Thirty years later, Michael Keaton is going back to his poltergeist roots in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. We should enter this sequel with high hopes as Keaton said he’s seen Tim Burton’s “great” upcoming movie himself. When looking back at his time doing the first Beetlejuice movie, Keaton recalls the pop culture impact of the film to be “off-putting,” to say the least.
There’s no doubt that Michael Keaton’s “Ghost with the Most” character Beetlejuice is a fan-favorite. He may appear as a kooky Halloween costume or the bio-exorcist’s face appears as a photo on a coffee mug. During his interview with Empire, the Batman actor remembered after Beetlejuice’s release how “off-putting” it was for his character to get so much attention.
“That was fucking weird,” said Keaton. “To be honest with you – I’m being very frank – it was off-putting, to look and go, ‘I don’t want to look like all these little things, fuck that – what was the thing that started this?’”
It makes sense why so many people love the character of Beetlejuice. Say his name three times and you never know what the humorously dark poltergeist will do once summoned.
The Pop Culture Impact of Beetlejuice
We already know that Beetlejuice is still in the memories of fans and Tim Burton. Considering what a box office success the dark comedy was, how could it not? It even won an Oscar for Best Makeup.
Following the success of the 1988 film, Burton created an animation series that ran from 1989-1991. The plot followed Beetlejuice and Lydia as best friends exploring the supernatural realm of the Neitherworld.
There was also a series of three video games mostly related to the animated TV show. Of course, we can’t forget about Beetlejuice’s stage musical adaptation filled with original songs that captured Burton’s quirky comedic yet dark tone of his movie. It even managed to score eight Tony nominations.
After being shelved numerous times since 1990, the long-awaited sequel will finally bring our favorite characters back this year for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. It releases September 6.
