Box office, box office, box office! Tim Burton’s long-awaited sequel to his 1988 hit has conjured a successful opening weekend at $111 million domestic. This may indicate that audiences show no sign of fatigue for nostalgia-laden sequels (which is good news for Gladiator 2, perhaps?). But how does Beetlejuice Beetlejuice fare as a 36 years later follow-up to one of Burton’s best? Does it contain clunky fan service moments like Alien: Romulus? Or is it more of a fun, don’t-think-about-it-too-hard hang like Deadpool & Wolverine? How well does the Beetlejuice ethos jive with 2024 sensibilities?

These are the questions we try to answer on this week’s episode of The Long Take Review. Greg, P.T., and I share what parts of the film entertained us most, as well as try to devise a thesis for the film. Later in the episode, we fancy ourselves armchair screenwriters, offering up some suggestions for restructuring and recentering the story. Along the way, P.T. breaks multiple pieces of bad news to Greg while Greg regales us with his movie set looky-loo-ing. Take a number and have a seat because we might be a while…

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Image Credit: New York Times

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