It may surprise some of you to know that there was actually a Beetlejuice sequel almost happened in the early 90s. Titled Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian (yes, I am fully aware how insane that sounds), the studio actually got both Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder to sign up on the condition that Tim Burton would be the director. Burton ended up getting distracted by another sequel - Batman Returns - and the project was killed. Apparently someone may have cried "Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse!" because the character could be coming back.
Deadline has learned that David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith, the duo behind Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, have signed a two-year development deal with Warner Bros. and one project that the pair may pick up is a sequel to Tim Burton's 1988 horror-comedy. According to the site, the idea is not to hit the restart button, but to pick the story up at a later point. The project is actually the second time that Grahme-Smith has worked on a Burton property, as he also wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Dark Shadows, starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Eva Green.
The article only suggests that the pair may pick up Beetlejuice 2 and it seems that there's nothing official on that front. It's very possible that Deadline is just reaching here and connecting dots between Grahame-Smith's Dark Shadows work and a Burton-related project in-development at the studio. It's nothing to get riled up about just yet, but if they do move forward with the sequel, let's hope that they can bring back Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Tim Burton. It simply can't be done without them.
