‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ to Open Venice Film Festival in World Premiere

Say his name. The 81st Venice International Film Festival will kick off this year with the world premiere of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Tim Burton‘s hotly-anticipated sequel to his 1988 comedy-horror hit.

The film will have its world premiere in Venice on August 28, screening out of competition.

Beetlejuice alums Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara re-team for the sequel, joined by Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Jenna Ortega, and Willem Dafoe. The Warner Bros. release goes out in North America on September 6 and internationally beginning September 4.

“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,” said Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera, noting the festival was “honored and proud to host the world premiere of a work that features a surprising swing of creative imagination and driving hallucinatory rhythm.”

Added Burton: “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.”

Warners has a strong track record in Venice. The studio premiered Todd Phillips’ Joker on the Lido in 2019, successfully launching the film both as a superhero-adjacent blockbuster and, after it won Venice’s Golden Lion for best film, as an awards-season contender. WB did it again in Venice in 2021 with Dune, the ambitious adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic from Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, creating a crowd-screaming sensation at the festival that lit a fire under the film, helping it to its eventual $400 million-plus global gross.

The 81st Venice Film Festival runs from August 28 to September 7.