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After 36 years, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the sequel to Tim Burton's iconic 1988 horror-comedy, is finally in cinemas and well, it's proving to be such a hit that fans are already itching for a third movie. (For obvious reasons, some people just want it to happen so Warner Bros. can call it Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice).
Hopes and reality, though, are two very different things – a lesson Michael Keaton's titular bio-exorcist learns the hard way in his pursuit of Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) in the new flick. So, is there any chance of a Beetlejuice 3 actually happening? We weigh in below.
We breakdown the final few moments of the follow-up, which admittedly do kind of suggest there could be more to explore in this world, as well as comments from Burton and the like regarding the future of the franchise... So, what are you waiting for? Scroll on down, and we'll chew on a dog!
How does Beetlejuice Beetlejuice set up a potential sequel?
Given that it took the best part of four decades to make a second film, we never really bought into the idea that a third was on the horizon. That was, until, we actually saw how the film ends...
After helping rescue Astrid (Jenna Ortega) from the Afterlife, Beetlejuice holds Lydia to her deal to marry him and co-opts hers and Rory's Halloween-night wedding for their long-awaited nuptials. The ceremony, though, is interrupted by a whole host of characters from Delores, Beetlejuice's vengeful ex-wife, Wolf Jackson, a dead B-movie actor, and well, a giant (and, more importantly, hungry) sandworm.
All of the chaos provides the Deetz women to shout Beetlejuice's name three times, banishing him to the Afterlife once again.
Later, seemingly free of Beetlejuice (and her leech-of-a-boyfriend Rory), Lydia embraces her new lease on life and daydreams of a future with Astrid: globetrotting to Dracula's castle, witnessing the youngster getting married, and then watching her give birth to her first grandchild. The visions take a horrifying turn, though, when Astrid welcomes a Beetlejuice baby, which causes gooey carnage before making a beeline for Lydia. With that, she wakes up in fright in bed, confirming that everything we've just witnessed didn't actually happen. But the nightmare isn't over yet, as she imagines Beetlejuice lying next to her.
Now, you can read this in three ways; it's simply a nod to the fact that Lydia will never really escape the Ghost with the Most. He is already dead, after all, so it'd be pretty tough – though not impossible – to get rid of him for good. It's just a joke. Or, it's a not-so-subtle hint that the green-haired ghoul will return at some point.
What has Tim Burton and co said about a Beetlejuice 3?
"We haven't talked about where it could go from here, we just talked about making one really good movie," producer Tommy Harper previously told Total Film magazine, which is sure to please those wanting more. "Make it the best you can, and then anything could happen."
Burton, however, is a little less enthusiastic, having joked to The Hollywood Reporter recently: "Well, if [the same] time frame goes on, I'll be about 100. So maybe. I doubt it."
"Why'd you stop at three?" Keaton joked to Fandango back in early August. "For a long time, [Tim] and I had said don't touch it. Just leave it alone, let it be its own thing, and it took us such a long time to find something where we thought, 'Yeah, maybe this one.' But I always thought the second one should've been called Beetlejuice Beetlejuice; it just made sense."
"I feel like the world might explode if a third movie gets made," Ortega laughed in the same interview. "Who knows? Maybe in another... how many years. It would be fun. But I will say, one of the special things about this movie is that it's so original and so absurd, and feels like such a fever dream, that I think there's so much originality that could still be found in that world. It's a very flexible environment."
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is in cinemas now. For more,
