Beetlejuice Sequel Haunts Box Office with $110M Debut, Trailblazing Fall Season

By
Aleksandar K.
-
12

After a 36-year wait, the spirit is unleashed once again in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” amassing $110 million in its premiere weekend. The long-anticipated Tim Burton sequel claims the third-best opening weekend of the year, trailing only behind the box office giants “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

Michael Keaton makes a return as the titular ghost, along with Catherine O’Hara and Winona Ryder reprising their roles as Delia and Lydia Deetz. The film introduces newcomer Jenna Ortega as Astrid, Lydia’s daughter, and features Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci, and Justin Theroux as part of its ensemble cast.


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The Warner Bros. sequel now stands as the second-highest grossing September movie ever, outpaced only by 2017’s “It,” which opened with $123 million. The 2019 follow-up “It Chapter 2” previously held the second spot with a $91 million opening.

The original “Beetlejuice,” released in 1988, earned a modest $8 million in its debut weekend but later achieved cult classic status, grossing $77 million domestically.

“There’s life in the afterlife,” remarked Jeff Goldstein, distribution chief for Warner Bros. The studio had anticipated an opening weekend of $80 million to $90 million for the $100 million-budget film. With this strong start, Goldstein mentioned the film “may get really long legs” as Halloween approaches.

Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, noted that September is “not known as a hotbed of $100 million blockbuster debuts” and attributed the film’s success to Burton’s distinctive style and its star-studded cast. Ortega, famous for her role in the Netflix series “Wednesday,” likely drew younger viewers.

“If all this was were a nostalgia play for people who saw the first movie, it wouldn’t really necessarily work,” Dergarabedian explained. “Part of the magic formula of ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ is having a great cast of a revered generation of actors and then having young actors who are making their own mark.”

The thrilling opening weekend sets an energized tone for the fall movie season, following a sluggish Labor Day weekend and a quiet August where holdover films dominated.

Besides “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” “Deadpool & Wolverine” secured the second spot on the box office charts, earning $7.2 million in its seventh weekend, bringing its domestic total to $614 million. The Dennis Quaid-led biopic “Reagan” impressed by landing in third place during its second weekend, with earnings of $5.2 million.

“Alien: Romulus” and “It Ends With Us,” both summer holdovers, came in fourth and fifth, respectively. The sci-fi horror film garnered $3.9 million, while the romance drama took in $3.8 million.

The only other new release to crack the weekend box office rankings was “The Greatest of All Time,” an Indian Tamil-language science fiction action movie. Starring Joseph Vijay and directed by Venkat Prabhu, it made an estimated $2 million.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore, are as follows:

  1. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” $110 million.
  2. “Deadpool & Wolverine,” $7.2 million.
  3. “Reagan,” $5.2 million.
  4. “Alien: Romulus,” $3.9 million.
  5. “It Ends With Us,” $3.8 million.
  6. “The Forge,” $2.9 million.
  7. “Twisters,” $2.3 million.
  8. “Blink Twice,” $2.1 million.
  9. “The Greatest of All Time,” $2 million.
  10. “Despicable Me 4,” $1.8 million.

Final domestic figures will be released Monday.