The “Ghost with the Most” — Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice — is back after a 36-year wait with the first teaser trailer for director Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Warner Bros. released the long-awaited teaser trailer for the supernatural comedy sequel Thursday. The 1 minute, 20-second clip features an ethereal choral version of Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) throughout as one of the nods to the 1988 film, which featured Harry Belafonte’s classic version of the tune.
As the teaser trailer unfolds, Astrid Deetz (Wednesday star Jenna Ortega) is first introduced, which is followed by a shot of Astrid, her mother, Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder), and Lydia’s stepmother Delia Deetz (Catherine O’Hara). Beetlejuice makes an appearance at the end of the teaser, where the character opens his arms and says, “The Juice is loose.”
Warner Bros. also released an official synopsis of the film, which is featured below:
Beetlejuice is back! After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia’s life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid, discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it’s only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice’s name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his own brand of mayhem.
Also starring Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci and Willem Dafoe, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is set for a September 6 release.
‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ is a rare sequel for Burton
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice marks only the second time in his career that Tim Burton has directed a sequel to one of his films. The first sequel he filmed was 1992’s Batman Returns — also starring Michael Keaton in the title role — which was the follow-up film to his 1989 superhero blockbuster Batman.
In the interim, Beetlejuice made a comeback as a Broadway musical in 2018.
Keaton has steered clear of revealing details about the film while making the interview rounds for his latest film Knox Goes Away. Keaton did tell People in February, however, that he and Burton wanted to avoid the use of CGI for the visual effects while making Beetlejuice Beetlejuice .
“The one thing that he and I decided on early, early, early on from the beginning, if we ever did it again, I was totally not interested in doing something where there was too much technology,” Keaton told People. “It had to feel handmade.”
The original Beetlejuice film featured a combination of practical visual effects and stop-motion animation.