Tim Burton Refused A Streaming-Only Release For Beetlejuice 2, And It Cost The Movie $48M

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was originally going to be a streaming exclusive with a larger budget, until director Tim Burton ensured otherwise. Serving as a follow-up to his 1988 cult classic, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice follows three generations of the Deetz family as they return to Winter River and accidentally open a portal to the Afterlife. The movie features the return of several actors from the original film, including Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse, Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, and Catherine O'Hara as Delia Deetz, and has been a big hit in theaters since its release earlier this month.

A new report from The New York Times now reveals that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was originally positioned as a Max streaming exclusive. As Warner Bros. Entertainment CEO Pamela Abdy recalls, Burton was not onboard with his sequel not getting a theatrical release:

“That was never going to work for Tim. You’re talking about a visionary artist whose films demand to be seen on a big screen.”

The projected budget for the film, however, was estimated to be $147 million, due in large part to producer fees and star salaries. Abdy and Michael De Luca, Chairperson of Warner Bros. Entertainment, agreed to give Beetlejuice Beetlejuice a theatrical release, but only if the budget could come down to under $100 million. Burton and his agent, Mike Simpson, then set about cutting costs wherever they could, starting with salaries.

“Two months went by where every day the movie almost died,” recalls Simpson. But, in the end, Burton himself took a pay cut, and Simpson would eventually get stars Keaton, O'Hara, Ryder, and newcomer Jenna Ortega to also take reduced salaries in exchange for larger pieces of the film's back end.

While maneuvering was taking place, Abdy and De Luca were pumping hundreds of thousands into Beetlejuice Beetlejuice pre-production, which Simpson said "showed real guts, especially for two executives who were fairly new to their jobs." In the end, these salary cuts combined with tax incentives got the sequel's budget down to $99 million.

More to come...

Source: The New York Times