Oftentimes directors will engage in long fights with executives in order to get the film they want most into cinemas.
Whether that’s insisting on a lesser-known actor over a more marketable star, demanding a certain budget to bring their fictional world to light, or pushing back again dumb changes the CEO ‘insists’ will make everyone watch the movie (it won’t).
This age old fight is one that Tim Burton found himself in the middle of when trying to get Beetlejuice 2 made.
The classic 80s film has been brought back for a sequel this year, with Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, and Catherine O’Hara amongst the original actors brought back for the sequel - though Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis weren't amongst them.
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Add to that Jenna Ortega and Willem Dafoe joining the cast, and it seems inconceivable that any executive would have been unconvinced that it would do as well as it has at the box office.
Unfortunately though, that’s exactly what happened.
According to The Times, executives at Warner Brothers had been pushing for the sequel to be released as a streaming film on Max.
Variety report that according to co-chair of Warner Brothers Pamela Abdy, ‘that was never going to work for Tim’.
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She went on to say: “You’re talking about a visionary artist whose films demand to be seen on a big screen.”
According to Variety, budget was the major issue, with executives not convinced on the viability of a big budget cinema release for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Whilst the same losses would likely be incurred on Max, studios are far more willing to accept these losses when building up their own streaming services.
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The initial budget of the film, in part due to the high wage demands of the cast, was close to $150 million, which the studio considered untenable to turning a profit.
Abdy and another executive supposedly met with Burton, and were able to convince him to reduce the budget to under $100 million.
By sacrificing this $50 million, the director was able to convince them to fund a theatrical release for the film.
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With a budget of $99 million, it has already made $264 million at the time of writing.
With the old adage that a film has to make roughly double its budget to turn a profit when marketing costs are factored in, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has more than made its money back.
Reportedly though, a major way they got the budget down was by convincing the film’s stars to take less money up front, and receive more on the back end depending on the films success.
If that’s the case, the massive overperformance of Beetlejucie Beetlejuice will surely have Tim Burton and the cast laughing to the bank, even if they had to give up a bunch to get there.
Topics: Tim Burton, Film and TV, Jenna Ortega
Michael Slavin