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 from The Geffen Company through Warner Bros. in 1988, directed by Tim Burton at the outset of his rise to prominence. Blending macabre humor with visual invention, the film established Burton's voice in mainstream cinema and gave Michael Keaton one of his most defining roles. Its blend of afterlife bureaucracy, suburban satire, and gothic style helped it become a cult favorite and a touchstone for later Burton collaborations, cementing its place in late-1980s studio filmmaking.
This cell brings together the film's three central figures: Adam and Barbara Maitland, the recently deceased couple trying to reclaim their home, and Beetlejuice, the chaotic spirit they unwisely summon. Pairing Keaton, Baldwin, and Davis together on one strip situates the piece at the heart of the story's central triangle, prized by collectors for uniting the haunting and the haunter. As a 35mm frame, it preserves a physical fragment of the film's original theatrical presentation, a tangible link to Burton's early cinematic world.
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 two complete frames and portions of additional 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 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 quote any text or key numbers.
Base & colour
The clear base shows a warm-neutral tint consistent with a colour dye-coupler image; no obvious red shift or significant fading is apparent.
Projection history
Light longitudinal lines consistent with projection are visible across the frame area; no splices or cue marks are seen.
Picture
Positive colour image; frames run consecutively as a single continuous shot, and the visible content is consistent with the theatrical release of Beetlejuice (1988).
Era check
A dual-bilateral variable-area optical track on 35mm colour positive stock is consistent with a standard theatrical release print from 1988, before digital soundtrack formats were introduced.
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 000063329
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
