After 36 years of waiting, the juice is finally loose again in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” this time racking up a record-breaking $110 million in its premiere weekend.
The long-awaited Tim Burton sequel is the third-best opening weekend of the year, only behind box office triumphs “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine.”
Michael Keaton returns as the titular spirit and Catherine O’Hara and Winona Ryder also reprise their roles as Delia and Lydia Deetz, with newcomer Jenna Ortega playing the latter’s daughter, Astrid. Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci and Justin Theroux round out the cast.
The sequel is the second-highest grossing September movie of all time, only behind 2017’s “It,” which opened with a staggering $123 million. The 2019 sequel “It Chapter 2” opened with $91 million.
The original “Beetlejuice” film earned a mere $8 million in its opening weekend in 1988, unadjusted for inflation, but went on to make $77 million in theaters domestically as it became a cult classic.
The electric opening weekend kicks off the fall movie season with a bang after a sleepy Labor Day weekend and a relatively slow August that saw newer films struggle as holdover movies ruled the box office.
Kaitlyn Huamani, The Associated Press