist whose films demand to be seen on a big screen.”
But once it was set on a big screen release, Warner Bros. looked at the film’s proposed budget and balked. Burton and his team wanted $147 million to make the sequel, much of which went to paying its returning stars and producers. Abdy and her co-chair Michael Deluca thought it was too much, but wanted to get back in the Burton business. They told him if he could get the budget under $100 million, they’d make it and release it theatrically.
Which is what happened. After months of wheeling and dealing, the principal cast—which includes Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, and Catherine O’Hara—all agreed to take less up front for a bigger payout based on the film’s success. That got the budget down to $99 million and everyone was off to the races. Now, at about $265 million and counting after two weeks, that sure seems like the right decision.
In the end, all the gambles paid off for the studio and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Over the summer, it released Furiosa: A Mad Max Story, Horizon: An American Saga, and Trap, all of which flopped badly. That’s in contrast to earlier in the year which saw huge successes from Godzilla x Kong 2, Dune Part Two, and Wonka. Next up, there’s Joker 2 followed by The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. The former seems like a surefire hit while the latter, despite its massively popular IP, seems much riskier. Which is to say the roller coaster will continue over at Warner Bros.
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