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., a Tim Burton studio picture that mixed haunted house comedy with stop motion textures and a screenplay willing to be genuinely strange for a mainstream release. It made Michael Keaton a comic force outside his earlier roles, gave Winona Ryder an early defining part, and helped cement Burton's visual language for the decade that followed. The film's success proved that a mid budget horror comedy could carry adult weirdness into wide release, and it later spawned an animated series and a stage musical, extending its reach well past the original theatrical run.
This cell carries the character name itself, the title role played by Michael Keaton, the ghost with the bio exorcist business who collectors chase precisely because he anchors the whole film's chaos. A cell bearing simply "Beetlejuice" points to the character in his own right, likely drawn from a scene central to his presence rather than a supporting bit. For collectors this kind of piece functions as a character study, a single frame of animation history tied to one of the most quoted performances in studio comedy, valuable for what the name alone represents.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Beetlejuice (1988).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no torn or deformed holes visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a dual-bilateral (two-track) waveform pattern.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer codes or key numbers.
Base & colour
The base shows a pale yellow-amber tint consistent with an acetate safety stock; the dye image reads with strong blue and warm amber tones, no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light longitudinal lines are visible across the frame area, consistent with projection wear; no splices or cue marks are seen.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, consistent with a release print of Beetlejuice (1988).
Era check
The dual-bilateral variable-area optical track, acetate base tint, and colour dye structure are all consistent with a 1988-era theatrical release print predating digital soundtrack formats.
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 000063319
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
