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 by The Geffen Company through Warner Bros. in 1988, Beetlejuice arrived as Tim Burton's second feature and the film that established his visual signature for a generation. Michael Keaton's manic turn as the "ghost with the most" became instantly iconic, while Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis grounded the story as the deceased couple navigating the afterlife's bureaucracy. The film's blend of practical effects, dark comedy, and gothic whimsy made it a commercial and critical success, later inspiring an animated series, a Broadway musical, and a long-awaited sequel decades on.
This cell captures a pairing between Adam Maitland and the character known within the story's netherworld lore as the Char Man, a scorched figure encountered in the waiting room limbo that so memorably satirized death's red tape. Scenes involving this space are prized by collectors for their strange production design and their role in establishing the film's afterlife mythology beyond Betelgeuse's antics alone. A cell like this preserves a single frame from that world, offering a tangible artifact of the film's early tonal shift into something stranger and more unsettling.
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; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing or deformation.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical soundtrack track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer text or key numbers.
Base & colour
Base shows a warm cream-amber tint consistent with an acetate safety base; dye image appears rich with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light vertical scratching is visible across the frame area, 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, consistent with a release print of Beetlejuice (1988).
Era check
The variable-area optical track, acetate base tint, and positive colour print format 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 000063333
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
