With a lot of the same talent both in front of and behind the camera, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is always bound to be similar to Wednesday — but it has a few specific references to the hit Netflix show. Released 36 years after the original film, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was Tim Burton’s follow-up project to Wednesday Season 1, which saw his long-awaited return to the macabre (and led to his biggest success in years). Burton knocked Wednesday Showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar to write the sequel’s script and cast Wednesday Addams herself, Jenna Ortega, to play Lydia Detz’s rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid.
Bring in Ortega and the writers behind Wednesday Was a smart move, because it ensured that Beetlejuice 2 Not only brought in nostalgic fans of the first film, but also brought Wednesdays massive fan base. Part of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice‘s blockbuster box office success can be attributed to the Wednesday Go-ups, because it’s basically a big screen offshoot of Wednesday In all but name. Beetlejuice 2 Don’t just share a spooky vibe and a twisted sense of humor with Wednesday; It has a few specific similarities with the Netflix series, like a creepy boarding school and an eccentric dance scene.
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Jenna Ortega plays a dark, moody high schooler
Astrid Deetz is essentially Wednesday 2.0
Ortega’s casting in the main role is one of the most obvious parallels between Wednesday And Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Not only does Ortega direct the cast of both projects with plenty of Gen Z star power; The two characters have a lot in common. They are both dark, moody, misanthropic high school students who have very little interest in making friends or participating in their studies. They both have morbid hobbies and interests: Wednesday is obsessed with the Bermuda Triangle, while Astrid enjoys re-reading the bleak literature of Fyodor Dostoevsky over and over again, reliving his protagonist’s suffering.
Ortega has a very similar delivery style for both characters’ lines, with a dry, deadpan approach to the humor. This makes the two performances very similar – practically indistinguishable apart from the different names of the characters – but since each character’s lines are written by the same writers, they open up to the same kind of delivery. In many ways, Astrid has been characterized as Wednesday 2.0. She was conceived as a new version of her mother Lydia for a new generation of moviegoers, but in execution, the creation ended up morphing into a carbon copy of Wednesday.
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The story kicks off in a creepy boarding school
Astrid’s boarding school has a lot in common with Nevermore Academy
Not only do Wednesday and Astrid have a similar dismissive attitude towards their high school studies; They both go to similar high schools, too. They both attend creepy boarding schools in giant, creaky, old mansions. Wednesday attends Nevermore Academy, a school specifically designated for students with paranormal abilities, where her roommate is a werewolf, her principal is a shapeshifter, and her classmates include a siren, a gorgon, and a vampire. Astrid’s school is more of a regular prep school; She is the only student with a supernatural power, and she doesn’t even know she has it until she leaves.
in both Wednesday And Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceThe boarding school serves as the catalyst for the story. in WednesdayThe boarding school is where the mysterious hide creature begins picking off its prey one by one; in Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceThe boarding school is where Astrid’s mother and grandmother pick her up to take her to her grandfather’s funeral, effectively rounding out the cast and getting the sequel’s plot into full swing. But where Wednesday stay at boarding school, Beetlejuice 2 Quickly leave this setting behind to take the franchise back to the spooky little town of Winter River.
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Jenna Ortega can’t get along with her classmates
Both Wednesday and Astrid are loners who despise the popular kids
in both Wednesday And Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceOrtega’s characters do not get along with their classmates. Wednesday and Astrid are both loners who have no interest in making friends and despise the popular kids. This is not the case in Ortega’s entire filmography. in Stuck in the middleHer character Harley Diaz has a best friend named Ali. in Miller’s girlHer character Cairo Sweet has a best friend named Winnie who she confides in about her affair. in the scream movies, her character Tara Carpenter has an active social life with a large circle of close friends who care deeply about her.
But neither Wednesday nor Astrid are as socially active as Ortega’s other characters. They are both shown to be lone wolves who have ambivalence or even hostility towards their fellow students. The first episode of Wednesday Kicks off with the title character unleashing a swarm of hungry piranhas in the school swimming pool in an attempt to kill the bullies who locked her brother Pugsley in a locker. When Astrid is first introduced in Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceShe is pranked by a group of popular girls, which she proceeds to befriend one of Beetlejuice 2s best quotes.
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Delores’ hand crawls independently like Wednesday’s thing
It’s a subtle reference to Wednesday, but it’s unmistakable
While it’s arguably an unnecessary subplot that doesn’t really go anywhere or add much to the overall story, Delores’ quest for revenge was a big concept in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. It was a fun exploration for Betelgeuse to have an ex-wife who is even more angry and vindictive than him, out for revenge. She was a quintessential femme fatale and Monica Bellucci was a perfect casting choice to bring this seductive evil character to life. But aside from a hilarious flashback sequence in the style of an old black-and-white Italian horror movie, she didn’t bring much to the movie.
However, she brought one of Beetlejuice 2s most subtle references to Wednesday. Delores is first introduced in the afterlife, as all of her severed body parts are reanimated. Her reanimated body parts drag themselves across the floor and reattach themselves, eventually putting her back together, all set to one of Burton’s best soundtrack needle-drops: “Tragedy” by the Bee Gees. As Delores’ hand crawls up to rejoin the arm it was separated from, it looks suspiciously similar to Thing from Wednesday. That thing is Wednesday’s pet hand, which is surprisingly useful in her investigation into the hide.
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Jenna Ortega’s love interest turns out to be a villain
Wednesday and Astrid both fall for the bad guy
Both Wednesday And Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Give Ortega’s character a love interest, and in both cases, the love interest turns out to be a villain. Midway through the first season of WednesdayThe title character develops a romance with the sheriff’s son, Taylor Galpin. Initially, Taylor seemed to be a nice guy with real affection for Wednesday. However, in the climax of the season, Taylor was revealed to be the true identity of the Hyde monster that has been killing people across town. There was a shocking twist in it WednesdayBut it’s not as shocking the second time around.
in Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceGough and Millar copied their own plot twist. Early in the movie, Astrid meets a local boy named Jeremy Frazier, who she quickly falls for based on their shared love of Dostoevsky. Much like Taylor, Jeremy initially seems to be a really nice guy with genuine feelings for Astrid. However, much like Taylor, he later turns out to be a serial killer plotting to betray her. As it turns out, Jeremy is a murderer who killed his own parents, then died falling out of his tree house, and now, he is a ghost.
Jeremy has an evil plan to steal Astrid’s life; He tricks her into thinking he’s just an innocent dead man and she can resurrect him by signing a contract in the afterlife. However, he is really planning to trade her life for his. When she signs the contract, she will be doomed to an eternity in the afterlife and he will be able to walk free on earth with her stolen life. At least this is done Beetlejuice 2S’s love interest/villain twist is a bit more complicated than that Wednesdays love interest/villain twist, with a couple more facets to it.
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Jenna Ortega has an eccentric dance scene
Wednesday’s most obvious reference from Beetlejuice 2 is the dance scene
The most iconic moment in Wednesday Is the dance scene. In season 1, episode 4, “Wow What a Night,” Wednesday attends a school dance with Taylor and tears up the dance floor in one of the most memorable dance scenes ever committed to film. Ortega’s hilariously unconventional dance choreography was inspired by “The Aloof” dance from the 1969 Bob Fosse musical. Sweet charity. This dance quickly became a TikTok trend and the defining image of the hit Netflix series. Decades from now, Ortega will still be remembered for these Wednesday Dance sequence that briefly took the world by storm.
The climactic sequence of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Contains a not-so-subtle allusion to Wednesdays dance scene. Lydia’s wedding to Rory is hijacked by Betelgeuse because he wants her to keep her end of the deal she made in exchange for saving Astrid. When Lydia, Rory, Astrid and Delia all try to protest the ceremony, Betelgeuse uses one of his more unusual powers to stop them. Betelgeuse breaks into a rousing rendition of the classic Richard Harris pop hit “MacArthur Park,” and forces everyone else in the church to join in.
During the “MacArthur Park” musical number, Betelgeuse uses his powers to make Astrid and Delia dance against their will. Based on their confused facial expressions, they have no control over their moves – but Astrid’s moves look very similar to Wednesday’s. It is not a move-for-move copy of the Fosse-style dance of WednesdayBut it’s close enough for the reference point to be clear. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Has many references WednesdayBut the dance scene is the most obvious parallel between the two projects.