It's always risky reviving a beloved movie series long after the fact. The original Beetlejuice movie, about a malevolent spirit (Michael Keaton) who causes chaos for a family, came out back in 1988. Now, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has debuted in theaters, with original cast members like Keaton and Winona Ryder (Lydia Deetz) returning for the occasion, along with newcomers like Jenna Ortega as Astrid. Could lightning strike twice?
That's a big yes. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice swept up nearly $150 million from around the world ($111 million domestic) in its opening weekend, already handily beating its budget of $100 million. According to The A.V. Club, it's the second best opening weekend in director Tim Burton's career, beaten only by Alice in Wonderland, which made $116 million domestically back in 2010 (let the record show that Alice cost twice what Beetlejuice 2 did, if you're keeping some kind of score at home).
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is unique in that it uses mostly practical rather than computer-generated effects, very uncommon for a major spectacle movie like this today. I dunno if that contributed to the box office bonanza, but it's nice to see. Here's the top 10 movies for the weekend, with just the domestic totals:
- Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, $110,000,000
- Deadpool & Wolverine, $7,200,000
- Reagan, $5,231,440
- Alien: Romulus, $3,910,000
- It Ends With Us, $3,750,000
- The Forge, $2,935,000
- Twisters, $2,250,000
- Blink Twice, $2,114,769
- Despicable Me 4, $1,800,000
- The Front Room, $1,663,954
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is getting solid reviews from both critics and audiences as well, so beyond nostalgia and effects, we actually have a decent movie on our hands, which can only help. I also imagine that the presence of Jenna Ortega is a boon for the movie. Ortega blew up as Wednesday Addams on the Netflix show Wednesday, playing a disaffected, gothy character not unlike Lydia Deetz from the original Beetlejuice. Casting her as Lydia's daughter in the new movie was perfect; high-profile casting that actually made sense.
Jenna Ortega teases multiple cello scenes in Wednesday season 2
Ortega will keep this role going with a second season of Wednesday, which is also directed by Burton and due out on Netflix sometime next year. She recently talked to The Direct about filming multiple cello scenes for the second season, following up on the scene in the series premiere where she played "Paint It Black" (because of course she did) on the instrument:
"We’re shooting the second season right now, so I think it was maybe two weeks ago I pulled a good portion of my hair out for a cello piece. We shot that one-and-done, and then we’re moving on to the next one, so I am currently playing, never said I was good."
With Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in theaters and Wednesday season 2 on the way, Jenna Ortega seems pretty unstoppable right now. Good for her.
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