The sequel to hit 1980s movie Beetlejuice will premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival, it has been announced.
Directed by Tim Burton, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will again star Michael Keaton, as well as other original actors Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara.
Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Jenna Ortega and Willem Dafoe will also join the cast.
The film will open the annual festival, appearing out of competition, on 28 August.
Burton said: “I’m very excited by this. It means a lot to me to have the world premiere of this film at the Venice Film Festival.”
Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera said it was an honour to be showing the film, praising the movie’s “surprising swing of creative imagination and driving hallucinatory rhythm”.
The 1988 original of the horror-comedy told the story of a recently deceased couple – played by Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin – who found themselves trapped in their old home along with its new owners.
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Accordingly, they call on the services of “bio-exorcist” Betelgeuse to help scare the new inhabitants away.
While Davis and Baldwin will not return to the franchise, Keaton will reprise his role of Betelgeuse, and Ryder will be back as gothic rebel Lydia Deetz and O’Hara as her mother, conceptual artist Delia Deetz.
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The movie’s official description says: “After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River.
“Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia’s life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter Astrid [played by Jenna Ortega] discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened.
“With trouble brewing in both realms, it’s only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice’s name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.”
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The success of the original film led to a TV series, a series of video games and a 2018 stage musical.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice opens in UK cinemas on 6 September.
