Tim Burton’s ‘Beetlejuice 3’ Confirmed at Warner Bros.

I’ll get to this wildly fawning Mike Fleming Jr. interview soon but it’s been confirmed by Warner Bros’ Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca that “Beetlejuice 3” is officially in the works at the studio.

De Luca says “the ink might not be dry on the deals yet, but [it should be happening] imminently.” I presume Tim Burton will be back to direct this one because, really, who else would be allowed to direct another ‘Beetlejuice’?

Last year’s “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice” was a major box-office hit, and that's after Warners’ original intention to have it go straight to streaming as a Max original. The only thing that saved it from this fate was the hiring of DeLuca and Abdy as Warners co-chairs. They eventually made a deal with Burton — who initially wanted a $150M budget — to lower the costs and turn it into a theatrical release.

To attain this lower budget, the producers worked out deals with stars, Jenna Ortega, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara, for them to take less money up front and more on the back end.

“Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice” outgrossed the first film’s entire global run in just 3 days. The sequel made $41M on its first Saturday and scored a huge $110 domestic opening weekend; it went on to gross nearly $300M in the U.S. alone. The film was also Burton’s best-reviewed release in over 10 years.

Burton had admitted that directing the ‘Beetlejuice’ sequel revived his inner artist after a “soul destroying” experience making movies for Disney. Things were so dire for the filmmaker that he even contemplated early retirement after directing 2019’s “Dumbo.”

Of course I’d rather Burton direct an original story, but we might have to wait a little longer for that as I presume Warner Bros would want to fast track ‘Beetlejuice 3.’ Gone are the days when Burton brilliantly invented gothic worlds in such films as “Edward Scissorhands,” and “Ed Wood.”