Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the Opening Film of the 81st Venice Film Festival

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, directed by singular creative visionary Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, with Jenna Ortega, and Willem Dafoe, is the Opening Film, Out of Competition, of the 81^st Venice International Film Festival within La Biennale di Venezia, directed by Alberto Barbera (28 August > 7 September 2024).

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will have its world premiere on Wednesday August 28^th, in the Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema (Lido di Venezia), on the opening night of the 81^st Venice Film Festival. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice a Warner Bros. Pictures presentation, will be released only in theaters and IMAX on September 6, 2024 in North America, and internationally beginning 4 September 2024. It will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Alberto Barbera said: “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice marks the long-awaited return of one of the most iconic characters of Tim Burton’s cinema, but also the happy confirmation of the extraordinary visionary talent and the masterly realization of one of the most fascinating auteurs of his time. The Venice Biennale is honored and proud to host the world premiere of a work that features a surprising swing of creative imagination and driving hallucinatory rhythm.”

Tim Burton said: “I’m very excited by this. It means a lot to me to have the world premiere of this film at the Venice Film Festival.”

Beetlejuice is back! Oscar-nominated Tim Burton and Oscar nominee and star Michael Keaton reunite for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the long-awaited sequel to Burton’s award-winning Beetlejuice.

Keaton returns to his iconic role alongside Oscar nominee Winona Ryder (Stranger Things, Little Women) as Lydia Deetz and two-time Emmy winner Catherine O’Hara (Schitt's Creek, The Nightmare Before Christmas) as Delia Deetz, with new cast members Justin Theroux (Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, The Leftovers), Monica Bellucci (Spectre, The Matrix films), Arthur Conti (House of the Dragon) in his feature film debut, with Emmy nominee Jenna Ortega (Wednesday, Scream VI) as Lydia’s daughter, Astrid, and Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe (Poor Things, At Eternity’s Gate).

After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid, discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it's only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice's name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.

Burton, a genre unto himself, directs from a screenplay by Alfred Gough & Miles Millar (Wednesday), story by Gough & Millar and Seth Grahame-Smith (The LEGO® Batman Movie), based on characters created by Michael McDowell & Larry Wilson. The film’s producers are Marc Toberoff, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Tommy Harper and Burton, with Sara Desmond, Katterli Frauenfelder, Gough, Millar, Larry Wilson, Laurence Senelick and Brad Pitt executive producing.

Burton’s creatives behind the scenes includes director of photography Haris Zambarloukos (Belfast, Murder on the Orient Express); such previous and frequent collaborators as production designer Mark Scruton (Wednesday), editor Jay Prychidny (Wednesday), Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood (Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Sleepy Hollow), Oscar-winning creature effects and special makeup FX creative supervisor Neal Scanlan (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory); BAFTA-winning Visual Effects Supervisor Angus Bickerton (House of the Dragon, Dark Shadows); and Oscar-nominated composer Danny Elfman (Big Fish, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman); as well as Oscar-winning hair and makeup designer Christine Blundell (Topsy-Turvy).

Timothy Walter Burton was born in 1958 and grew up in Burbank, California, a homologous small town in the American suburbs that prompted him to flee his meekness and seek respite elsewhere. Widely known as one of the most imaginative artists and as a director capable of creating the most bizarre visual effects, he reinvented Hollywood genre cinema according to his very personal vision, winning an international fan base and influencing a generation of young artists working in film, video and graphic design. He studied at CalArts to become a pioneer of a dreamlike, grotesque and beautiful film genre that had never existed before. His iconic filmography over the past three decades includes Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Ed Wood (1994), Big Fish (2003), The Corpse Bride (2005), Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Dumbo (2019), and Wednesday, where he served as Executive Producer. He created an artistic style called "Burtonesque" and although he is widely known as a filmmaker, Tim Burton is also a prominent artist, talented in various artistic areas, including fine art, photography and sculpture, working in the spirit of Pop Surrealism.