Beetlejuice 2 director Tim Burton has revealed that filming for the sequel was “99 per cent done” just before the SAG-AFTRA strike shut the production down.
The follow up to 1988’s Beetlejuice began filming in London in May of this year, but was put on indefinite pause once the SAG-AFTRA strike began on July 14. Speaking of the production shutdown in a recent interview with The Independent, Burton revealed that filming would have wrapped in less than two days were it not for the strike.
“Literally, it was a day and a half,” Burton said. “I feel grateful we got what we got… We know what we have to do. It is 99 percent done.” Burton went on to reveal that he “really enjoyed” directing the sequel, saying the experience “was kind of like going back to why I liked making movies”.
Despite the delay, production company Warner Bros. has set a tentative release date for Beetlejuice 2 for September 6, 2024. While details around the film’s plot remain scarce, it has been confirmed that Michael Keaton will reprise the titular role alongside fellow returning castmates Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara.
New cast members include Willem Dafoe, Justin Theroux and Jenna Ortega, the last of whom previously worked with Burton for Netflix’s The Addams Family spinoff, Wednesday.
Rumours of a Beetlejuice sequel have been circulating since as early as 2012, with Keaton, Ryder and Burton each expressing interest in the project for years before its official announcement in February of last year.
Beetlejuice 2 was one of multiple films and television shows to be halted by the concurrent SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, with fellow titles like Hacks, Stranger Things, Severance and Abbott Elementary each announcing production shutdowns as a result of the union action.
Meanwhile, a host of A24 films — including Ortega’s upcoming Death Of A Unicorn — were given permission to continue filming, since the production house is not a part of AMPTP companies SAG-AFTRA is striking against.
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