It would appear that Tim Burton is feeling very nostalgic these days. Last year he directed feature adaptations of both his favorite show as a kid (Dark Shadows) and one of his early short films (Frankenweenie) and now there are reports that he's in talks to direct a sequel to one of his earliest hits. Following up on rumors that we heard last night, The Wrap is now reporting that Burton is negotiating a deal that will have him back in the director's chair to make Beetlejuice 2,
Those who know their Burton history know that this actually isn't the first time that the director has been close to making a Beetlejuice sequel. Though it sounds like a joke, in 1990 Burton actually started working on a movie called Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian, which would see the Deetz family moving to the island state so that the father, Charles, could develop a resort that winds up being on the burial ground of a Hawaii sorcerer (the story concludes when Beetlejuice wins a surf contest using magic and saves the day). Both Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder were attached to star, but the director wound up getting distracted by Batman Returns and never came back to the project.
Rather than sending the ghost with the most to The Aloha State, instead a new adventure is being planned. Seth Grahame-Smith, who worked with Burton on the critically-scorned Dark Shadows and wrote the books "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" and "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," penned the screenplay for the project, though at this time no plot details are available. The best news we've heard about the sequel so far is that Keaton is expected to return in the title role (why would you bother making the movie otherwise?).
Part of Burton's decision to return to the world of Beetlejuice could be explained by the fact that the status of what was supposed to be his next project is up in the air. The director has been linked to an adaptation of the book Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children since 2011, and while that film has a release date set for July 31, 2015, it doesn't look like Burton is going to be the one to direct it.
If you're excited for Beetlejuice 2, however, the bad news is that you may have to wait a little while to see it. The Wrap says that the project definitely won't be the director's next project - though at this point it isn't exactly clear what will be his next. He is currently in post-production on Big Eyes, which is a biopic about painter Margaret Keane that stars Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. While expected to come out some time next year, that title doesn't currently have a release date.
