No sooner did we finish covering Michael Keaton praising Jenna Ortega for fitting right in with the Beetlejuice vibe, than Warner Bros. released two new production photos for us to pore over! And no sooner did I finish writing about those photos than the studio dropped the first trailer! Marketing, Marketing, Marketing! The new glimpses are only snippets, but so far they’re hitting all the right notes. From the Deetz ladies + Justin Theroux standing graveside, to the boys’ choir-sounding cover of “Day-O” playing in the background, to the demon himself getting the last (and only) line in the trailer. Here’s a handbook for the recently released:
The juice is loose: The trailer is set to a special rendition of Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O” as the cast is seen at a graveyard. Jenna Ortega is seen uncovering the model of Winter River, before the black-and-white-striped-suit wearing villain makes his appearance. “The juice is loose,” he says, as Winona Ryder’s Lydia is seen with a shocked look on her face.
Resurrection: The original 1988 movie revolved around dead couple Adam and Barbara Maitland (played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis, respectively) who enlist the help of the title character in order to help rid their home of the family that moves into their house, with disastrous results.
Cast of characters: Keaton will be joined by Ryder, who played Lydia Deetz in the original “Beetlejuice,” and “Wednesday” star Ortega will play her daughter. Justin Theroux will also appear in the movie, while Catherine O’Hara, who also starred in the original film, will reprise her role. … Willem Dafoe has also previously confirmed he will be in the movie. “I play a police officer in the afterlife, so I’m a dead person. And in life I was a B-movie action star, but I had an accident and that’s what sent me to the other side,” he told Variety in 2023.
What’s the story? Plot points have been kept under wraps, although director Tim Burton did peel back the curtain a little bit, saying the new movie gets underway with a death in the family. “That’s all I will say,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “There’s something that happens that sets things in motion.” When asked if the person who dies is Lydia’s father, Charles Deetz (played in the original movie by Jeffrey Jones), Burton didn’t tip his hand. “We’ll see,” he said.
An emotional hook: Burton said Keaton reprising his role is “a weird out-of-body experience. It was kind of scary for somebody who was maybe not that overly interested in doing it. It was such a beautiful thing for me to see all the cast, but he, sort of like demon possession, just went right back into it,” he added. Burton also said he and Keaton had tossed around the idea of a sequel for years. “Unless it felt right, he had no burning desire to do it,” he said. “I think we all felt the same way. It only made sense if it had an emotional hook.”
Willem Dafoe?! As a deceased B-movie action star cum afterlife cop?!?! YES. Like I said, everything we’re seeing and hearing thus far is pitch perfect. Except, maybe, for Tim Burton acting as spokesperson. I guffawed so hard at Tim’s plot tease: “There’s something that happens that sets things in motion.” Thanks, Tim. You’ve just described every story since the development of dramatic structure. Actually, I kind of hope that’s what he pitched the studio with. And speaking of, Warner Bros. is the studio producing this so recite an incantation or two that David Zaslav doesn’t can it before release. Of course if he does, we know just which demon and police officer to summon.
Photos are screenshots from YouTube and via Instagram