If we say their names three times, Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis sadly still won’t star in the “Beetlejuice” sequel.
Scant details had been revealed about Tim Burton’s latest movie “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” in the lead-up to its Venice Film Festival on Wednesday night.
But one long-assumed rumor has been confirmed by reports out of the Lido after its red-carpet debut: Baldwin and Davis, who played the deceased Maitlands in the 1988 horror-comedy, do not make so much as an apparition — sorry, appearance — in the follow-up.
A review from the Hollywood Reporter said that “Barbara and Adam Maitland, the sweet prematurely deceased couple played by Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin, are gone, however, having found a loophole according to Lydia.”
In the first film, the pair spooked the Deetz family (Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara and Jeffrey Jones).
But it was always unlikely that the fictional ghost duo would be back to haunt another Day-O.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” was in production while Baldwin, 66, was on trial for involuntary manslaughter after the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the Santa Fe set of “Rust.” The case was tossed out by the judge in July.
And it also doesn’t come as a shock that Jones, whose character Charles is said to be killed off in the sequel, doesn’t make a cameo either.
The 77-year-old actor, who also had roles in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Sleepy Hollow,” was forced to register as a sex offender in 2003 after pleading no contest to hiring a 14-year-old boy to pose for sexually explicit photos.
However, several of the film’s original cast have returned, including Michael Keaton, 72, as rambunctious spirit Betelgeuse, Ryder, 52, as Lydia Deetz and O’Hara, 70, as Delia Deetz.
Jenna Ortega joins the crew as Lydia’s daughter, Astrid, whose father is dead. Lydia now hosts a paranormal TV series, and Justin Theroux plays her boyfriend and manager, Rory.
Reviews out of Italy have been chipper so far. Mostly.
“The movie carries you along on its wriggling magic carpet of mayhem,” Time said.
And Variety wrote that “‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ is no ‘Beetlejuice,’ but in the end it’s got just enough Burton juice.”
The Times of London, however, was less impressed with Burton’s throwback, groaning that the sequel “has opened the Venice Film Festival with a giant shrug and the sense that the nostalgia business is certainly scraping the barrel.”
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” hits US theaters Friday, Sept. 6.
