Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Opens Bigger Than Original

Sequel has third-best opening weekend of 2024
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 8, 2024 1:30 PM CDT
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Opens Bigger Than Original
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Michael Keaton in a scene from "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice."   (Parisa Taghizadeh/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

After 36 years of waiting, the juice is finally loose again in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, this time racking up $110 million in its premiere weekend. The long-awaited Tim Burton sequel is the third-best opening weekend of the year, behind only box office triumphs Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine. Michael Keaton returns as the titular spirit, and Catherine O'Hara and Winona Ryder reprise their roles as Delia and Lydia Deetz, with newcomer Jenna Ortega playing the latter's daughter, Astrid. The Warner Bros. sequel is the second-highest-grossing September movie of all time, only behind 2017's It, which opened with a staggering $123 million, the AP reports.

The original Beetlejuice earned a mere $8 million in its opening weekend in 1988, unadjusted for inflation, but went on to make $77 million in theaters domestically as it became a cult classic. The electric opening weekend kicks off the fall movie season with a bang after a sleepy Labor Day weekend and a relatively slow August that saw newer films struggle as holdover movies ruled the box office. The only other new release of the weekend to make it onto the box office rankings was The Greatest of All Time, an Indian Tamil-language science fiction action film. The movie stars Joseph Vijay and was directed by Venkat Prabhu, who is known for directing and writing other Indian action films.

Below are estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

  1. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, $110 million.
  2. Deadpool & Wolverine, $7.2 million.
  3. Reagan, $5.2 million.
  4. Alien: Romulus, $3.9 million.
  5. It Ends With Us, $3.8 million
  6. The Forge, $2.9 million.
  7. Twisters, $2.3 million.
  8. Blink Twice, $2.1 million.
  9. The Greatest of All Time, $2 million.
  10. Despicable Me 4, $1.8 million.
(More box office stories.)

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