It’s been a good 26 years since Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice first appeared in cinemas. But are we any closer to the rumoured sequel Original writer Larry Wilson reveals that while it may be getting closer, he probably won’t be working on it…
In an interview with Den of Geek, original co-writer Larry Wilson explained that he has high hopes for the sequel… even if he won’t be involved.
“Whatever happens with the sequel, what I want it to be is good,” he said. “I want it to capture what the original film captured, and that in my mind is really tricky. People have asked me about Beetlejuice and why it has such a peculiar, original energy, and whether it could be recreated. And I don’t know.”
Of course, Beetlejuice was an absolute masterpiece, successfully mashing up the horror genre in a way to make it not only palatable for children, but also ridiculously hilarious for grown-ups.
“I sometimes describe it as like a great psychedelic album from the 60s that was recorded on four tracks,” he said. “You look at it now and wonder how they did it! When people say ‘we have 1000 tracks, so we’ll do it 1000 times better!’.”
Of course, the technological developments in filmmaking since the original Beetlejuice mean that a lot of the original practical and animated effects would now be replaced with CGI. And that’s exactly what Wilson is worried about.
“If it becomes a CGI orgy, or becomes people playing it safe because of demographics, all those things that could happen, I’d rather it didn’t happen. But all being said, there does seem to be a lot of serious talk about it. Tim and Michael seem interested, and they’ll have the same concerns that I do, I know that.”
Unfortunately, it looks as though Wilson won’t be directly involved. After contacting Warner Bros. about the cancelled sequel around a decade or so ago, it seems they think he’s just a bit too close to the original movie.
“I’m assuming that I’m still too close to the material,” he said. “But Michael McDowell and I have underlying rights to the characters, so if there is a sequel, it may be the FU money that we all dream about!”
Do you think Beetlejuice should get a sequel? Who would you like to see writing the ambitious project? Let us know what you think in the comments below…
