Beetlejuice has had a pretty good shelf life. The 1988 Tim Burton-directed quirky horror fantasy took in nearly 3 times its budget, spawned an animated series and a popular musical, and even won an Academy Award. But it still hasn’t got a sequel. And musical score composer Danny Elfman says you probably shouldn’t hold your breath.
It’s been thirty-plus years since the movie debuted in theaters in 1988 and since then rumors of a sequel have popped up over the years like so many noisy poltergeists but the sequel, much like the protagonist, seems to be consigned to the waiting room of Limbo. As for Elfman, the rock star turned composer turned rock star again (Elfman recently headlined a gig at Coachella) told ComicBook.com that he’ll ”believe it when he sees it.”
According to Elfman, the rumor mill keeps churning out hints of a sequel but so far no one has been able to say the title character’s name the requisite number of times to summon a follow-up film. According to Elfman:
“I have no idea. I hear rumors just like you’ve heard. I ran into Michael Keaton somewhere about seven years ago and he goes, ‘So we’re doing Beetlejuice 2,’ And I go, ‘Are we?’ And then I didn’t hear anything about it again. So I’m from the, I’ll believe it when I see it camp, but I know that it’s been talked about for quite a while.”
– Danny Elfman via ComicBook.com
Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean that a discussion on a sequel isn’t happening now. According to The Ankler newsletter, Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company is rumored to have a yet-another sequel attempt in the making. But Elfman readily confesses that as a composer he’s often the last person to be brought aboard a project. ” I’m always the last one to hear, believe me,” Elfman revealed. “Often, I’ll hear about whatever movie Tim is doing, it is kinda funny, because he’ll call me and he’ll say ‘Danny, I’m doing such and such a film, would you like to come on board?’, and I’ll already have read about it in Variety two weeks earlier.”
Elfman’s latest project as composer, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, is currently in theaters.