Long before Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceThe first planned sequel in the Beetlejuice Franchise was Beetlejuice goes Hawaiian. The original movie, directed by Tim Burton, centers on a recently deceased couple – Barbara (Gena Davis) and Adam (Alec Baldwin) – who hire a poltergeist named Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) to help them scare the new inhabitants of their house. After its huge success and continued popularity, there were many attempts to continue the franchise with an animated one. Beetlejuice show, various Beetlejuice Video games, and a Broadway musical. However, the attempts to make a proper sequel were met with long delays.
Despite the success of the first movie, the filmmakers and studio struggled with what to do for the next movie. Although Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Proving that they were smart to stick to what people loved about the first movie, one of the more unusual sequel ideas was Beetlejuice goes Hawaiian. While this may sound like a bad idea that would quickly be dismissed, the movie actually came close to happening in the 1990s.
Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian: The Wild Unmade Sequel Explained
The sequel was pursued before finally being scrapped
The idea of ​​a movie sequel for Beetlejuice goes Hawaiian came out in 1990. The script, written by Jonathan Gems, followed the Debt family when they moved to Hawaii to develop a vacation resort. When construction begins, it is quickly discovered that the resort is planned on an ancient burial ground. Eventually, Beetlejuice would get involved and accidentally awaken native spirits and cause mayhem.
The Hawaiian sequel, however, never made it to production. According to Bad horrorThe idea didn’t pick up steam fast enough. Because Warner Bros wanted a sequel to the Batman Blockbuster, Burton and Keaton made the movie instead. By 1997, Gems was sure the movie would never be made; He then said:
– You really couldn’t do that now anyway. Winona is too old for the role, and the only way they could make it would be to completely recast it.
The sequel was ultimately abandoned, although there were still many more attempts to continue the story. Over the decades, there have been many rumors and false starts for the sequel before Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Finally became a reality. In 2024, Burton confirmed that Beetlejuice goes Hawaiian was only one of several ideas that were eventually scrapped (by Entertainment Weekly):
“We talked about many different things. That was early on when we were going, Beetlejuice and the Haunted Mansion, Beetlejuice Goes West, whatever. Many things came up.”
The 2024 Beetlejuice sequel was a hit
The success of the box office proves that audiences always wanted a sequel
After years of talking without any progress, it seemed like though Beetlejuice 2 Would become one of those movie sequels that is constantly teased but never actually happens. It was back in 2011 that Seth Grahame-Smith was hired to write the sequel with Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton attached to return. Again, this was a development that did not go anywhere. However, the conversation is still alive which eventually led to 2024 when the long-awaited proper sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was finally released.
The constant talk and demand for a sequel over the years was an early indication of the love that remained for the character and the franchise as the long-awaited sequel was a smash hit. Despite 36 years since the original movie was released, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice It quickly surpassed the entire worldwide gross of the first movie in just a matter of days. In its third week, the movie is still at the top of the box office charts and has officially entered the top 10 highest-grossing movies of 2024.
While there was a lot of demand for these Beetlejuice Sequel over the years, Tim Burton and his team were wise to wait until they had the right project to continue the franchise in a way that would please fans and do justice to the original legacy.
Would Beetlejuice Go Hawaiian work as a third entry?
Beetlejuice 3 may be inevitable
With the success of Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceThere are already talks about a possibility Beetlejuice 3 Event. Although it is unclear how much of the creative team is interested in returning to the franchise so quickly, there is the possibility that the next sequel would resurrect the idea of Beetlejuice goes Hawaiian. While the title of the movie immediately makes it sound like a misguided cash grab and the concept of Beetlejuice in Hawaii is thin, there may be more potential to the movie than people have given it credit for.
The premise of the movie is actually a funny idea and suits the troublemaker persona of Beetlejuice Pretty good. however, Burton should also be trusted to bring out some of the weirdness in the movie. Jonathan Gems, who wrote Burton Mars Attacks! They started writing Beetlejuice goes Hawaiian and offered an interesting insight into what Burton had planned for the film’s visual style (by IGN):
“Tim thought it would be funny to match the surfing background of a beach movie with some kind of German expressionism, because they were completely wrong together.”
when Batman Proving to be a massive success, Burton was able to embrace his own style and darker tendencies within Batman ReturnsWhich resulted in a much more interesting movie. After the success of Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceIt is also possible that Burton would have the power to actually create Beetlejuice goes Hawaiian A weird and wonderful third movie in the franchise that could prove all the original dofflers wrong.