Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Box Office Setting All-Time Records 36 Years After Original's Release

UPDATE: 2025-07-09 10:34 EST BY BRENNAN KLEIN

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Smashes Projections To Hit A $100M+ Debut

This article was originally written Saturday AM and has been updated Sunday AM with altered box office projections (in bold), a full chart, and further analysis.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuiceis smashing box office records in its opening weekend. The movie is a sequel to Tim Burton’s original 1988 horror-comedy, re-teaming the director with legacy stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara alongside a new ensemble that includes Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe, and Monica Bellucci. TheBeetlejuice Beetlejuicebox officecomes with high expectations, as the movie cost $100 million to make and thus likely needs to earn more than $250 million in order to turn a profit.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Film Poster

PerVariety, as of Sunday morning,Beetlejuice Beetlejuiceis projected to take No. 1 at the domestic box officeduring its debut with a 3-day opening weekend gross of$110 million, blasting considerably past Saturday’s $97 million projections. This comes after an opening day of $41.5 million, which is the second-best September opening day in box office history after 2017’sIt($50.4 million) and the best ever for Tim Burton, beating the opening day of 2010’sAlice in Wonderland($40.8 million).

This estimated 3-day total will earn itthe second-best September opening weekend ever, also behindIt($123 million), and the third-best opening weekend of 2024, behindInside Out 2($154.2 million) andDeadpool & Wolverine($211.4 million). It is also Burton’s second-best opening weekend behindAlice in Wonderland($116.1 million), Ortega’s best opening as a lead actress and second-best overall afterIron Man 3($174.1 million), and Winona Ryder’s best in general, ahead of 2009’sStar Trek($75.2 million).

By taking No. 1, it has punted theDeadpool & Wolverinereleasedown to No. 2 on the Top 5 chart for the weekend. The holdover hits that have been maintaining their positions on the chart for weeks on end have largely jockeyed for position below the record-breaking Marvel Cinematic Universe smash, includingAlien: Romulus.Reaganhas also become the only late August new release to stay on the chart in its second weekend, maintaining a solid audience hold with a minuscule 33% drop and landing at No. 3. See the full domestic Top 5 chart below:

$110 million

$110 million (weekend 1)

$6.4 million

$613 million (weekend 7)

$5.1 million

$18.4 million (weekend 2)

$3.55 million

$96 million (weekend 4)

$3.5 million

$141 million (weekend 5)

This new competitor entering the chart means thatTwistershas been knocked out of the Top 5yet again, though the indefatigable Glen Powell movie has shown strong audience hold and has so far been buoyed back into the No. 5 position whenever there aren’t enough new releases to keep it away. Meanwhile, the weekend’s other new release, the A24 horror movieThe Front Room, has not charted at all. The Brandy-led title, which has a 51% score on Rotten Tomatoes, opened to roughly $1.5 million.

What This Opening Weekend Means For Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

The Movie Is Well On Its Way To Profitability

While it could very well earn even more than this projected total, theBeetlejuice Beetlejuicereleaseis alreadyset to outgross the original movie’s entire run within just three days. The 1988 title, which was the 10th highest-grossing movie of 1988 worldwide, only earned roughly $75 million at the time, meaning that the 2024 movie will have easily surpassed it by at least $20 million by Sunday evening. With inflation, that 1988 total equates to roughly $202.5 million, which should also be well within the sequel’s reach.

The originalBeetlejuicedid not have a robust international release, with $74.6 million of its box office total being earned in the domestic marketplace.

This strong opening weekend gross also shows that the movie is well on its way to breaking even, and then some. Its global opening weekend should also help push it significantly further toward that goal once its international grosses are tallied on Sunday. However, considering the fact that it is a comedy, a genre that does not always translate well, and that it is a nostalgia-fueled blockbuster without recent tentpole releases to back it up as a franchise,it may perform better in North America than in other regions.

Our Take On The Weekend Box Office

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Seems Set To Rule September

After two quiet late-summer weekends where new releases failed to compete with the record-breakingDeadpool & Wolverinebox office,Beetlejuice Beetlejuicehas breathed new life into the movie marketplace. However, the period between the summer movie season and the holiday movie season will likely still be relatively quiet. The new movie seems likely to rule September, perhaps ceding some ground toTransformers Oneon September 20, but otherwise probablyreigning supreme among smaller upcoming genre titlessuch asSpeak No EvilandNever Let Go.

Speak No Evilis a remake of a 2022 Danish thriller starring James McAvoy andNever Let Gois an original post-apocalyptic survival tale starring Halle Berry.

The spacing of September’s releases, withSpeak No Evilcoming the weekend beforeTransformers,Never Let Godebuting the same day, and DreamWorks’The Wild Robotdebuting the weekend after,could mean thatDeadpool & Wolverine’s reign at No. 1 has finally come to an endafter the movie has topped the chart for five of its seven weekends in theaters so far. With the title having passed the billion-dollar milestone and become the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, it has more than made its mark on the box office before ceding the throne toBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, potentially permanently.