Monstrous Anticipation: Movie That Boasted About Lack of CGI Is Tracking for a Huge Opening
What lessons will Hollywood glean from 2024’s biggest hits?
After an objectively brutal 2023 that saw many of Hollywood’s biggest studios going back to the drawing boards with empty pockets, 2024 has seen some genuine hits.
The oft-beleaguered Disney put out “Inside Out 2” this year, and the movie has been a critical and commercial smash hit. Per Forbes, it’s actually the most successful animated film — ever.
For those looking for a little more bombast, iconic movie monster Godzilla notched another big hit with “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.”
The ongoing success of Marvel’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” is also another certified hit of 2024.
And now, it appears the wittily named “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” will be joining that cadre of successful films — despite still being weeks away from release.
(In the movies, one can get Beetlejuice to appear by speaking his name three times.)
According to multiple reports, the sequel to 1988’s “Beetlejuice” is tracking for a hefty $80 million opening.
Deadline originally reported an expected opening of $65 to $75 million, and has since revised it to $80 million, “but don’t be surprised if it does more for there’s too much fuel on this building box office bonfire.”
The film, which can best be described as a dark humor/horror-comedy, focuses on the titular “Beetlejuice” (spelled “Betelgeuse” in-film), a “bio-exorcist” who specializes in scaring away humans so ghosts can haunt a house in peace.
Starring Michael Keaton and directed by Tim Burton, the first film was a smash success. Per Box Office Mojo, “Beetlejuice” was the 10th-highest grossing film of 1988, grossing over an impressive $73 million.
But that was also over 30 years ago. There are going to be countless moviegoers watching “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” without any real frame of reference to the original film, because the franchise has just been out of the public eye for so long.
(There was also a popular but short-lived cartoon series based on the movie that lasted from 1989 to 1991 … so it’s still not very recent.)
So how is the movie garnering this sort of box office goodwill without having a massive studio or a legendary kaiju attached to it?
First and foremost, the respective popularity of Keaton and Burton can’t be overstated. The former has as eclectic and beloved a filmography as any actor still in Hollywood, while the latter is generally considered a bona fide auteur.
But right behind the star power of those two might very well be the old-school sensibilities that Keaton and Burton both bring to filmmaking.
In fact, Keaton was lauded back in February when he spoke about his deliberate request to include as little computer-generated imagery as possible in the otherwise fantastical movie.
Speaking to People magazine, Keaton was asked about any concerns that the sequel film could turn into a “CGI extravaganza,” given some of the zanier elements of the franchise.
“The one thing that [director Tim Burton] and I decided on early, early, early on from the beginning, if we ever did it again, I was totally not interested in doing something where there was too much technology,” Keaton told the outlet.
(Keaton, 72, has worked with Burton on both “Beetlejuice” and a pair of “Batman” flicks.)
The longtime actor noted: “It had to feel handmade.”
“What made it fun was watching somebody in the corner actually holding something up for you, to watch everybody in the shrunken head room and say, ‘Those are people under there, operating these things, trying to get it right,’” Keaton said.
And a cursory glance at the movie’s latest trailer does show some restraint when it comes to CGI:
(The film obviously won’t be devoid of all CGI.)
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” will release Sept. 4 overseas, before debuting in America on Sept. 6.
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