While there are no new updates regarding the rumored Beetlejuice sequel that is a collaboration between the film’s original director Tim Burton with his new bro-ish protégé, Seth Grahame-Smith, it’s safe to assume that it’s still a go, considering a decade-late sequel would be rather apropos for Burton these days. Smith, on the other hand, has mastered the tactic of combining historical tales with the absurd, so it’ll be fun to see how Beetlejuice fits with the Spanish Inquisition.

In the meantime, super fans of the original film like myself and that guy who runs the world’s largest Beetlejuice museum from his home could use a little pick-me-up, and fortunately YouTube users Rivergrl21 and Nuropsych1 have just what we need. Using their XBOX 360 in “creative mode” (I have no clue what that means), the duo spent the last two months developing a Beetlejuice roller coaster in Minecraft.

Warning: After watching this amazing video, you might become instantly depressed that this coaster doesn’t actually exist.

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If this isn’t your first time on the internet, chances are you’ve come across at some point the picture of a stoned-ass Nic Cage wearing a Superman suit over his pooka necklace, or that video of Kevin Smith talking about the time a producer Jon Peters wanted him to write a Superman with three conditions: I don’t wanna see him fly, he doesn’t wear that f*cking suit, and he has to fight a giant spider in the third act. Incredibly, that Nic Cage picture isn’t is Photoshopped, and but (sorry, I’m retarded, here’s a couple real ones) Kevin Smith wasn’t making the story up (which you know because no one argues about blow jobs or Star Wars). It was all for movie project that never quite got off the ground, Superman Lives, written by Kevin Smith, directed by Tim Burton, and starring Nic Cage. It’s all so beautifully batshit that one man – Jon Schnepp -  has taken to kickstarter to raise money for a documentary about it, called “The Death of Superman Lives.”

I’ve been interested in this film since it was first announced back in the late 90’s. Nicolas Cage was announced as Superman, Kevin Smith was announced as the Writer, Tim Burton was announced as the Director, and fans have had very heavy opinions, both positive and negative, on all of this. As news slowly bubbled out, news buzzed around about Rainbow Robot Outfits, Brainiac Skull ships, Superman not “flying”, Fighting a Giant Spider, Polar Bears guarding the Fortress of Solitude. [KickStarter]

They say their “stretch goal” is to use the original FX crew to actually produce some of the original scenes. They’ve already raised $40 grand. My hope is that they raise enough to actually hire Nic Cage. Hell, I’d settle for video of Nic Cage walking through his house talking about his snake venom and dinosaur skulls in his Superman voice. Actually, considering he did name his son after Superman, I’m not convinced he hasn’t been in character this entire time.

Movieline found a video of the original Superman Lives suit. It basically looks like if dub-step was clothes.

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It has been rumored for quite some time that a Beetlejuice sequel is on the way, as Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter author Seth Grahame-Smith had buddied up with Tim Burton and wrote a screenplay for the Michael Keaton classic. Whether or not that will happen – and given Burton’s and Keaton’s recent track records, it probably needs to happen – is up in the air, but there’s one man in New York City who would presumably be the happiest man on the planet the day that Beetlejuice 2 opens in theaters.

Bruce Christensen is a 48-year old jack-of-all-trades, having worked in the music industry and as a stand-up comic, but his greatest feat in life and claim to fame is that he owns and operates the world’s only Beetlejuice museum. And yes, it’s in his home. Between this guy and the old bro who built a gigantic replica of Giants Stadium in his garage, I’m starting to think that New Yorkers might be a little eccentric.

According to Oddity Central, Christensen’s museum is approximately 400 sq. ft. and contains more than 80 items related to the film. Just 80 items? If that’s all it takes to open a museum, then I currently operate the world’s only Kate Upton hair doll museum. So what’s in this guy’s apartment, I mean museum, anyway?

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Pew pew!

I expected it to do well, but $50 million for Taken 2 is downright shocking. Its opening is more than twice that of the original ($24.7 million) and good enough for the third best October opening of all time, behind Paranormal Activity 3 and Jackass 3D. This despite the fact that, as it was astutely pointed out to me over the weekend, they missed a golden opportunity to call it “Taken Too!”

Exit polling indicated that the audience skewed older (56 percent were 25 years of age and up) and was pretty evenly split between men and women (52 percent male), which suggests Taken 2 was a good date night choice. [!?!] Reviews are god-awful (20 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes), but moviegoers were much more forgiving—they awarded Taken 2 a “B+” CinemaScore, which means the movie may not fall like a rock next weekend. Still, it’s going to be a lot more front-loaded than its predecessor, and matching Taken’s $145 million domestic total is going to be a real challenge. [BoxOfficeMojo]

I thought the first one was mostly just kind of boring and the sequel seemed, shall we say, contrived (they took his daughter… again!), but I can’t argue the appeal of Liam Neeson being a badass. In fact, after last week’s appearances on ESPN and the subsequent revelations about him punching children, I support all future Liam Neeson press tours, no matter how stupid the movie.

Meanwhile, Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie opened worse than Paranorman, and almost as bad as Pirates! Band of Misfits. Hasn’t the clay industry suffered enough?!

Frankenweenie took fifth place this weekend with a disappointing $11.5 million debut. That’s way off from Tim Burton’s last stop-motion animated movie Corpse Bride, which earned $19.1 million in its nationwide expansion. It’s also lower than ParaNorman‘s $14.1 million, and only a tad up on April’s stop-motion bomb The Pirates! Band of Misfits ($11.1 million). [BoxOfficeMojo]

Other complicating factors include the decision to open it just a week after Hotel Transylvania, which is still doing big numbers. But that aside, either kids aren’t as into clay as they used to be, or they’re not nearly as fascinated by the concept of dead things conversing with the living as adults seem to think they are.

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I guess as time has passed, the legend has grown stronger and more people have come to appreciate just how amazing of a film it is, but for a long time it really seemed like Mars Attacks was one of the most underrated and underappreciated movies of all-time. Released in 1996, Mars Attacks is Tim Burton’s hilarious tale of an angry race of aliens that tries to conquer Earth, and it features arguably the greatest comedic ensemble cast of the last billion years, give or take an eon. For those reasons, I will try to find any reason to talk about this great movie, and thankfully someone provided an excuse this week.

A Redditor by the name of “warrhamster” created a thread entitled, “Let’s see how long till I get banned” on Wednesday, and knowing some Redditors and people on the Internet in general, that’s a pretty vague and terrifying statement. Luckily, once you open it, you’re greeted by a screen grab of a remarkable fake okcupid account for “MarsAmbassador”.

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