Box Office: ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ Scares Up Near-Record $111M Domestic Opening
Tim Burton’s long-awaited sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is off to a rip-roaring start at the domestic box office as if no time had passed between now and when the first film graced the big screen 36 years ago.
From Warner Bros., the first event pic of the fall season opened to a monstrous $111 million, coming in on the high end of expectations and even ahead of Sunday’s estimated $110 million. Whether it can successfully revive the franchise will depend on its staying power.
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There’s also the question of overseas, where the original film didn’t play in theaters so doesn’t have the same nostalgic factor (it has developed some markets including the U.K and Australia). Beetlejuice Beetlejuice‘s foreign launch of $35 million from 69 markets is notably behind its domestic showing, but the hope now is that it picks up momentum after placing No. 1 in numerous territories, and also has yet to open in such major markets as France, Germany and Japan. It’s showing promise in Europe and Latin America; the U.K. led all overseas territories with $9.6 million, followed by Mexico with $6.5 million — and also did a tidy $2.6 million in Australia. (Warners knew it would never be a big player in most of Asia.)
In North America, there was plenty to celebrate. The campy comedy-horror movie delivered the second-biggest September opening of all time behind fellow Warners’ 2017 R-rated Stephen King adaptation It ($123 million), not adjusted for inflation. And it was a career-best opening for Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Monica Bellucci, Justin Theroux and Jenna Ortega.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice sees the return of Michael Keaton as the titular ghoulish prankster, alongside Ryder and O’Hara. Franchise newcomers include Ortega, Theroux, Bellucci, Arthur Conti and Willem Dafoe. This time around, Lydia Deetz (Ryder) and her family return home after a tragedy only to find that her daughter, Astrid (Ortega), has opened a portal to the afterlife. (The teaser trailer appropriately features Keaton declaring to an astonished Ryder, “The Juice is loose.”)
The movie is appealing over all age groups and families, a testament to the first film’s cult classic status. It’s skewing female by anywhere from 54 percent to 58 percent and is playing well in all parts of the country. More than a third of the gross is coming from Imax and other large-format screens. Another boost: Hispanic consumers, who are the most frequent moviegoers. Ortega, star of the hit Netflix series Wednesday, was another secret weapon in helping to winning over younger females. (Burton is among Wednesday‘s exec producers and directs multiple episodes.)
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice received a B+ CinemaScore, on par with a fresh Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 76 percent and a notch up from the B CinemaScore given to the 1988 film. (It isn’t uncommon for horror films or titles with horror elements to land lower CinemaScore grades.)
“Tapping into the maniacally playful spirit of one of his enduring golden era hits, the director seems reinvigorated. He serves up comparable tonic as well for two actors who were a big part not just of the original Beetlejuice but also of Burton’s Batman movies and Edward Scissorhands: Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, respectively,” writes The Hollywood Reporter chief film critic David Rooney in his review.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice eclipsed the previous second-biggest September opening of all time, 2019’s It Chapter Two ($91.1 million), followed by Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ($75.4 million), which was released during the pandemic in 2021. After that, the next biggest September opening is in the mid-$50 million range.
The sequel cost a reported $100 million to make before a major marketing spend that included staging the movie’s world premiere at the glitzy Venice Film Festival.
Burton directed the sequel from a script by Wednesday showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, with Seth Grahame-Smith credited for his work on the film’s story.
The first Beetlejuice grossed $74 million at the domestic box office — a huge sum at the time — or more than $195 million when adjusted for inflation.
No other major studio film dared open opposite Beetlejuice 2, which is playing in 4,575 locations. The only other new wide offering is indie distributor A24’s psychological horror pic The Front Room failing to find its groove, opening in tenth place with $1.7 million. If there was any solace, it’s that traffic was better than expected on Saturday, when it looked like the film might only open to $1.4 million.
Back at the top of the chart, Deadpool & Wolverine placed No. 2 in its seventh weekend with $7.2 million domestically for a global cume of $1.257 million. The indie Ronald Reagan biopic Reagan followed in third place with a solid $5.2 million for a 10-day domestic cume of $18.5 million and Alien: Romulus with $4 million for hefty global total of $314.4 million, the best showing for the franchise behind Prometheus.
It Ends With Us rounded out the top five with another $3.8 million as it leapt past the $300 million globally.
In other news, Disney became the first Hollywood studio of 2024 to gross $4 billion in global ticket sales, thanks to billion-dollar babies Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine. Alien: Romulus, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes have also prospered, among other titles.
Sept. 8, 7:15 a.m. Updated with revised estimates.
Sept. 9, 10:00 a.m. Updated with Monday actuals for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
This story was originally published Sept. 7 at 9:14 a.m.
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