Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is smashing box office records in its opening weekend. The movie is a sequel to Tim Burton’s original 1988 horror-comedy, re-teaming the director with legacy stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara alongside a new ensemble that includes Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe, and Monica Bellucci. The Beetlejuice Beetlejuice box office comes with high expectations, as the movie cost $100 million to make and thus likely needs to earn more than $250 million in order to turn a profit.
Per Variety, as of Saturday morning, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is projected to take No. 1 at the domestic box office during its debut with a 3-day opening weekend gross of $97 million or more. This comes after an opening day of $41.5 million, which is the second-best September opening day in box office history after 2017’s It ($50.4 million) and the best ever for Tim Burton, beating the opening day of 2010’s Alice in Wonderland ($40.8 million).
This estimated 3-day total would earn it the second-best September opening weekend ever, also behind It ($123 million), and the third-best opening weekend of 2024 behind Inside Out 2 ($154.2 million) and Deadpool & Wolverine ($211.4 million).
What This Opening Weekend Means For Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
The Movie Is Well On Its Way To Profitability
While it could very well earn even more than this projected total, the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice release is already set to outgross the original movie’s entire run within just three days. The 1988 title, which was the 10th highest-grossing movie of 1988 worldwide, only earned roughly $75 million at the time, meaning that the 2024 movie will have easily surpassed it by at least $20 million by Sunday evening. With inflation, that 1988 total equates to roughly $202.5 million, which should also be well within the sequel’s reach.
The original Beetlejuice did not have a robust international release, with $74.6 million of its box office total being earned in the domestic marketplace.
This strong opening weekend gross also shows that the movie is well on its way to breaking even, and then some. Its global opening weekend should also help push it significantly further toward that goal once its international grosses are tallied on Sunday. However, considering the fact that it is a comedy, a genre that does not always translate well, and that it is a nostalgia-fueled blockbuster without recent tentpole releases to back it up as a franchise, it may perform better in North America than in other regions.
Our Take On The Weekend Box Office
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Seems Set To Rule September
After two quiet late-summer weekends where new releases failed to compete with the record-breaking Deadpool & Wolverine box office, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has breathed new life into the movie marketplace. However, the period between the summer movie season and the holiday movie season will likely still be relatively quiet. The new movie seems likely to rule September, perhaps ceding some ground to Transformers One on September 13, but otherwise probably reigning supreme among smaller upcoming genre titles such as Speak No Evil and Never Let Go.
Source: Variety
