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 through Warner Bros. and The Geffen Company, directed by Tim Burton in only his second feature. It paired Michael Keaton's manic turn as the titular "bio-exorcist" with Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, and Winona Ryder, and its blend of gothic production design with dark comedy helped define Burton's early visual language. The film became a commercial success and later spawned an animated series, a Broadway musical, and a long-delayed sequel, cementing its place as a touchstone of late-80s studio filmmaking.
This cell preserves the title card, the frame where the film's name first appears onscreen, a fixture of theatrical presentation before the story proper begins. Title cards are prized by collectors because they mark the threshold moment of a picture, tying the physical print to the film's identity rather than to a single scene or performer. For a film so closely associated with its title character's name as both warning and invocation, this piece stands as a direct artifact of that opening address to the audience.
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 frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with no visible torn or deformed holes.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical soundtrack track is visible running along the bottom edge of the picture area, appearing as a white-on-black waveform band.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture; the edge margins are dark and no key numbers, manufacturer text, or SAFETY FILM legend can be read.
Base & colour
The base appears clear with a neutral to very slightly warm tint; the dye image is dense black with bright white and gold title graphics, showing no visible fading or colour shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splice marks, or cue marks are visible in this capture.
Picture
Positive image; all three frames show the same title-card graphic, consistent with a main-title sequence repeat, and the title 'BEETLEJUICE' matches the film on record.
Era check
A mono or stereo variable-area optical track on 35mm positive stock is consistent with a 1988 theatrical release print of Beetlejuice, predating DTS and SDDS 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 000063323
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
