Tim Burton Closes the Door on ‘Beetlejuice 3’: ‘I Doubt It’

It took Tim Burton 36 years to take on the second installment of his Beetlejuice franchise, and the director thinks it could take another few decades for a third.

The cast and crew of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice descended on London’s Leicester Square Thursday night, fresh off the plane from the 81st Venice Film Festival, to usher in the U.K. premiere of the latest Burton-esque spooktacular project, with returning stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara in attendance.

Jenna Ortega, playing the role of Astrid, Ryder’s daughter in the blockbuster, also took to the black and white striped carpet alongside new cast members Justin Theroux and Monica Bellucci.

When Burton was probed on the potential for a — dare I? — Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice film, the master of the horror genre, 66, was less than optimistic. “Well, if [the same] time frame goes on, I’ll be about 100. So maybe. I doubt it,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter.

It’s a sequel that Burton, who has produced classics such as Edward Scissorhands, The Corpse Bride, and Alice in Wonderland, has described as very personal to him. After nearly four decades, why was 2024 the right year for a follow-up to the cult horror-comedy hit? “Well, because the Lydia character (Ryder) interested me,” Burton replies. “Getting older is where you start thinking about what happens in life. [She] starts as a cool teenager. Relationships… Do you have kids? What are they like? What do you like? How do you change? These are all things that I know and experience. So it felt more right to make this now, rather than back in, like, 1989.”

Ortega has become something of a scream queen in recent years — literally. With appearances in the Scream franchise as well as Netflix’s Wednesday (which Burton directed four episodes of), the young actress has solidified herself as a reliable option for horror pros like Burton. When it came to Beetlejuice 2, it was a no-brainer for Ortega. When Burton comes knocking, you answer.

“Most definitely. I mean, I was surprised he asked me about Wednesday,” Ortega recalls to THR. “I was surprised he asked me about Beetlejuice. Working with him is a dream.” And the ghosts, ghouls, and demons of a Tim Burton set are much more relaxed environment than you might envisage, she adds. “It’s the best. It’s so safe, it’s so collaborative, it’s so inviting, and everybody just keeps outdoing themselves. It’s very playful and it doesn’t feel like work, you don’t want to leave. Playing (Ryder’s) daughter is probably one of the most grateful experiences I’ve ever had. She is just an absolute legend and one of the loveliest people.”

Willem Dafoe had never worked with Burton before this film — to say curiosity got the better of him would be an understatement. “That was a big draw,” Dafoe says. “I mean, I followed him for years, and I really like his movies. He’s contributed a lot to movies, so when he asked me to do something, even if I’m not exactly sure what it’s going to be, I was happy to sign off.”

Dafoe plays a ghost cop in this film, “but before I died, I was a B-list movie star.” The actor enjoyed getting to poke fun at himself. “You know, the narcissism of actors, things like that, I [could] play within this.” He’s got a face-altering look in this film, harkening back to his prosthetics for Poor Things: “People want to mess me up, I guess,” he says of the pattern of having his face often ruined for roles. “It took a while [to get the make-up on] because each piece is painted. And that’s another one of the pleasures of the movie is all the low-tech effects. It’s really handmade stuff. It’s really artigianale, it’s not the stuff that’s done in post [production]. It’s fun because it has a kind of playful, goofy aesthetic, but it still sticks with the horror genre.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was greeted with a warm standing ovation at this year’s Venice Film Festival from the crowd upon its world premiere on Wednesday night. The film is set for a Sep. 6 release in the U.S.