Vermont state police are searching for the thieves that raided the set of Tim Burton’s sequel to his 1988 film “Beetlejuice” and stole two statues, including ones that fans of the classic horror comedy might recognize.
According to police reports and social media posts, one of the statues stolen by the thieves is a piece of abstract art made by Delia Deetz, played by Catherine O’Hara, and which in one scene gets haphazardly swung around by an uncaring moving company.
Later, during the film’s climax, Beetlejuice brings Delia’s sculptures to life, with the artwork that was stolen from the sequel’s set attacking Delia herself.
According to the local newspaper Caledonian Record, police say that they received word from production security that the suspects had “driven an older model GMC pickup truck up to a large lamppost topped with a distinctive pumpkin decoration on Village Road, removed the lamppost from its base, bundled it into the back of the truck, covered it with a tarp, and drove away.”
Three days later, Delia’s sculpture was also stolen from the same cemetery where filming was taking place.
While much of the filming of “Beetlejuice 2” has already completed in England, exterior shooting was being done in the Vermont town of East Corinth — the same site as the original — when it was put on pause by the SAG-AFTRA strike earlier this month.
“Beetlejuice 2” is currently scheduled for release by Warner Bros. on Sept. 6, 2024.
