Burton For Beetlejuice Sequel?

It appears that Tim Burton may well be involved in the planned sequel to smash 80s hit Beetlejuice.

According to Slashfilm, Burton is "very serious" about becoming involved, and has even rejigged his schedule to allow for filming.

It's long been believed that the script - a direct continuation of the original - will only go ahead with the blessing of Burton and star Michael Keaton. As writers Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg said in 2011:

"When Warner Bros. came to us about it, we said the only way we’d do it if we got Tim [Burton’s] blessing and involvement, and we got that, and the star of the movie has to be Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice,

  and it’s a true continuation 26 years later. Not just throwing him in as a cameo going, “Hey, it’s me. I endorse this movie.” We’re not there yet [with Keaton] because we don’t have a film to present to him."

Slashfilm seem to believe that Burton is willing to go ahead with the project, and that Keaton is very positive about the idea.

So it seems that things could well be gearing up for production.

This is a change of heart for Burton - after the original, he was so opposed to the sequel that the studios were demanding that he apparently scripted the worst possible story: Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiin. The fact that the film never surfaced is testament to how well Burton's gambit paid off.

We assume that there's no floral shirts and surfboards in this version of the sequel...