LOS ANGELES — Get ready everyone because the ghost with the most is back in town.
Warner Bros. Pictures released the first teaser trailer for the highly anticipated sequel “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” on Thursday, a followup to the 1988 Tim Burton classic starring Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder. (Like CNN, Warner Bros. Pictures is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.)
Even in the brief minute-plus clip, much of the DNA that made the first movie so captivating can be seen and felt, from Harry Belafonte’s calypso classic “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” being heavily featured – along with the unmistakable and unsettling deep synth chords of Danny Elfman’s soundtrack – to the locales, which include the red covered bridge where Barbara and Adam Maitland (Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin) met their end and the enchanted model town stowed away in the attic of their house.
Ryder is seen as Lydia – complete with her wayward black bangs – along with fellow returning cast member Catherine O’Hara, reprising her fan-favorite role of Delia Deetz.
(From left) Catherine O’hara, Jenna Ortega, Winona Ryder and Justin Theroux are pictured in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”
Parisa Taghizadeh/Warner Bros. Entertainment via CNN Newsource
The clip also reveals a glimpse at new addition to the cast Jenna Ortega, seen riding a bicycle through town much like her character’s mother did in the first film.
It all leads to the grand reveal of Keaton’s dastardly demon Beetlejuice, who rises from the model town to the horror of Lydia and utters, “The juice is loose!”
Starring Keaton, Ryder, Baldwin and Davis, the first “Beetlejuice” movie was a dark, funny and inventive original story that turned into a critical and bankable success, spawning cartoons as well as a recently-shuttered Broadway musical.
The first film’s success was largely thanks to the cast, featuring Keaton as a fast-talking and highly inappropriate poltergeist who searches to take advantage of the “recently deceased” Maitlands as well as their former abode’s new tenants, the Deetzes.
“Beetlejuice” boasts one of the best entrances of a character – Ryder’s gothic Lydia Deetz – in what was then her third-ever screen credit. The movie also put O’Hara, Emmy-winning star of “Schitt’s Creek,” firmly on the map in the delicious role of Lydia’s stepmother Delia.
Speculation about a potential sequel had been swirling for years, with CNN last reporting in 2016 that Ryder thought “it would be great if it happened, if it was the right circumstances.” Both Burton and Keaton also hinted a sequel was possible as early as 2013.
According to a description from Warner Bros., the sequel’s cast includes Monica Bellucci, Justin Theroux, “House of the Dragon” star Arthur Conti and Willem Dafoe.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” – a nod to how the title character’s name should never be said three times – will creep into theaters on September 6.
The-CNN-Wire
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