After more than three decades Beetlejuice fans were all incredibly excited when it was finally confirmed that a Beetlejuice sequel was finally happening. Several of the members of the original Beetlejuice cast would return, and while everybody seemed quite excited to reprise their roles, it seems that Beetlejuice himself was actually quite nervous.
The original Beetlejuice was a massive hit, which is exactly why fans had wanted a sequel for so long. Speaking with Today, Michael Keaton admitted he was quite nervous about playing Beetlejuice again because he knew expectations would be high and he was afraid of letting everybody down. Keaton said…
I was nervous going in, because you don't want to mess it up. Can I do this and not disappoint everyone, frankly? And so when I saw [myself in the mirror in costume] I thought, 'There we are.' The story is actually a really, really solid story. Everyone's so good in it that the pressure was off me a little bit.
In a sequel to Beetlejuice, the guy playing Beetlejuice is going to be expected to bring it. Keaton knew that and was nervous about the pressure, but in the end, it seemed he felt better because he knew the entire movie wouldn’t ride on his performance. He compliments the rest of the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice cast as well as the story that was written for being good enough that not all eyes were on him.
Beetlejuice barely appears in the original film, which shows just what a presence Michael Keaton has in that movie that he’s no less memorable despite being in the movie for only a handful of minutes. He doesn’t overstay his welcome in the sequel either, which makes the performances of the rest of the cast that much more important.
Michael Keaton recently told us that another of his classic roles he might enjoy going back to was Multiplicity. Now that's a role that would require a lot of work from Keaton if he were to attempt to recreate that success.
Having that script was likely the thing that really pushed the Beetlejuice sequel to happen. There had been an idea following the original for a sequel called Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian that was…just as weird as that title sounds. In the end, it didn’t happen, and while we’d get regular rumors of Beetlejuice 2 maybe happening, nothing ever came of it.
It certainly appears that everything came together quite nicely. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has been a solid hit, having an opening weekend of over $100 million domestically and it's made over $375 million worldwide. While Tim Burton has downplayed making another sequel, it’s difficult to imagine that the studio won’t be considering such a thing following success like that.