Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, the long-awaited Warner Bros sequel to the 1988 Tim Burton directed, Michael Keaton starring haunted comedy landed on three-week tracking this AM with an outlook of $65M-$75M — however, don’t be surprised if it does more for there’s too much fuel on this building box office bonfire.
Recent box office history has shown that these long-delayed sequels, i.e. Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Bad Boys for Life, Top Gun: Maverick have great theatrical potential. Note, no one is seeing Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice in the vicinity of Star Wars or Top Gun 2 yet. One astute industry source remarked, “This looks bigger than Despicable Me 4;” that pic posting a 3-day opening of $75M and 5-day of $122.6M.
The movie, which also headlines Wednesday star Jenna Ortega, is attractive with women; over 25 first, then under 25 next. You’ll remember Ortega propelled Scream VI to a franchise domestic record opening of $44.4M.
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice is 23 days out from release, debuting on that magical post Labor Day weekend (first frame in September) which Warner Bros has turned into a hotbed for horror movies with titles like the It and The Nun franchise in recent years. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice is getting a Venice World Premiere and the bullhorn on the film will only grow louder.
The original Burton movie opened on March 30, 1988 to $8M and ended its domestic run at $74.7M, and become a huge hit in the home after market in the salad days of the video cassette era.
Wednesday creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough penned Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. The sequel sees the return of the original pic’s Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara with Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci, Danny DeVito and Justin Theroux joining in the new chapter.
Warner Bros’ owns the top two biggest opening in September with It ($123.4M) and It: Chapter Two ($91M).