10 '80s movies that deserve a legacy sequel like 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice'
"Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" has earned positive reviews and is poised to be a box-office success.
The film brings back Michael Keaton, Catherine O'Hara, and Winona Ryder from 1988's "Beetlejuice."
Here are 10 other stone-cold '80s classics that need a legacy sequel four decades later.
Beetlejuice, the self-proclaimed "Ghost with the Most," is one of the most iconic characters of the '80s. After the original movie was released in 1988 and made nearly $75 million on a $15 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo, talks of a sequel began almost immediately. Instead, we got a Saturday morning cartoon from 1989 to 1991, and a relatively short-lived Broadway musical from 2019 to 2020 (with a brief return from April 2022 to January 2023).
Ultimately, it took 36 years for director Tim Burton and star Michael Keaton to bring Beetlejuice back to the big screen, along with returning cast members Catherine O'Hara and Winona Ryder and newcomers to the franchise: Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, and Willem Dafoe.
Variety reported "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" could make anywhere from $80 million to $100 million during its opening weekend, which would make it one of the most successful September opening weekends of all time. With the critical buzz being relatively high — especially for Burton, whose recent movies arguably haven't been his best — the film is certain to stir up the legacy sequel conversation yet again.
Here are 10 other classic films from the '80s we'd like to see revived on the big screen.
"The NeverEnding Story" was released in 1984. Forty years later, we still need an official sequel starring Noah Hathaway and Barret Oliver.
Sure, there were two sequels to "NeverEnding Story" released in 1990 and 1994, but almost none of the original cast returned for either, and we're still invested in what happens to the mythical land of Fantasia. The film literally ends with the promise of more adventures and wishes of our main character, Bastian (Oliver).
Did Bastian and Atreyu (Hathaway) become friends? What did people in "the real world" think of a giant flying dragon named Falkor?
Since Fantasia's existence is dependent on the imagination of children, a legacy sequel is a perfect opportunity to check in with a grown-up Bastian who thinks his adventures in Fantasia were just a silly dream (think the North Pole in "Polar Express" or adult Peter Pan in "Hook"). It writes itself! Bastian just needs a kid who can help him believe in magic again.
But maybe we can skip the traumatic death of Artax in a swamp this time.
In 2024, Deadline reported that a new series of films was on the way, but it'll be a reboot, not a sequel.
A "Bull Durham" sequel about Crash and Annie's kid, or Crash becoming a baseball coach, would be appreciated after 36 years.
In addition to being one of the best baseball movies of all time, "Bull Durham" is also a great rom-com and stars two of our most beloved living actors: Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon. We'd kill to see them reunited on-screen as former minor league catcher Crash Davis and legendary baseball groupie Annie Savoy.
Baseball has changed so much since the '80s — what do they think of America's favorite pastime now? Are they still in touch with Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins)? Are they even still together? Making them a divorced couple could also be a fun touch.
The 1980 musical "Fame" was rebooted in 2009, but only Debbie Allen returned from the original, and she didn't even play the same character.
Picture this: The year is 2025, and the High School of Performing Arts of 1980 is celebrating its 45th high school reunion. Who made it to the big time? Is anyone working at the school, like Allen was (as a new character) in the remake? Is HSPA even still open, or has it merged with another school, like it did in real life?
Like baseball, New York City has changed a lot since the '80s, as has the entertainment industry. It would be interesting (and meta) to see people like Allen, Barry Miller, Paul McCrane, Meg Tilly, and more reflect on how times have changed and to pay respect to members of the cast who are no longer with us, like Irene Cara.
"WarGames," released in 1983, is the only '80s high-school movie starring Matthew Broderick we'd like to see brought back.
We've heard about the "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" sequel/spin-off that seems to be happening, and to that we say: maybe check out "WarGames" instead.
The film focuses on teenage computer prodigy David Lightman (Broderick), who accidentally hacks into a supercomputer at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), and accidentally convinces the computer program that the Soviet Union will imminently declare nuclear war.
The dangers of artificial intelligence and the escalating threat of nuclear war have never been more pertinent than they are today. Let's check in on David as an adult: Did he end up working for the government, and did he create something he's now ashamed of, like Stephen Falken (John Wood) in the first film? Let's find out.
A meta sequel to "The Goonies" called "Our Time" might be heading to Disney+, but it's not the Goonies reunion we want.
The Goonies, released in 1985, set a generation of kids on the path of loving treasure-hunting movies. Arguably, we have movies like "National Treasure" and series like "Outer Banks" because of how influential "The Goonies," a movie about a group of friends discovering a treasure map, was.
Goonies never say die, and neither do we in our hopes that Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen, Ke Huy Quan, Kerri Green, and Martha Plimpton (maybe not Corey Feldman) will reunite one day to find more buried treasure.
Meanwhile, in 2021, Variety reported that a spin-off (sort of) series called "Our Time," about a trio of friends who are determined to film a shot-for-shot remake of "The Goonies" with the help of a new substitute teacher, will eventually hit Disney+.
News of a reboot or sequel to "The Lost Boys" dropped in 2021, but we're unsure if Jason Patric or Kiefer Sutherland will be there on the Santa Carla boardwalk.
Released in 1987, "The Lost Boys" was directed by the great Joel Schumacher and starred Jason Patric and Corey Haim as two brothers who move to Santa Clara, California, only to discover that the town is crawling with vampires, most notably David Powers (Sutherland).
The people behind the film were so sure that a sequel was coming that David notably didn't explode or dissolve like other vampires did when they died; everyone wanted Sutherland back for "The Lost Girls," which never happened.
If we dove back into the seedy underbelly of Santa Clara, what would it be like today? Has Patric's character Michael become a skilled vampire hunter? Is he still with Star (Jami Gertz)?
A "new take" on the story starring Noah Jupe and Jaeden Martell was reported by The Hollywood Reporter in September 2021, but details are still under wraps.
With the release of "Beverly Hills Cop 4" and "Coming 2 America," 1983's "Trading Places" remains Eddie Murphy's sole iconic '80s film that hasn't gotten any kind of sequel.
"Another 48 Hours," three "Beverly Hills Cop" sequels, and "Coming 2 America" all brought back iconic Murphy characters. Why hasn't "Trading Places," which co-starred Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis, received the same treatment?
The film focuses on two laughably evil stockbrokers, Randolph (Ralph Bellamy) and Mortimer (Don Ameche), who decide to ruin Louis Winthorpe's (Aykroyd) life for no reason other than to see if nature vs. nurture is real. They frame him, take away his job and life, and give it all to hustler Billy Ray Valentine (Murphy).
Again, the themes of Wall Street's casual cruelty and greed are just as relevant in 2024 as they were in 1983. Bring back Billy and Louis! We need them.
With the way John Carpenter's "The Thing" ended in 1982, it might be difficult to bring back the original characters, but not impossible.
"The Thing" is one of the most influential pieces of horror of the last 50 years. Focusing on a group of scientists and military personnel at a research base in Antarctica, things slowly start to spin out of control when they encounter an alien life form with the ability to silently absorb and imitate any living organism.
Spoilers for a 42-year-old movie, but "The Thing" ends with helicopter pilot MacReady (Kurt Russell) and mechanic Childs (Keith David) slowly freezing to death after blowing up the Thing.
But what if they were rescued before they died? And what if they didn't successfully get rid of the alien? Or, what if the aliens return after 42 years to finish what they started? All questions a sequel could answer.
There was a prequel released in 2011 focusing on the Norwegian research base we see members of in the first scene of "The Thing," so maybe we could bring some of them back, too.
"Flight of the Navigator" is a cult classic from 1986 that could do with a sequel.
"Flight of the Navigator" tends to get complicated, but to put it simply: 12-year-old David Freeman (Joey Cramer) goes missing for eight years before he suddenly returns — but he's still 12 years old. Turns out, he was abducted by aliens and traveled light-years — which is why it was just a few seconds for him, but eight years for everyone else.
When he gets home, he figures out that the aliens he was with, specifically Max (Paul Reubens), downloaded tons of information into his brain, and now Max needs that info to get home.
After Reubens's death in 2023, a reunion between Max and David seems unlikely. But at the end of the film, David returns to the moment he was abducted, technically erasing everyone's memories of the events of the film. How can David handle that? Does it affect him into adulthood?
In 2021, it was announced by The Hollywood Reporter that Bryce Dallas Howard will be directing a female-led reboot of the film for Disney. But we'd still like to see a cameo or two, at the very least.
It could be fun to see Jack and Joan from "Romancing the Stone" again.
"Romancing the Stone" was released in 1984 and catapulted Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas, and Danny DeVito into official movie stardom when it made $76 million in the US alone.
In the film, Turner plays Joan Wilder, a lonely romance novelist who gets drawn into a treasure hunt when she receives a mysterious map and a frantic call from her sister, who has been kidnapped in Colombia.
After a series of misadventures, she meets Jack (Douglas), an exotic bird smuggler and rogue, who decides to help her find the treasure and her sister (for a handsome fee, of course). You might have guessed it, but along the way, they fall in love.
A sequel, "The Jewel of the Nile," was released in 1985, but a third film never happened. There have been attempts to reunite the gang or reboot the film with new actors, but nothing has ever materialized — however, after watching Douglas adeptly handle action in the "Ant-Man" films, we know he still has it in him for a cameo at the very least.
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