Beetlejuice is one of the weirdest, most memorable characters in cinema history, and his name has a very interesting origin. Back in 1988, Tim Burton brought to life the fantasy comedy horror Beetlejuice, from a story by Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson. Although Burton didn’t write the story, it was very on brand with the tone and themes he usually addresses in his films, and it has his peculiar visual style thanks to the use of practical effects and stop-motion animation.
Beetlejuice followed Barbara and Adam Maitland (Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin), a recently deceased young couple who don’t know what to do next, so they decide to stay in their house and haunt the new residents: the Deetzes. In order to scare them away, the Maitlands enlist the help of “bio-exorcist” ghost Betelgeuse (pronounced Beetlejuice), but things get out of hand as he doesn’t play by the rules. Betelgeuse’s name is unforgettable (just don’t say it three times), but some people don’t know that the name wasn’t made up by the writers – it’s real, and it might not be what you think.
Betelgeuse is the name of a star in the constellation of Orion. It’s the second brightest star in Orion and the ninth brightest in the night sky, which means you can totally see it on a cloudless night, as it’s also one of the largest stars in the sky. It has a reddish color and it’s one of the stars that form the Winter Triangle asterism, along with Sirius and Procyon, which are also some of the brightest stars in the sky. Betelgeuse is also at the center of the Winter Hexagon and it’s generally considered to be an isolated and runaway star, not associated with any star-forming region and its birthplace is unclear – that sounds a bit more like the Beetlejuice from the film.
Warner Bros didn’t find the title of Beetlejuice interesting or appealing at all, and instead wanted to call it House Ghosts. Burton then jokingly suggested the name Scared Sheetless (as a reference to the scene where Barbara and Adam try to scare the Deetzes by wearing bedsheets), and to his horror and surprise, the studio liked the idea. In the end, Burton refused to change the title, and that’s how Beetlejuice was saved from a pretty generic title (and one that was literally a joke).
McDowell was actually impressed at how many people got the connection between the title and the star, further proving that the studio was plain wrong in wanting to change it – it’s a fun and clever wordplay. Beetlejuice went on to become a comedy classic that spawned an animated TV series and a stage musical, and while a sequel will most likely never happen at this point, the original film will live on as a comedy horror gem with a very interesting name.