‘Beetlejuice 2’ Scares Up 3-Minute Venice Standing Ovation for Michael Keaton and Jenna Ortega’s Performances in Kooky Sequel
The 2024 Venice Film Festival got off to a green-haired, gothic bang on Wednesday night with Tim Burton’s long-awaited sequel “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” which opened the festival with a three-minute standing ovation.
The clapping would have most likely gone on much longer but the Venice programmers quickly dimmed the lights as Burton and his cast — led by Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’ Hara and Jenna Ortega — took a bow and lapped up the applause. Keaton, who reprises his role as Beetlejuice, snapped a quick selfie on his phone of the Venice crowd cheering for his iconic anti-hero.
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“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” marks the beginning of the 81st annual Venice Film Festival. Hundreds of fans lined up outside the Sala Grande Theatre on the Lido, as temperatures in Venice climbed to 90 degrees.
But this cast didn’t break a sweat. On the red carpet, Keaton and Burton drew loud hoots of applause as they signed dozens of autographs (though Burton refused a female fans’ request to draw “my next tattoo” in a notebook she was holding). O’Hara and Ryder made their inside the theater without spending as much time interacting with the locals.
Ortega, looking radiant in a red Dior gown, soaked up the spotlight as the newcomer to the franchise, taking photographs with well-wishers inside the lobby of the theater. As the program started, the 21-year-old star led a standing ovation for Sigourney Weaver, who accepted an honorary Golden Lion before “Beetlejuice 2” began.
Warner Bros.’ fantasy comedy horror will land in theaters 36 years after Burton’s cult 1988 original, with Keaton, Ryder and O’Hara reprising their roles alongside new cast members Ortega, Monica Bellucci, Justin Theroux and Willem Dafoe. The film sees the Deetz family return to their old family home, this time with Ryder’s rebellious teenage daughter (Ortega) who discovers a model of the town in the attic that opens the portal to the afterlife and releases Keaton’s Betelgeuse once again.
The long-in-the-works sequel was first floated as a possibility after the first film, which became a critical and commercial success and grossed $74.7 million. Instead, Burton went on to direct 1989’s “Batman” and its 1992 sequel “Batman Returns,” both starring Keaton as the Caped Crusader (in a performance that defined modern-day comic book movies).
Several ideas went back and forth for a second “Beetlejuice” film — including a story in which Beetlejuice goes to Hawaii — before Seth Grahame-Smith came on as a writer in 2011. But it wasn’t until early 2022 that the sequel was formally announced, this time being produced by Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment alongside Warner Bros.
The wait appears to have paid off, as early tracking reports have “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” estimated to earn $65-80 million in its opening weekend in the U.S.
Speaking to Variety days before Venice, Burton said that “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” had saved him from retirement after making 2019’s live-action “Dumbo,” which received mediocre reviews.
“I thought that could have been it, really. I could have retired, or become… well, I wouldn’t have become an animator again,” he said. “But this did reenergize me. Oftentimes, when you get into Hollywood, you try to be responsible to what you’re doing with the budget and everything else but sometimes you might lose yourself a little bit. This reinforced the feeling for me that it’s important that I do what I want to do, because then everybody will benefit.”
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