It’s showtime! In an official trailer of Tim Burton‘s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice released Thursday, Michael Keaton returns as the undead bogeyman in a sequel to the 1988 film. Winona Ryder (Stranger Things, Little Women) and Catherine O’Hara (Schitt‘s Creek, Corpse Bride) reprise their roles as Lydia Deetz and Delia Deetz, respectively, with Jenna Ortega (Wednesday, Scream VI) starring as Lydia’s rebellious daughter, Astrid.
When three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River, following a family tragedy, Lydia (Ryder) remains haunted by Beetlejuice’s manic aura. Soon Lydia’s teenage daughter, Astrid (Ortega), uncovers a model of the spooked town upstairs, and a portal to the afterlife opens. Unsurprisingly, one resident says Beetlejuice’s dreadful name three times and unleashes the crazed demon. In the two-minute trailer, as Lydia recalls Beetlejuice’s terrifying reign and his attempts to marry her, Astrid dismisses her woes and sarcastically calls his name.
“The Juice is Loose,” Beetlejuice says later in the trailer.
The 1988 comedy horror, despite harsh reviews, grossed $32 million in its first two weeks, and Burton told Rolling Stone around the first release that the bad press made him more excited for movie fans, like himself to see it.
“The things that interest me the most are the things that potentially won’t work,” Burton said. “On Beetlejuice, I could tell every day what was gonna work and what wasn’t. And that was very invigorating. Especially when you’re doing something this extreme. A lot of people have ragged on the story of Beetlejuice, but when I read it, I thought, ‘Wow! This is sort of interesting. It’s very random. It doesn’t follow what I would consider the Spielberg story structure.’ I guess I have to watch it more, because I’m intrigued by things that are perverse. Like, I was intrigued that there was no story.”
In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, new cast members include Justin Theroux (Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, The Leftovers), Monica Bellucci (Spectre, The Matrix films), Arthur Conti (House of the Dragon), and Willem Dafoe (Poor Things, At Eternity’s Gate). The comedy horror releases nationwide Sept. 6, and internationally beginning Sept. 4.