Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Oct 21, 2013 18:50:25 GMT -6
It’s been a long time coming, but Tim Burton and Michael Keaton may be ready to return to the “Beetlejuice” franchise.
Burton is in talks to return as director, with Keaton also in talks to reprise his role as everyone’s favorite ghoul.
Seth Grahame Smith penned the script and will produce with his partner David Katzenberg through their KatzSmith Productions. Grahame-Smith recently tweeted that he had big news coming, which started stirring speculation as to what it could be.
A handful of insiders close to the project had said Keaton had been interested in returning to the role after Warner Bros. announced plans to go forward with the sequel, but the Burton news is sure to raise eyebrows.
Burton is not big on sequels (his last one was 1992′s “Batman Returns”), so when this film was first announced, most didn’t expect him to return as helmer. Burton is currently filming “Big Eyes” with Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams but had not committed to his next project.
Plus, Burton has a good relationship with Grahame-Smith from when the former came on as a producer to the latter’s adaptation of “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” which may have opened the door to Burton returning as a director.
The WME-repped Burton is also eyeing his Fox project “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” with one source saying it could possibly go before “Beetlejuice 2.” Keaton is repped by ICM Partners.
The duo also collaborated on last year’s “Dark Shadows,” starring Johnny Depp.
There was talk 20 years ago about a script called Beetlejuice Goes to Hawaii, but it never was made.
In 1990, Burton hired Jonathan Gems to write a sequel titled Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian. "Tim thought it would be funny to match the surfing backdrop of a beach movie with some sort of German Expressionism, because they're totally wrong together", Gems reflected. The story followed the Deetz family moving to Hawaii, where Charles is developing a resort. They soon discover that his company is building on the burial ground of an ancient Hawaiian Kahuna. The spirit comes back from the afterlife to cause trouble, and Beetlejuice becomes a hero by winning a surf contest with magic. Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder agreed to do the film, on the condition that Burton directed, but he became distracted with Batman Returns.
Burton was still interested in Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian in early 1991. Impressed with Daniel Waters' work on Heathers, Burton approached him for a rewrite. However, he eventually signed Waters to write the script for Batman Returns. By August 1993, producer David Geffen hired Pamela Norris (Troop Beverly Hills, Saturday Night Live) to rewrite. Warner Bros. approached Kevin Smith in 1996 to rewrite the script, though Smith turned down the offer in favor of Superman Lives. Smith responded with, "Didn't we say all we needed to say in the first Beetlejuice? Must we go tropical?" In March 1997, Gems released a statement saying "The Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian script is still owned by The Geffen Film Company and it will likely never get made. You really couldn't do it now anyway. Winona is too old for the role, and the only way they could make it would be to totally recast it."
In September 2011, Warner Bros. hired Seth Grahame-Smith, who collaborated with Burton on Dark Shadows and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, to write and produce a sequel to Beetlejuice. Grahame-Smith signed on with the intention of doing "a story that is worthy of us actually doing this for real, something that is not just about cashing in, is not just about forcing a remake or a reboot down someone's throat." He was also adamant that Keaton would return and that Warner Bros. would not recast the role. Burton and Keaton have not officially signed on but will return if the script is good enough. He met with Keaton in February 2012, "We talked for a couple of hours and talked about big picture stuff. It’s a priority for Warner Bros. It’s a priority for Tim. [Michael]’s been wanting to do it for 20 years and he’ll talk to anybody about it who will listen." The story will be set in a real time frame from 1988; “This will be a true 26 or 27 years later sequel. What’s great is that for Beetlejuice, time means nothing in the afterlife, but the world outside is a different story.” On October 18, 2013, it was reported by Schmoes Know that the screenplay for the sequel is complete and that Burton is looking to return as its director, hoping to find time to film both the second Beetlejuice installment and adaptation of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children which he was attached to earlier. It was later confirmed by The Wrap that Burton is indeed in talks to direct the sequel with Michael Keaton attached to star.
Burton is in talks to return as director, with Keaton also in talks to reprise his role as everyone’s favorite ghoul.
Seth Grahame Smith penned the script and will produce with his partner David Katzenberg through their KatzSmith Productions. Grahame-Smith recently tweeted that he had big news coming, which started stirring speculation as to what it could be.
A handful of insiders close to the project had said Keaton had been interested in returning to the role after Warner Bros. announced plans to go forward with the sequel, but the Burton news is sure to raise eyebrows.
Burton is not big on sequels (his last one was 1992′s “Batman Returns”), so when this film was first announced, most didn’t expect him to return as helmer. Burton is currently filming “Big Eyes” with Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams but had not committed to his next project.
Plus, Burton has a good relationship with Grahame-Smith from when the former came on as a producer to the latter’s adaptation of “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” which may have opened the door to Burton returning as a director.
The WME-repped Burton is also eyeing his Fox project “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” with one source saying it could possibly go before “Beetlejuice 2.” Keaton is repped by ICM Partners.
The duo also collaborated on last year’s “Dark Shadows,” starring Johnny Depp.
There was talk 20 years ago about a script called Beetlejuice Goes to Hawaii, but it never was made.
In 1990, Burton hired Jonathan Gems to write a sequel titled Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian. "Tim thought it would be funny to match the surfing backdrop of a beach movie with some sort of German Expressionism, because they're totally wrong together", Gems reflected. The story followed the Deetz family moving to Hawaii, where Charles is developing a resort. They soon discover that his company is building on the burial ground of an ancient Hawaiian Kahuna. The spirit comes back from the afterlife to cause trouble, and Beetlejuice becomes a hero by winning a surf contest with magic. Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder agreed to do the film, on the condition that Burton directed, but he became distracted with Batman Returns.
Burton was still interested in Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian in early 1991. Impressed with Daniel Waters' work on Heathers, Burton approached him for a rewrite. However, he eventually signed Waters to write the script for Batman Returns. By August 1993, producer David Geffen hired Pamela Norris (Troop Beverly Hills, Saturday Night Live) to rewrite. Warner Bros. approached Kevin Smith in 1996 to rewrite the script, though Smith turned down the offer in favor of Superman Lives. Smith responded with, "Didn't we say all we needed to say in the first Beetlejuice? Must we go tropical?" In March 1997, Gems released a statement saying "The Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian script is still owned by The Geffen Film Company and it will likely never get made. You really couldn't do it now anyway. Winona is too old for the role, and the only way they could make it would be to totally recast it."
In September 2011, Warner Bros. hired Seth Grahame-Smith, who collaborated with Burton on Dark Shadows and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, to write and produce a sequel to Beetlejuice. Grahame-Smith signed on with the intention of doing "a story that is worthy of us actually doing this for real, something that is not just about cashing in, is not just about forcing a remake or a reboot down someone's throat." He was also adamant that Keaton would return and that Warner Bros. would not recast the role. Burton and Keaton have not officially signed on but will return if the script is good enough. He met with Keaton in February 2012, "We talked for a couple of hours and talked about big picture stuff. It’s a priority for Warner Bros. It’s a priority for Tim. [Michael]’s been wanting to do it for 20 years and he’ll talk to anybody about it who will listen." The story will be set in a real time frame from 1988; “This will be a true 26 or 27 years later sequel. What’s great is that for Beetlejuice, time means nothing in the afterlife, but the world outside is a different story.” On October 18, 2013, it was reported by Schmoes Know that the screenplay for the sequel is complete and that Burton is looking to return as its director, hoping to find time to film both the second Beetlejuice installment and adaptation of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children which he was attached to earlier. It was later confirmed by The Wrap that Burton is indeed in talks to direct the sequel with Michael Keaton attached to star.
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