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 The Geneva Film Company for Warner Bros., directed by Tim Burton at the outset of his rise, with Michael Keaton, Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin anchoring a cast that turned macabre comedy into mainstream success. Its blend of practical effects, gothic humor and offbeat charm made it an instant favorite, cementing Burton's visual style and giving audiences an afterlife comedy unlike anything before it.
This cell brings together the film's three central figures: Beetlejuice, the trickster spirit summoned to haunt the living, and Barbara and Adam Maitland, the recently deceased couple trying to reclaim their home. Their pairing on one reel represents the story's core dynamic, the uneasy alliance between the dead homeowners and the chaotic force they invoke. For collectors, having all three together in a single 35mm piece captures the heart of the film's premise in one artifact, a compact record of its defining triangle of characters.
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; punched edges appear clean with no torn or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the perforations, appearing as a dual variable-area (stereo) format.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer codes or key numbers.
Base & colour
Base shows a warm cream-yellow tint consistent with an acetate safety base; dye image appears rich and colour-balanced with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light longitudinal scratching is visible along the base side, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, and the costuming and staging are consistent with Beetlejuice (1988).
Era check
The dual variable-area optical soundtrack, warm acetate base tint, and colour dye saturation are all consistent with a theatrical release print from the late 1980s.
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 000063317
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
