Tim Burton has had a fascinating directorial career. He's helped to kickstart massive live-action franchises like Pee-Wee, Batman, and Alice In Wonderland, but he's been reticent to come back for sequels. He did a second Batman film in 1992, but the controversy generated by its grim tone led to him getting the boot from Warner Bros. for the third one.
Tim Burton has only made two sequels to date. The first, we just mentioned, was Batman Returns, and the second is coming out in theaters next week: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. There isn't going to be a third Beetlejuice film, but it appears the decision was made by Burton this time, instead of the studio.
Burton feels the Beetlejuice story is complete
The director talked about the Beetlejuice franchise, and why he wants to end it with two, during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter. The hype behind Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is sky high, especially with a rising star like Jenna Ortega, but Burton completed the story he wanted to tell.
"The Lydia character interested me," the director explained. "Getting older is where you start thinking about what happens in life... Do you have kids? What are they like? How do you change? These are all things that I know and experience. So it felt more right to make this now."
Read More: The cast of the original Beetlejuice: Where are they now?
He joked he would be too old for a third film
The plans for a Beetlejuice sequel date back as far as 1990. Burton even co-wrote a screenplay for Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian in 1991, but he decided to scrap it in favor of his Batman sequel (which also starred Michael Keaton). Sequel plans got reshaped and kicked around during the 2010s, but Burton's fascination with the next generation is what ultimately brought him back.
The passage of time is a double-edged sword, though. While it has allowed Burton to make the sequel he always wanted, it also solidifies his anti-third film stance. "Well, if time frame goes on, I’ll be about 100," the director quipped. "So maybe, I doubt it."
The fact that we got a sequel at all, this many years later, is more than enough.