Tim Burton rose to fame after directing his 1988 oddball horror/comedy Beetlejuice — the same movie that made Michael Keaton a household name. Hot off that success, the duo quickly reunited on Burton's next film, a little arthouse flick called Batman.
Burton has often talked about revisiting Beetlejuice for a sequel, but until recently, nothing ever came of it. Perhaps thanks in part to Keaton's return to the A-list (hello, Birdman), work on a new Beetlejuice has begun in earnest, with Hollywood "it"-writer of the moment Seth Grahame-Smith currently hard at work on the script. Grahame-Smith is best known as the novelist behind Pride & Prejudice & Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Grahame-Smith revealed some new details about the movie. First and foremost, it will be a true sequel, aka Beetlejuice 2. The writer has no interest in rebooting the franchise with a new star in the title role, even though reboots are all the rage right now.
Secondly, the sequel movie won't rewind time. Instead, Beetlejuice 2 will catch up with the character here in the present day. There's no word on whether there will be room in the movie for return appearances by other stars of the original, like Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin or Winona Ryder. But Keaton will be back, and apparently the actor himself advised Grahame-Smith (likely when the two first met in February 2012) on how much Beetlejuice should appear in the film.
THR reports that Keaton's advice on the key to his character is "less is more." Keaton pointed out to Grahame-Smith that Beetlejuice doesn't show up in the original movie until the halfway point, and it sounds like Grahame-Smith agrees with this approach.
Nothing is known about the movie's plot.
