Tim Burton talks 'Beetlejuice 2'

In an interview with MTV.com, Tim Burton - currently directing Dark Shadows and producing Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - spilled this bit of info about a long-rumored sequel to the 1988 comedy classic Beetlejuice (which starred Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis and Winona Ryder):

"Yes. I love that character, and Michael [Keaton] is so great in it ... I always think about how great and fun that character was, so I just said to [Vampire Hunter writer] Seth [Grahame-Smith], 'If you have some idea about it, go for it, and then I'll look at it freshly.' In the past, I tried some things, but that was way back when. He seemed really excited about it."

MTV goes on to report that no specific plot details have been developed yet, but that he, "told him to try some stuff, but he hasn't come back to me yet. Michael was so great in it. I'm sure he'd strangely tap right back into it."

In October 2011, Grahame-Smith (who also co-wrote the screenplay for Burton's Dark Shadows) told Entertainment Weekly he'd only do the sequel if it was a true sequel with Keaton returning, and that he envisioned it as continuing the story 26 years later.

As far as Michael Keaton's take on it, he told MovieHole in 2010 that he'd love to return to the role of the ghost with the most. "Oh I’d do that in a heartbeat. Absolutely, that’s the one thing I’d love to do again. That’s the only one I’d love to do."

An abandoned Beetlejuice sequel from the '90s actually exists in the "what if?" files of Hollywood. The plot had Charles Deetz (Jeffrey Jones) moving the family to Hawaii and building a resort on a burial ground, and Betelgeuse taking part in a surfing competition.