Long before Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the first planned sequel in the Beetlejuice franchise was Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian. The original movie, directed by Tim Burton, centers on a recently deceased couple—Barbara (Geena Davis) and Adam (Alec Baldwin)—who hire a poltergeist named Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) to help them scare away their house’s new inhabitants. Following its huge success and continued popularity, there were many attempts to continue the franchise with an animated Beetlejuice show, various Beetlejuice video games, and a Broadway musical. However, the attempts to make a proper sequel were met with long delays.
Despite the success of the first movie, the filmmakers and studio struggled with what to do for the next movie. Though Beetlejuice Beetlejuice proves that they were wise to stick to what people loved about the first movie, one of the more outlandish sequel ideas was Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian. While that might sound like a bad idea that would quickly get dismissed, the movie actually came close to happening in the 1990s.
Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian: The Wild Unmade Sequel Explained
The Sequel Gained Traction Before Ultimately Being Scrapped
The idea of a movie sequel for Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian came around as early as 1990. The script, written by Jonathan Gems, followed the Deetz family as they moved to Hawaii to develop a vacation resort. As construction begins, it’s quickly found that the resort is being planned atop an ancient burial ground. Eventually, Beetlejuice would get involved and accidentally awaken native spirits and cause mayhem.
The Hawaiian sequel, though, never made it to production. According to Wicked Horror, the idea didn’t pick up steam fast enough. Because Warner Bros. wanted a sequel to the Batman blockbuster, Burton and Keaton went on to make that movie instead. By 1997, Gems was certain that the movie would never get made; he said, at that time:
“You really couldn’t do it now anyway. Winona is too old for the role, and the only way they could make it would be to totally recast it.”
The sequel was ultimately abandoned, though there were still many more attempts to continue the story. Throughout the decades, there had been many rumors and false starts for the sequel before Beetlejuice Beetlejuice finally became a reality. In 2024, Burton confirmed that Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian was just one of several ideas that were eventually scrapped (via Entertainment Weekly):
”
We talked about lots of different things. That was early on when we were going, Beetlejuice and the Haunted Mansion, Beetlejuice Goes West, whatever. Lots of things came up
.”
The 2024 Beetlejuice Sequel Was A Hit
The Box Office Success Proves Audiences Always Wanted A Sequel
After years of talk without any progress being made, it seemed as though Beetlejuice 2 would become one of those movie sequels that is constantly teased but never actually happens. It was back in 2011 that Seth Grahame-Smith was hired to write the sequel with Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton attached to return. Once again, this was a development that went nowhere. However, the conversation was still alive which eventually led to 2024 when the long-awaited proper sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was finally released.
The constant talk and demand for a sequel over the years was an early indication of the love that remained for this character and the franchise as the long-awaited sequel was a smash hit. Despite it being 36 years since the original movie was released, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice quickly surpassed the entire worldwide gross of the first movie in only a matter of days. In its third week, the movie is still at the top of the box office charts and has officially entered the top 10 highest-grossing movies of 2024.
While there was a lot of demand for the Beetlejuice sequel over the years, Tim Burton and his team were wise to wait until they had the right project to continue the franchise in a way that would please fans and do justice to the original’s legacy.
Would Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian Work As A Third Entry?
Beetlejuice 3 Could Be Inevitable
With the success of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, there are already talks of a possible Beetlejuice 3 happening. While it is unclear how much of the creative team is interested in returning to the franchise again so quickly, there is the possibility that the next sequel would resurrect the idea of Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian. While the title of the movie immediately makes it sound like a misguided cash grab and the concept of Beetlejuice in Hawaii is thin, there may be more potential to the movie than people were giving credit for.
The premise of the movie is actually a funny idea and suits the troublemaker persona of Beetlejuice quite well. However, Burton also should have been trusted to bring out some of the weirdness in the movie as well. Jonathan Gems, who wrote Burton’s Mars Attacks! was hired to write Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian and offered an interesting insight into what Burton had planned for the visual style of the movie (via IGN):
“Tim thought it would be funny to match the surfing backdrop of a beach movie with some sort of German Expressionism, because they’re totally wrong together”
When Batman proved to be a massive success, Burton was able to embrace his own style and darker tendencies in Batman Returns, which resulted in a much more interesting movie. Following the success of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, it is also possible that Burton would have the power to really make Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian a strange and wonderful third movie in the franchise that could prove all of the original doubters wrong.
Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice is a dark fantasy horror-comedy franchise that began with the release of the 1988 film directed by Tim Burton. The story follows a recently deceased couple who become ghosts haunting their former home and summon Betelgeuse (pronounced “Beetlejuice”), a mischievous and devious bio-exorcist ghost, to scare away the new inhabitants. The film’s success led to an animated television series, stage musical, and a highly anticipated sequel.
- Created by
- Tim Burton , Michael McDowell , Larry Wilson , Warren Skaaren
