By Though it’s struggling internationally, domestically Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” has been a solid success for Warner Bros. Pictures.
By the end of its second weekend it has pulled in over $264 million in worldwide grosses, with over $180 million of that from North America alone. It’s also doing so from a fairly reasonable $100 million budget.
For a while there though, executives at Warner Bros. Pictures were advocating that the film to go straight to streaming on Max according to a new feature in The New York Times.
Pamela Abdy, co-chairman of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, says that solution “was never going to work for Tim”. She and co-chair Mike De Luca, who took on the top film posts at Warner Bros in 2022, were enthusiastic about getting the film done but knew the budget would have to come down.
Burton had estimated it would cost $147 million to make, a good portion of which went to cast and producer fees, but in order to get a theatrical green light it needed to come in around $100 million.
Burton’s agent spent two months making deals but was able to get talent and most producers to reduce their upfront payments for bigger pieces of the backend. Combined with tax incentives and shooting cost cuts, they were able to do it and the film got made.
The success of the movie marks the first film completed entirely under the De Luca/Abdy regime and so far they say the studio is buoyant on its success.
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