It’s only been a couple of weekends but it’s already safe to say that Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is one of the biggest box office hits of the year — at least in North America anyhow. The long-awaited sequel to Burton’s 1988 classic has been well over three decades in the making. It’s crystal clear that everything came together at the right time as audiences have been flocking to theaters to see the Beetlejuice and the Deetz family reunited after all this time. So much so that the sequel is already one of the ten biggest domestic hits of 2024.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” took in an estimated $51.6 million domestically on its second weekend, which was more than enough to top the charts. That represents a 53% drop compared to the film’s opening weekend, which was a stellar $111 million, making it one of the biggest openings of 2024 thus far. Reviews were good. Word of mouth has been good. It’s all panning out for Burton and Warner Bros. To that end, the film’s current running total in North America stands at $188 million and counting.
That’s good enough to put it at number nine for the year domestically, just ahead of Disney’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” ($171 million domestically/$397.3 million worldwide). It’s just below “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” ($193.5 million domestically/$403.6 million worldwide) and “Kung Fu Panda 4” ($193.5 million domestically/$548.8 million worldwide). It figures to pass both of those films in short order. It should also have no trouble getting past “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” ($196.3 million domestically/$570 million worldwide) to make it to the number six spot in North America for the year. The biggest domestic earner for 2024 remains “Inside Out 2” ($652.5 million domestically/$1.67 billion worldwide).
Globally, it’s a slightly different story. As of this writing, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” has made just $76.3 million overseas. 71% of its money has come from domestic ticket sales, which is highly unusual for a blockbuster in this day and age. “Twisters” ($266.3 million domestically/$368.7 million worldwide) has a similar split. Interestingly enough, WB is also distributing that one internationally.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is Tim Burton’s biggest hit in years
For Burton, this represents a much-needed win. The sequel is likely going to finish its theatrical run somewhere between $400 and $450 million worldwide. Against a relatively reasonable $100 million budget, it will be very profitable for all involved. It will also very likely be Burton’s third-biggest movie of all time, passing 1989’s “Batman” ($411.5 million worldwide). It will trail only “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” ($475.8 million worldwide) and his live-action “Alice in Wonderland” ($1 billion worldwide). If it catches on overseas, there’s an outside chance it could pass “Charlie.”
Either way, it’s going to be Burton’s biggest movie in ages. His live-action remake of “Dumbo” for Disney was ($353.1 million worldwide) was a misfire relative to its budget. “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” ($295.9 million worldwide) similarly underperformed against expectations. In 2010 when “Alice in Wonderland” became the sixth movie ever to make at least $1 billion was the last time Burton had an unqualified theatrical success, as hard as that is to believe.
The question now is what will Burton do next? He has all but taken “Beetlejuice 3” off the table, so another sequel in this franchise is very unlikely. Whatever it is, Burton has earned some good will and WB would probably be happy to sign up for something original at a certain price point, given how well things went this time around. We’ll see where the chips fall but, for the time being, everyone involved gets to take a victory lap.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is in theaters now.
