Seth Grahame-Smith on "Night of the Living," "Beetlejuice" Sequel

Shock Till You Drop spoke with writer Seth Grahame-Smith. The ever-busy screenwriter/author/executive producer gave a few brief words on two Tim Burton projects in development: the possible Beetlejuice sequel and a new stop-motion animated film, Night of the Living.

On the Beetlejuice sequel: "Everyone is waiting for me to get my ass in gear," Grahame-Smith said. "I just finished a script called Night of the Living, and I'm giving it to Tim this weekend. And I'm moving now into adapting Unholy Night [his latest book], which I have to deliver to Warner Bros. I've got to do this, then I'm going around the world for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, so I'll be writing Unholy Night on the plane and in hotel rooms."

On Night of the Living, which is about humans terrorizing undead creatures, a reversal of Night of the Living Dead: "[It's] not just zombies. Let me put it this way, Tim and I are big fans of classic movie monsters. The title pretty much where you're going to be at. Plus, it's a Tim Burton stop motion-animated movie. That movie for me is my love letter to all of the movies I grew up on."

Grahame-Smith on Future Burton Stop-Motion Film

The Hollywood Reporter recently spoke with writer Seth Grahame-Smith. Grahame-Smith talked about several forthcoming projects, including a script he is writing for Tim Burton for a new stop-motion animated film, currently titled, Night of the Living.

Grahame-Smith said, "I'm right in the middle of writing an animated movie for Tim Burton right now called Night of the Living." He continued: "Night of the Living is an idea I have had around for years that I'm doing with Tim Burton. When we were shooting Dark Shadows last year I worked up the nerve to tell Tim about it because I always thought it would make a good movie. When I saw what he had done with Frankweenie and Corpse Bride, it always struck me as a great idea for that form. I'm writing it at Warner's Bros. for him (as a stop-motion monster movie). As soon I'm done with that draft, I'll move into Unholy Night, probably in a matter of weeks."

He also reiterated his plans to write a script for a Beetlejuice sequel. "The first opportunity to tackle that will probably be later this year," he said.

Updates on "Beetlejuice 2"

ShockTillYouDrop.com spoke with screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith, and asked him about whether Beetlejuice 2 will become a reality or not. "It's a reality in the sense that I met with Michael Keaton last week," Grahame-Smith told us. "We talked for a couple of hours and talked about big picture stuff. It's a priority for Warner Bros. It's a priority for Tim [Burton]. Right now, I am writing an animated movie for Tim based on an idea of mine. Then I adapt Unholy Night [based on the upcoming book]. The third I am hoping is Beetlejuice in terms of writing schedule."

And what was Keaton's excitement level like?

"Huge," the writer added, "he's been wanting to do it for 20 years and he'll talk to anybody about it who will listen. I really told him, I have a huge reverence for Tim and a huge reverence for that film in general. I don't think we should do it if we shit on the legacy. He agrees. So, right now, it remains to be seen, I have a couple of story ideas, but we're very early out."

So, it's possible that Grahame-Smith and Burton might be working on two more projects after their collaborations on Dark Shadows and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter: an animated film (which is likely the stop-motion film, Night of the Living) and, if Warner Bros., Keaton, and Burton agree, possibly Beetlejuice 2. Stay tuned...

No "Beetlejuice 2" Without Burton's Blessing

Entertainment Weekly spoke with David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith, the heads of KatzSmith productions, to learn more about their various upcoming plans and projects. Included in were two possible projects that may involve Tim Burton -- emphasis on "possible" and "may." The first was a possible sequel to Beetlejuice.

David Katzenberg: We’re not remaking Beetlejuice. People have been very angry about that.

Seth Grahame-Smith: 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.


The second film discussed was a possible stop-motion animated feature, Night of the Living. The idea is still only a concept, but the duo are considering pitching it to Tim Burton. The story concerns a community of monsters whose peaceful lives are turned around when they are invaded by humans.

Seth Grahame-Smith: Night of the Living is all of the topes of horror movies, but turned on their head from the monster’s point-of-view.

Again, however, Night of the Living does not yet have Burton attached to it.


Seth Grahame-Smith wrote the screenplays for two future Burton films, Dark Shadows and the Burton-produced Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. David Katzenberg is the son of Jeffrey Katzenberg, founder and head of DreamWorks Animation.


Image Credit: Noel Vasquez/Getty Images

"Beetlejuice" Sequel Coming, and Another Stop-Motion Film?

Deadline reports that a Beetlejuice sequel will likely come into existence at some point. KatzSmith Productions partners David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith (author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, as well as the screenwriter for the film versions of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Tim Burton's Dark Shadows) have just signed a two-year first-look feature producing deal at Warner Bros., and one of their first projects will be a sequel to the 1988 comedy. Grahame-Smith will likely write the script for the sequel. No word on a projected release date as of yet.

Other projects that may be included in the deal are We Three Kings (an adaptation of Grahame-Smith's next revisionist novel about what the Three Wise Men were really up to on Christmas Eve), Bryantology (about a man who invents a religion based around himself as a tax loophole) and, most interestingly, Night of the Living, a stop-motion animated comedy about a town of monsters who find themselves besieged by an invasion of living humans, which Tim Burton himself might be producing with KatzSmith.