‘Beetlejuice 2’ Once Got Pitched to Stream on Max but ‘That Was Never Going to Work’ for Tim Burton; He Lowered the Budget to Under $100 Million to Get It in Theaters
variety.com
Warner Bros. tried to push "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" to streaming on Max, but Tim Burton refused and agreed to make the film for cheaper.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/17574706

“That was never going to work for Tim,” Abdy said about making the “Beetlejuice” sequel for streaming. “You’re talking about a visionary artist whose films demand to be seen on a big screen.”

The big issue between Burton and the studio was that the projected budget for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” at one point was around $147 million, largely due to “star salaries and producer fees.” That’s when De Luca and Abdy approached Burton and said he could make the sequel for an exclusive theatrical release as long as he got the budget down below the $100 million mark. They worked together to greenlight “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” for $99 million, with Burton and cast members Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega and Catherine O’Hara agreeing to less money up front but sizable back end deals that will now surely pay off since the sequel is a box office hit.

    • MrJameGumb@lemmy.world
      2·
      2 months ago

      We have an offer at my job for HBO Max and customers are constantly telling me they thought that was for Cinemax lol I didn’t even know Cinemax was still around until people started asking about it

    • gianni@lemmy.caEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      Was it? I watched and was underwhelmed. The pacing and arc felt off to me. Interesting characters, funny moments, poor storytelling imho.

      • MrJameGumb@lemmy.world
        1·
        2 months ago

        I really enjoyed it! I think it did exactly what it was supposed to do which was give fans of the original a fun revisit to some of their favorite characters.