Warner Bros. Entertainment · The Geffen Film Company · Q65557474 · 92 min
Box office
$73.7M worldwide on a $15M budget
Honors
Academy Awards — 1 win, 1 nominationKids' Choice Award — 1 nominationAll 1 wins · 2 nominations on record
Academy Awards: Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Scholarship
Named in the title of 10 peer-reviewed works
Examples
Beetlejuice, 2006
Cosa Nostra #33 – BeetleJuice — Institutional Repository of the National University Open and Distance UNAD (Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia), 2024
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice may have problems – but it’s Tim Burton’s best film in years, 2024
Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Beetlejuice arrived in 1988 from Warner Bros., directed by Tim Burton in only his second feature, following the modest success of Pee-wee's Big Adventure. It paired a distinctive visual imagination with Michael Keaton's manic turn as the titular bio-exorcist, alongside Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, and Winona Ryder. The film became a commercial hit and a cultural touchstone, spawning an animated series and later a stage-to-screen legacy that culminated in a 2024 sequel. Its blend of comedy and the macabre helped define Burton's early aesthetic and remains a hallmark of late-80s studio filmmaking.
This piece preserves the opening identification of the picture itself, the card that announces the name before any character or story unfolds. Such cells are prized by collectors as the film's first handshake with the audience, a fragment of pure introduction untouched by performance. Because it bears only the name Beetlejuice, it stands as a marker of anticipation, the moment before the mischief begins, valued for its purity as a piece of cinema history rather than for any single scene.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Beetlejuice (1988).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no torn or deformed holes visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as two interlocking waveform lines consistent with a stereo variable-area format.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read key numbers or stock codes; no legible manufacturer text or SAFETY FILM legend can be confirmed.
Base & colour
Base appears clear with a neutral to very slightly warm tint; the dye image reads as a strong black with bright white title graphics, showing no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
A faint hairline scratch is visible running longitudinally across the strip, consistent with projection wear; no splices or cue marks are seen.
Picture
Positive image; all three frames show the same title card graphic, indicating a title sequence loop rather than consecutive action frames; the title reads BEETLEJUICE, consistent with the film on record.
Era check
A stereo variable-area optical track and clear polyester-type base are consistent with a 1988 theatrical release print era for Beetlejuice.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000063313
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
