After two weeks andover $ 250 million in grosses , Beetlejuice Beetlejuiceis clearly a vast hit . But that was n’t always an obvious outcome . ready sequels to nearly40 - year - old movies is a gamble and Warner Bros. had to make some saucy moves to curb that risk and , at long last , direct the film to succeeder .

The feeling of makinga subsequence toBeetlejuicehas been in the ether for over a X . legion idea , scripts , and more had been developed and at one decimal point , Warner Bros. even thoughtthe sequel might be perfectfor its streaming inspection and repair Max ,   fit in tothe New York Times . That conclusion , however , was finally scrapped , mainly due to the moving picture ’s director , Tim Burton . “ That was never going to work for Tim , ” Pamela Abdy co - chair of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group , tell the Times . “ You ’re talking about a seer artist whose films demand to be seen on a big screen . ”

But once it was do on a big screen sacking , Warner Bros. count at the flick ’s purport budget and balked . Burton and his team wanted $ 147 million to make the subsequence , much of which went to make up its returning wizard and producers . Abdy and her co - chair Michael Deluca thought it was too much , but want to get back in the Burton business . They tell him if he could get the budget under $ 100 million , they ’d make it and release it stagily .

Beetlejuice is singing a sweet song after his second weekend.

Beetlejuice is singing a sweet song after his second weekend.Warner Bros.

Which is what materialise . After month of wheeling and transaction , the principal cast — which include Michael Keaton , Winona Ryder , Jenna Ortega , and Catherine O’Hara — all jibe to take less up front for a vainglorious payout based on the film ’s success . That got the budget down to $ 99 million and everyone was off to the races . Now , at about $ 265 million and counting after two week , that sure seems like the right decision .

In the remainder , all the gamble paid off for the studio apartment and it could n’t have number at a better clock time . Over the summer , it releasedFuriosa : A Mad Max Story , Horizon : An American Saga , andTrap , all of which flopped badly . That ’s in contrast to sooner in the year which take care huge successes fromGodzilla x Kong 2 , Dune Part Two , andWonka . Next up , there’sJoker 2followed byThe Lord of the Rings : The War of the Rohirrim . The former seems like a surefire hit while the latter , despite its massively pop IP , seems much wild . Which is to say the roller coaster will go on over at Warner Bros.

Want more io9 newsworthiness ? control out when to expect the latestMarvel , Star Wars , andStar Trekreleases , what ’s next for theDC Universe on moving picture and telecasting , and everything you take to know about the future ofDoctor Who .

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