Beetlejuice rises from the grave with a sequel

Writer Seth Grahame-Smith and producer David Katzenberg’s company KatzSmith Productions has signed a two-year first-look deal at Warner Bros. One of their first projects is expected to be a sequel to Beetlejuice, Tim Burton's supernatural comedy from 1988, which starred Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis. The planned film is intended to follow on from the original and advance the storyline.

Warner Bros. production president Greg Silverman told Deadline: “We first got to know Seth through his fantastic work on Dark Shadows and it immediately became a priority to expand our relationship with him. Seth introduced us to David, who greatly impressed us with the vision for KatzSmith from the very first meeting. We firmly believe in their talents and are extremely excited to welcome them to the Warner family.”

As part of the producing deal, Seth Grahame-Smith will write two scripts for the studio, with the possibility that the Beetlejuice sequel will be one of those. He recently wrote the screenplay for Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows movie, which is currently filming with Johnny Depp, Chloe Moretz, Helena Bonham Carter and Michelle Pfeiffer. Burton also co-produced the upcoming movie adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which Grahame-Smith also wrote the screenplay for.