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
Released in 1988 by The Geffen Company through Warner Bros., Beetlejuice arrived as Tim Burton's breakout studio feature, following his debut with Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Its blend of gothic production design, dark comedy, and Danny Elfman's score helped define a new strain of mainstream horror-comedy, while Michael Keaton's manic turn as the title character became a career-altering performance. The film's success cemented Burton's visual style as commercially viable and laid groundwork for his later collaborations with Keaton, including Batman a year later.
This cell centers on Betelgeuse himself, the "ghost with the most" and the film's chaotic engine, played by Keaton in a performance built on unpredictable energy rather than screen time. Collectors prize material featuring this character because so much of the film's identity rests on his presence rather than the haunted family around him. A 35mm cell bearing his name marks the character as the draw, a frame preserved specifically for the figure audiences remember first when they think of this film.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Beetlejuice (1988).
Gauge
35mm; the strip holds two complete frames, with four perforations per frame visible on both the top and bottom edges.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched corners are rounded and cleanly cut with no torn or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical soundtrack track is visible running along the bottom edge beside the picture area, appearing as a dual bilateral variable-area pattern.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read any key numbers, manufacturer text, or SAFETY FILM legend.
Base & colour
The base shows a warm cream-yellow tint typical of acetate safety stock; the dye image reads with strong blue and magenta saturation consistent with an Eastmancolor-type print.
Projection history
Light longitudinal scratches are visible running parallel to the film edge across both frames, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; both frames appear to be from the same continuous shot and the dark, blue-lit interior setting is consistent with the theatrical release print of Beetlejuice (1988).
Era check
The dual bilateral variable-area optical track, warm acetate base, and Eastmancolor dye palette 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 000063324
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
