Warner Bros. reportedly tried to release "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" on Max because it was worried it would fail.

Tim Burton has some experience with streaming under his belt, as he is an executive producer on the hit Netflix series Wednesday, but in the discussion of making Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the idea of making it as a Max original was apparently a non-starter. In the words of producer Pamela Abdy,

While Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is one of Warner Bros’ biggest theatrical success stories of the year, at over $264 million in worldwide grosses and counting, there was a period in the decade-plus the studio was mulling the sequel in which execs advocated for the film to go straight to streaming on Max.

Tim Burton got the budget for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice slashed by insisting on a theatrical release, but that decision ultimately saved the movie.