‘Beetlejuice’ sequel is still dominating box office — it shouldn’t be

The ghost with the most is back and ruling the metroplex, but sadly for all of us children of the ‘80s, His Beetleness has lost a lot of his juice.

Though it stars iconic actors Michael Keaton, Catherine O’Hara and Winona Ryder, the fatally unfunny “Beetlejuice” sequel currently haunting theaters, 36 years after being a formative experience for my generation, sadly lives up to the old sequels suck trope. This “Beetlejuice” lacks the laughs and scares of the original and even the fiendishly wry Keaton can’t breathe life into this flick.

Of course, many moviegoers don’t seem to see it that way. The film has been No. 1 at the box office for three weeks running, earning $226 million at the U.S. box office. Its $110 million opening weekend was the third highest in 2024 so far.

But while the sequel is shot through with vintage Tim Burton tableaus, the wonderfully creepy-meets-campy vibe that animated “Edward Scissorhands” and the original “Beetlejuice” is sadly absent here. Most of this film moves like molasses, too slow and too sweet.

Keaton brings his signature outlandish whimsy as the title demon and the sandworms and Day-O make a comeback, but all of the female characters are underwritten and none of them are memorable.

That’s deeply disappointing because Beetlejuice is way more than just a movie franchise or a Broadway musical, it’s a whole zeitgeist, a deep-seated sense of nostalgia for the glory days of the cineplex when the big screen captivated pop culture.

That’s also part of the spark of the estimably spooky “Stranger Things,” which also stars Ryder, the remembrance of things kitschy.

Burton does take some nice jabs at the now, from therapy culture and selfie addiction to influencers, the snake oil salesman of the Instagram age. But he forgets to take pleasure in his own quirky brand of genius, the gleeful blend of comedy and horror that is the hallmark of many an ‘80s horror classic, from “Gremlins” to “Fright Night.” We used to collectively love to be afraid at the movies but this poltergeist never lets us.