Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice 2 release date, cast, and everything we know so far

It’s showtime! Well, almost. Finally, after so many years of buzz surrounding a sequel to the classic Tim Burton film Beetlejuice, it looks like the second movie is being set in motion. The 1988 fantasy-comedy follows a couple, recently deceased, who begins to haunt their home as ghosts when a new family moves in. They form a bond with the teenage daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder), as they summon a figure named Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) to get their house back.

The family-friendly movie has been a favorite among all ages, and with the original cast members wanting to revisit the story, fans have just been waiting for it to happen.

With all the new reports about Beetlejuice 2 in 2023, we’re breaking down everything we know about the movie so far, including the recently-announced premiere date!

Warner Bros. officially announced Beetlejuice 2 at CinemaCon

Though the sequel has been talked about for years now, it looks like Warner Bros. is officially moving forward with it now. How do we know? Well, because they’ve chosen to announce the movie during the CinemaCon 2023 event in Las Vegas on April 25! According to Screen Rant, who attended the Warner Bros. panel, it was confirmed that Beetlejuice 2 is now in development. This was a major update for anyone following the sequel!

Beetlejuice 2 release date

Good news, Beetlejuice fans! It was announced that the sequel will hit theaters in the fall of 2024, on Sept. 6, 2024 to be exact! Perfect time for the spooky season!

We predicted the movie might come out in 2024 or 2025, so we’re happy to see they are moving along with it sooner than later! And while this is a little bit early for the horror holiday, it’ll still be fun to add to our Halloween watch list next year.

Beetlejuice 2 has been in the works for over a decade

According to a report from Deadline in 2011, David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith were hired to work on the script for Beetlejuice 2, with Keaton confirming in a 2014 interview with MTV that they were still in the early stages. “I’ve emailed Tim [Burton] a couple of times, talked to the writer a couple of times, but all really, really preliminary stuff,” Keaton said.

Over the years, Keaton and Ryder have shared quick teases about the second movie, remaining pretty tight-lipped about the synopsis or when it’d actually come out. In a 2015 appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers, Ryder confirmed again that Beetlejuice 2 is really happening. And we hadn’t heard much else about it since then until the report of Ortega’s potential casting.

Beetlejuice 2 cast

So far, we at least know that Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder will reprise their roles as Beetlejuice and Lydia Deetz, respectively. Variety reported on March 9 that Jenna Ortega is “eyeing a role” in the sequel, and if she does join the cast, she’ll play Lydia’s daughter! That would be so amazing. These are the only three actors connected to the project at this time, as far as we know.

In a May 2023 report, Deadline confirms that Ortega will feature in the cast of Beetlejuice 2, though the actress has not spoken out on the reports yet.

What could Beetlejuice 2 be about?

It’s been confirmed that Beetlejuice 2 will not be a reboot, but rather a sequel that, according to Grahame-Smith in a 2012 interview with Collider, will take place 26 or 27 years after the original film. “What’s great is that for Beetlejuice, time means nothing in the afterlife, but the world outside is a different story,” he said. At the time, he also elaborated on the direction they’d be taking, explaining:

"“I have a rough idea of what it’s going to be. However, I should stress this is not a remake, it’s not a reboot, it is a true sequel with Michael Keaton as the title character Beetlejuice. The thing that Tim and Michael and I all agree on, and is most important for me is, I don’t want to be the guy that destroys the legacy and the memory of the first film; I would rather die. I would rather just not make it, I’d rather just throw the whole thing away than make something that pays no respect and doesn’t live up even close to the legacy of the first film.”"

Now that we know Ortega might be joining the movie to play Lydia’s daughter, we can speculate that perhaps Lydia has moved on from the house in the original movie and has started her own life, and is faced with a situation she needs Beetlejuice’s assistance for. It’s not been confirmed whether or not we’ll see the Maitlands in the sequel, played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis in the original movie, but considering they’re ghosts, they could definitely show up.

At this time, a synopsis for Beetlejuice 2 has not been revealed, so please take our story predictions with a grain of salt.

Once we get more information about Beetlejuice 2, we’ll be sure to update this post! Fingers crossed there’s more news soon.