This year marks the 30th anniversary of Tim Burton’s strange unusual horror/comedy Beetlejuice, which has got fans wishing for that long-touted sequel once again. In the absence of any official updates on that front, though, one YouTube user has now taken it upon themselves to create a teaser trailer for the belated follow-up, and we must say, it’s rather well done.
Echoing the events of the original 1988 movie, the teaser imagines the sequel following a young couple as they adjust to the afterlife once they’re killed in a car accident. Original ghosts the Maitlands also put in appearances as the couple’s new mentors, through some cleverly chosen footage of Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin as they appear now. Also, look out for clips of Catherine O’Hara, who played Delia Deetz, and Winona Ryder, whose role as Lydia Deetz offered the actress her first big break.
In the style of real teaser trailers, this fan-made effort holds back what we’re all waiting for until the end, as the Ghost with the Most himself appears in the final moments of the video. Kudos to the use of Beetlejuice’s signature head-spin in order to hide the lack of new footage of Michael Keaton, too.
Of course, this all begs the question of whether or not we’ll ever see Beetlejuice 2 for real? It’s hard to say at this stage, but history suggests we shouldn’t get too excited. The idea of a sequel has existed ever since the original first came out, but a few years back interest was renewed when Burton, Keaton and Ryder were all linked with the project. Seth Grahame-Smith was initially attached to pen the script, but Burton rejected it, reasoning that he wanted to make absolutely sure the story was as good as possible.
Last we heard, screenwriter Mike Vukadinovich had been brought in to provide a revamped screenplay. That was about 6 months ago, though. Still, if his script is received well by both Burton and Warner Bros., then the bio-exorcist might finally be back in action. In fact, maybe if we say Beetlejuice three times it might appear?