After years of movies that didn’t quite connect, Tim Burton finally got his groove back with the belated sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. It feels like Tim Burton’s movie output during the 1980s and 1990s was like a miracle run. From 1985 to 1999, he was throwing out bangers like his Batman duology, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow and many more.
Burton managed to combine his unique visual style with a creepy comic tone that, for over a decade, audiences fell in love with. In the same way actors can be miscast, Burton felt ill-suited to direct 2001’s Planet of the Apes remake, which in turn kicked off a spotty run of projects.
Despite highlights like Big Fish, most of Burton’s post-2000s run fell into formulaic sameness. Each movie seemed to feature Johnny Depp painted white and doing a funny accent, a blaring Danny Elfman score and a feeling of indifference from the director himself. Of this period, Dark Shadows could be the director’s worst.
Burton doesn’t like repeating himself either, which is why Batman Returns feels so different from the original and how Beetlejuice Beetlejuice spent 36 years in development hell. It turns out audiences had been waiting on the “ghost with the most’s” return, as the sequel grossed $452 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo).
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Still Feels Like A Worthy Follow-Up 1 Year On
While there was excitement when Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was announced and that Burton was reuniting with key members of the original cast, there was also concern. Burton hadn’t truly knocked a movie out of the park in years, and the thought of him sleepwalking through such a highly anticipated sequel was simply unthinkable.
That’s why it was a relief when Beetlejuice Beetlejuice proved to be such a delight. It obviously lacked the freshness of the original, but Keaton was still perfect as the тιтular bio-exorcist, and it felt like Burton was truly having a blast behind the camera.
It had the giddy energy and invention that powered the first Beetlejuice, while newcomers like Willem Dafoe and Jenna Ortega slotted in very naturally. The plot is fairly forgettable, but it’s not like Burton’s sense of story was ever his strong point as a filmmaker either.
Tim Burton Was Struggling On The Big Screen Before Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
More than anything, it felt great to see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in a theater and think “This rocks.” There had been a sense before the follow-up arrived that the Burton who directed such unique, idiosyncratic projects like Edward Scissorhands was long gone and would never come back.
Movies like his live-action Dumbo or Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children felt like ᴀssignments, while even Burton’s more personal projects like Big Eyes didn’t click. Audiences became burned out on most of the filmmaker’s trademarks too, and Burton admits he almost quit the business after a bad experience making Dumbo.
Maybe some critics and fans thought that would be for the best, but Beetlejuice Beetlejuice underlined that the artist inside Burton is alive and well. He needed to recharge his creative batteries and reclaim his voice, but he’s more than capable of producing work that is satisfying to both audiences and himself.
The original concept for a sequel during the 1990s was Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian, which was rejected after various screenplays failed to crack the premise.
It feels like Burton was never terribly comfortable with the business side of the movie business or compromising his vision in the name of commercial success. It felt like he had fallen into that mode for much of his 2000s work, even though the occasional gem would still come through like Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
With Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Burton found himself in a situation where he was literally the best person for the job, and could just cut loose. The result: his most purely enjoyable film in over a decade.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Revitalized Tim Burton Movies, But What Happens Next?
While Warner Bros is reportedly very keen on a third Beetlejuice, it might take another 30 years to convince Burton that’s a good idea. It also feels like he could wake up one day and decide he’s had enough with Hollywood and retire to focus on his own artwork.
That day is hopefully far into the future, as for now Burton is still a key creative part of Netflix’s hit Wednesday series, which helped cement Jenna Ortega’s stardom. Burton is also set to direct a mysterious animated project and a remake of 1950s sci-fi movie Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman.
Margot Robbie is set to take on the тιтle role, with the original involving a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage growing to giant size after an alien encounter. The film was already remade by Christopher Guest (For Your Consideration), starring Daryl Hannah in the lead.
Considering Burton’s love of old B-movies (he’s stated that Dracula A.D. 1972 and The Omega Man are among his favorite films), he’d be perfect to bring a modern slant to the concept. Whether it actually happens is another question, since Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman has yet to head before cameras.
Still, there’s renewed faith in the filmmaker following Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s critical and commercial success. Moving forward, he will hopefully be a little more selective with the projects he takes on and only focus on material he’s pᴀssionate about.
Source: Box Office Mojo
