Travis Scott Reveals Sunday Release Date for ‘Jackboys 2'
'The Jack is back with 17 tracks full of trunk rattling classics in the making,' the album's promo art online reads. According to the promo art, Bun B is hosting the project, which is set to release at midnight Sunday. Several different physical and digital variants are currently listed for sale on Scott's website.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Benny Blanco Says He Shazams His Own Songs Sometimes: "I Can't Remember Anything"
'KPop Demon Hunters' Cannot Be Stopped on the Charts
Kanye West's Ex-Assistant Adds Sexual Battery and Sex Trafficking to Claims in Lawsuit
The album will drop days after Scott and JackBoys dropped the single '2000 Excursion' featuring Don Toliver and Sheck Wes.
With his Sunday album drop, Scott is just the latest major hip-hop act to break from the industry standard Friday release date. Tyler, the Creator did so last year as well for his eighth album, Chromakopia, dropping it on a Monday morning in the hopes that fans would engage more directly with the music throughout the week instead of over a weekend.
JackBoys 2 will mark Scott's first full album since he released Utopia back in 2023. That record was one of the best-selling albums of the year and has since gone double-platinum.
JackBoys 2 comes over five years after Cactus Jack first released JackBoys back in December of 2019. The first album featured guest appearances from artists including Rosalia, Lil Baby, Quavo, Pop Smoke and Young Thug, the latter of whom was featured on the album's triple-platinum single, 'Out West.'
Some of the expected features on the new album are GloRilla, Vybz Kartel, 21 Savage and Tyla, among others.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
From 'Party in the U.S.A.' to 'Born in the U.S.A.': 20 of America's Most Patriotic (and Un-Patriotic) Musical Offerings
Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More
Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
White House Slams ‘South Park' as 'Desperate' for Attention After Unflattering Depiction of Trump
The White House is slamming the political left in response to Wednesday night's controversial season 27 premiere of South Park, in which the show's cartoon-cut-out depiction of Donald Trump took Satan as a lover and which was capped off with a deepfake of the president featuring a rendering of his exposed penis. The controversy-courting and long-running animated series has delighted in skewering both the political left and the right for decades, along with celebrities, politicians, tech CEOs and anyone else its writers deem worthy of the show's specific brand of satire. Trump, whom creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone avoided directly depicting for years, finally made his South Park debut on Wednesday night. More from The Hollywood Reporter Colbert Teases Trump After Name Reportedly Listed in Epstein Files: "Mystery Man Known Only as Micropenis DJT" 'South Park' Lampoons Trump in Shocking Season 27 Premiere as Creators Ink $1.5 Billion Deal Jeff Daniels Takes Aim at Trump and His Supporters: "I Hope You're Losing Tons of Money" The president was depicted similarly to South Park's portrayal of Saddam Hussein in its 1999 feature-length movie, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut: ill-tempered, conniving and cruel. The depiction of Trump's fully nude, small penis, which is on full display while he is in bed with Satan, is topped only by a show-capping phony public service announcement in which an AI-rendered Trump walks through the desert, his penis soon exposed and speaking to him. White House Assistant Press Secretary Taylor Rogers reacted to the episode on Thursday, suggesting it represents the hypocrisy of the political left, lobbing insults at the Comedy Central show and touting Trump's delivery on his promises. 'The Left's hypocrisy truly has no end — for years, they have come after South Park for what they labeled as 'offense' [sic] content, but suddenly they are praising the show,' Rogers said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. 'Just like the creators of South Park, the Left has no authentic or original content, which is why their popularity continues to hit record lows. This show hasn't been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention. President Trump has delivered on more promises in just six months than any other president in our country's history — and no fourth-rate show can derail President Trump's hot streak.' Ratings numbers are not yet available for Wednesday night's 27th season premiere, but according to Nielsen's ratings for April 2023, the first month that South Park's 26th season was available on HBO Max, it logged 700 million minutes of viewing time. This made it the most watched adult animated series that month. During the 2016 election, Stone and Parker expressed uncertainty about the best way to add Trump to the show or how to lampoon him amid his chaotic march to the presidency. Instead, they opted at the time to use the show's Mr. Garrison character as a stand-in for the 45th president. The inflammatory South Park episode comes as Paramount is preparing to be sold to Skydance Media, which the Federal Communications Commission must approve. Trump's appointed FCC chair, Brendan Carr, said Thursday that he does not watch South Park but added that Trump is of the opinion that 'a handful of national programmers' should not 'control and dictate to the American what the narrative is, what they can say, what they can think.' Notably, Skydance is run by David Ellison, who is the son of Oracle mogul and Trump ally Larry Ellison. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Box Office Grosses Won't Return to Pre-COVID Levels Even by 2029, New Report Forecasts
U.S. and global box office and total cinema revenue will not reach pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels by 2029, according to accounting firm PwC's annual closely watched media and entertainment outlook report released late on July 23. In the U.S., pre-pandemic total cinema revenue is not forecast to be reached by 2029 despite a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.9 percent. PwC had recorded nearly $11.7 billion in U.S. total cinema revenue in the pre-pandemic year 2019 after $11.8 billion in 2018. The firm projects the figure to rise from $8.9 billion in 2024 and $9.6 billion in 2025 to $10.1 billion in 2026, $10.3 billion in 2027, $10.6 billion in 2028 and $10.8 billion in 2029. More from The Hollywood Reporter ITV Unveils New Cost Cuts, First-Half Ad Revenue Drop After Year-Ago Soccer Boost, Studios Gain Benedict Cumberbatch to Receive Zurich's Golden Eye Award How a New Generation of British Documentarians Is Embracing Politically Charged Storytelling Asked by The Hollywood Reporter about how pre-COVID box office levels are not expected to be reached by 2029, Bart Spiegel, PwC global entertainment and media leader, says: 'Unfortunately, this full recovery is unlikely within the forecast period. However, we project that by the end of 2029, the industry will be on the brink of a full rebound. In other words, 2030 may be the year global box office revenues return to pre-pandemic levels.' Pre-COVID, U.S. box office in 2018 amounted to $10.8 billion before a 2019 drop to $10.7 billion. PwC forecasts the 2024 figure of $8.1 billion to grow to $8.7 billion this year. For the 2025-2029 period, it predicts a CAGR of 3.86 percent to push box office revenue to nearly $9.8 billion by the end of that period. In terms of admissions, PwC lists 777 million for 2023, a drop to 734 million for 2024 and an estimated rebound to 778 million for 2025. It projects a 2.3 percent CAGR for the U.S. to 823 million in 2029, compared with 1.3 billion in 2019. By then, the average admission price will climb to $11.86, or 'over $2 more than the $9.16 charged in 2020 and 2021,' the report explains. Total U.S. cinema revenue in 2024 fell to $8.9 billion from $9.1 billion in 2023, 'but the drop was anticipated and not as steep as had originally been feared,' highlighted the PwC report. (Yet it hit the bottom line of studios as well.) 'The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strikes of late 2023 had slowed down production — and there were fewer 'tentpole' titles than would normally have been anticipated.' For the global box office, PwC forecasts the 2024 figure of $29.7 billion to grow to $33.5 billion this year. It then predicts continued growth to $37.7 billion by the end of the Outlook report period in 2029, compared with $39.4 billion in 2019. 'It's important to remember that industry revenues are ultimately driven by price times volume. In this case, while ticket prices are rising, admissions (volume) are not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels,' Spiegel says. 'Instead, the growth in global box office revenue is being fueled by higher ticket prices. These ticket price increases are driven by several factors, including enhanced infrastructure and facilities, technological advancements, and rising content costs.' The accounting firm notes that transition has hit Hollywood many times in the past, highlighting: 'In recent years, the U.S. film sector has been disrupted. The streamers overturned traditional business models, the pandemic hit the box office, and the 2023 strikes stymied the post-COVID-19 recovery. But U.S. industry history reveals that the sector has experienced challenges many times before, with everything from the conversion to sound to the anti-trust legislation of the 1940s, the arrival of TV as a mass medium in the 1940s and 1950s, and the VHS revolution of the 1970s. In each case, the sector recovered. It is doing so again now.' Here is a closer look at some of the U.S. cinema sector trends highlighted in PwC's Global Entertainment & Media Outlook. Franchise Films and Tentpoles Growth in U.S. box office revenue this year 'is again being driven, as in pre-COVID-19 years, by franchise movies building on existing IP — with Disney re-established as the pre-eminent player,' the report notes. The studio had three of the top five hits in the U.S. market in 2024: Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine, and Moana 2.… Each of the five major studios — Disney, Universal, Warner Bros., Sony and Paramount — had sizable hits. Universal's Wicked, Despicable Me 4 and Twisters; Warner Bros.' Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Dune: Part Two and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire; Sony's Bad Boys: Ride or Die and It Ends With Us; and Paramount's Gladiator II and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 were all strong successes.' PwC also points out that 'blockbuster titles like Captain America: Brave New World, the live-action Snow White and live-action How to Train Your Dragon, motorsport drama F1, the latest reboot of Superman, Wicked: For Good, Zootopia 2, Mission: Impossible – the Final Reckoning and Avatar: Fire and Ash should ensure that 2025 is a reasonably robust year. In 2025, it is expected that 110 films will be produced and released in more than 2,000 sites in North America, up from 95 in 2024.' Meanwhile, 'an observation that has continued to be made over the last decade is that so-called mid-budget movies, which include award-contending dramas, are struggling at the box office,' PwC mentions. 'These are the pictures that spectators seemingly prefer to watch at home.' Concludes PwC: 'The U.S. remains a very polarised market with a handful of 'tentpole' movies accounting for a vast amount of the profits.' Windows Experiments Experiments with day and date releasing, making big blockbusters available on streaming platforms with little or no period of exclusivity in cinemas, 'have now been largely discarded,' the PwC report highlights. 'This reveals a shift in the studios' mindset and an acknowledgement that releasing in cinemas first is still regarded as the most reliable way to drive ancillary sales. Streamers involved in film production, like Amazon MGM and Apple, are also committing to 45-day theatrical windows for their bigger titles.' Netflix remains focused on its streaming platform, though. 'Netflix's Oscar contender Emilia Pérez was given only a very brief theatrical release (primarily to ensure awards qualification) before being launched to stream on the Netflix platform,' notes the Outlook. 'Emilia Pérez's box office revenue was, relatively, low at around $15 million globally. The film secured 13 Oscar nominations despite not being seen widely on the big screen.' Cinema Appeal 'U.S. exhibitors have been trumpeting research that suggests the public is re-embracing the theatrical experience,' PwC points out. 'The National Association of Theatre Owners cited a report into cinema-going habits compiled by UCLA, which revealed that seeing a movie during opening weekend ranks as the number one preferred activity among 10–24-year-olds. This counters prevailing anxiety about the loss of a younger audience too preoccupied with TikTok and Instagram to go to cinemas. Market research also suggests that for certain genres — horror and comedy in particular — younger cinema-goers like to watch with their peers and to enjoy the shared experience.' Theater Amenities Cinema operators' upgrades to luxury seats is 'one factor driving admissions for more-affluent customers,' according to PwC. Loyalty and subscription programs offering discounts have also been on the rise. For 2024, the firm reports 119 million loyalty club members, up from 106 million in 2023. 'PLF is continuing to make gains,' the Outlook report also emphasizes. 'In North America, 950 theatres now have large-format screens — a 37 percent increase from five years ago and a clear sign that cinema-goers are looking for a spectacular experience that can't be replicated at home. A record number of at least 14 Hollywood and international releases shot with Imax cameras will hit cinemas in 2025 — and will be shown on the Imax global platform at the company's 1,700 locations.' Sony's Alamo Deal Could Spur Theater Buys Sony Pictures' 2024 acquisition of exhibitor Alamo Drafthouse made Sony the first studio giant to move back into owning cinema assets. 'Anti-trust legislation that had been in place for over 70 years, from 1948 to 2020, meant that Hollywood studios were previously prevented from owning their own movie theatres,' highlights PwC in its report. 'There is the possibility that other U.S. studios will follow suit. This means they can again become fully vertically integrated — controlling production, distribution and exhibition, just as they did during their heyday from the 1920s to the 1940s.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Back in Black: Jenna Ortega and Tim Burton Break Their Silence on ‘Wednesday' Season 2
Jenna Ortega and Tim Burton sit down across from you, and there's a lot to take in. The red-hot star and the black-heart director are a study in surface-level contrasts and soon-to-be-revealed similarities. This is their first major sit-down interview together, and both are a bit anxious. Ortega is sometimes fidgety and other times gives you that frozen Wednesday Addams 'I can see your soul' stare. The more freewheeling Burton — with his signature dark carnival-spun cotton candy hair — routinely tries out several sentences before deciding which is best. More from The Hollywood Reporter NewFest Sets New Voices Filmmaker Grant Recipients in Partnership With Netflix 'P.I. Moms' Was a Train Wreck for Lifetime. Now It's a 'Trainwreck' on Netflix Venice Strikes Back: Alberto Barbera on His Powerhouse 2025 Festival Lineup They are, Burton warns, 'two people who speak in 'erms' and 'ums,' that's our language' — sharing a joint discomfort with the obligatory 'Let's sell the show!' interview process as they have battle scars from past press encounters (with Ortega sporting a particularly fresh wound). Not helping matters is that our chat is being conducted in a drab New York high-rise conference room, where Ortega and Burton look like exotic fish out of water, plucked from the more colorful lagoons they typically inhabit. Some background: Ortega is the 22-year-old sensation who went from head-turning roles in ensemble horror franchise films X and Scream VI to starring in Netflix's smash hit Wednesday, which follows the droll Addams Family teen as she attends the Nevermore Academy school for 'outsiders.' Ortega also co-starred in fall's Warner Bros. box office hit Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Both Wednesday and the Beetlejuice franchise are directed by the 66-year-old Burton, who's enjoying a late-career revival thanks to these back-to-back hits with his Gen Z star. With a list of credits ranging from Batman to Ed Wood to Sweeney Todd, Burton has long been a singularly unique goth artist type who has somehow managed to survive, and often thrive, within the studio system. (Burton doesn't use the word 'goth,' by the way. 'It's lost meaning,' he says. But it's tough to detach his brand from that word — and it's safe to assume he doesn't like the word 'brand,' either.) The duo come bearing some news: Wednesday has scored a renewal for season three, and a spinoff series is in early discussions. Below, they're interrogated about Wednesday season two (which returns Aug. 6; trailer below), the perils of fame (such as — pardon us, we're just quoting — being called a 'cunt whore' in front of one's mother) and a potential Beetlejuice 3 (Warner Bros. film boss Mike De Luca will want to pay close attention to this part). We tried to make this painless, but it wasn't entirely possible. These two feel deep. Let's go back to the start: What initially excited you both about ? TIM BURTON I've never done television, so it was the idea of exploring something on a longer time frame, and she's an interesting character. As much as a middle-aged man could feel like a teenage Wednesday Addams, I feel those things. And she's a character that's all about being subtle because she doesn't really have a huge range of emotions. JENNA ORTEGA She's also one of the few protagonists who is able to get away with that, aside from villains — who tend not to have emotional growth or depth. … I actually did an audition for [a Wednesday animated movie] when I was 14, and I didn't get it. I remember telling my mom, 'That would be cool to be her, though.' Tim, you once said, 'You have to kind of be Wednesday, and that's what Jenna is — whether she likes it or not.' Jenna, how do you feel about that? ORTEGA I think I am? I don't know. I don't know why I got this job. I will say maybe I feel even more attached to her now. BURTON You can become a lot of different things as an actor. But for Wednesday, you have to have it. I don't mean that she's dark. You need this weird internal strength and clarity because you can't manufacture it. Jenna's like a silent movie actor, and what I enjoy about her character is not so much the [dialogue] but the way she presents herself. Before Ortega was cast, Burton had warned Wednesday creators and showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, 'If we don't find Wednesday, there is no show.' But there was almost no show to begin with. 'We thought the idea for Wednesday was such a no-brainer, but when we went out to pitch it, we only had one bidder,' reveals Millar. After Netflix bit, Ortega auditioned by Zoom while filming X. The showrunners say she brought a sharpness and otherworldliness to her reading that other candidates lacked. 'The easy take on the character is that she's a bitch, that she's cold,' Millar says. 'But Wednesday's not trying to be that way, and you never feel that way with Jenna.' What worked well — and what didn't work so well — that first season? ORTEGA Netflix has a lot more trust this time around. So we were able to do things on a grander scale and were able to spend more time on sequences. There are also a lot of new castmembers like Steve Buscemi and Billie Piper, and doing a scene with them pushes you further because they're so gifted. We also play on the excitement that Wednesday got from having saved the school in the first season. So it's nice to see her shut down again out of pure agony [from the attention]. BURTON The key element always is — and this is where Jenna is crucial — that the show could so easily veer away from what that character is. They could try to give her a bigger arc, make her more emotional. Jenna knows how far you can go. There's a creative freedom when you are clear about that. ORTEGA Sometimes I'll catch a glance of a shot and realize part of why a scene isn't working is because my posture's off, or my chin isn't tilted down enough or that I'm not still enough. Yes, the character is so specific, right down to not blinking. Surely your eyes get tired. ORTEGA You [blink] on everybody else's line. Your eye does start twitching. There were a couple setups in season one that looked like I was crying because I was trying to keep my eyes open. Was there anything about the performance that you look back on that you wished you had done differently? ORTEGA All the time. I don't think I've ever shot a scene in my life that has not kept me up at night and given me nightmares. I can't watch the stuff that I do because I don't think I would ever show my face again. I was 17 or 18 when we started this, and I was so nervous and so scared. The first two weeks of production were some of the most chaotic, stressful moments in my career. When I see some of the old footage, I can see the confusion or the stress. Do you ever wonder if you're being too hard on yourself? Isn't there a point in which trying to be that perfect becomes less useful? ORTEGA I get told that all the time, and I can totally acknowledge that. But I've also got this weird thing where every day I change who I am to a certain degree. I will be having a full-blown panic attack about something and then I will end it with, 'I actually don't care.' BURTON She hides it well. All the things she's talking about, I never sensed that. Those feelings never came out. ORTEGA I think it's from starting my career so young and being accustomed to being on a set. I have a lot of respect for people who carry themselves with professionalism. I want to make sure everybody else is comfortable, and it's stressful when you can sense somebody else's stress. Like with Tim, some directors freak out when they're in tense situations, but if anything, he almost gets calmer. That's such a gift because you feel like you have the space to do what you need to do and nothing else matters. BURTON The first time on set, the first day of shooting, I knew from the beginning that Jenna knows everything about what's going on in front of and behind the camera. I could see her watching everybody. ORTEGA I'm a creep. You're never not being watched by me. This seems to be a point of difference between you. Tim, in your early interviews, you talked about how you embrace the flaws in your work. BURTON Have you seen [Beetlejuice Beetlejuice]? Everything is still flawed! That's just part of who I am. I'm a flawed individual. How has your relationship evolved along the way? BURTON For me, it hasn't. ORTEGA Maybe we have a touch more shorthand? Both of us want to do things as quickly and efficiently as possible. So if he has a note, we just kind of look at each other. BURTON My favorite form of communication — not speaking. That's also one of the things that we came up with for the show: If Wednesday doesn't want to be somewhere, she just [abruptly walks away, often in the middle of a conversation]. That's something I always feel. If you go to a party and don't want to be there, you walk out. That reminds me of a line from the new season I liked — 'I don't have FOMO. I have a fear of being included.' ORTEGA That line was hard for me because I didn't know if I wanted to use acronyms. BURTON That's what she questions all the time: 'Would she say that?' and 'Would she do that?' are questions on a daily basis. Ortega taking ownership of her character led to a controversy after the first season aired. The show generated 252 million views globally, becoming Netflix's biggest English-language series of all time. Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria says its success 'went beyond analytics: People watched it again and again and brought their parents into it, and it became a multigenerational show. There were soldiers in Ukraine doing the Wednesday dance.' Gough, meanwhile, notes its popularity proved their instincts about it were correct, and that 'everybody identifies as an outcast, no matter who you are.' But during a podcast interview, Ortega accidentally caused an uproar after she said that she spent her time on set 'changing lines' and 'had to put my foot down' because 'everything I had to play did not make sense for the character.' Asked about this, Gough responds: 'Jenna gave notes on the scripts. She's now a producer. She's very involved, and she has a 360-degree view of things that, frankly, you don't find with most actors. I think she'll have a long career.' What was that like for you, personally, to have your first experience of being in a controversy and getting backlash? Every star goes through this at some point. But it doesn't mean it isn't hard while you're in it. ORTEGA I mean, I felt terrible. In no way did I mean to come across that way. I spend a lot of time in my head and I have all these different trains of thought, and all I needed to say was, 'I improvise.' Also, nobody, before, ever cared what I said. It was a good lesson. I was thinking that, too. If you said that two years earlier about another project, nobody would have noticed. BURTON In this new media world, people will find one thing you say and that's it. You can't stop it. It's like a virus. What was that like for you, Tim, as somebody who is protective of your star? BURTON I just felt bad for her because I know her, and I know the media, and I know what happened. I've had certain things happen to me where somebody tried to concoct some kind of story about me. This is why I don't hardly talk to anybody. ORTEGA The amount of times I have seen headlines with quotes that I've never actually said is bizarre. BURTON Then it becomes like the villagers in Frankenstein. Mass hysteria. People with torches. Fear of public persecution is also a theme in your work — like in . BURTON And it's upsetting because you can't really do anything. It doesn't matter if you retract it, or say, 'I didn't mean to say that.' Nobody gives a shit. ORTEGA And I pride myself on my professionalism, so that was a weak moment for me. There's a scene in the new season where Wednesday gets a letter from her editor on a book she wrote, and the editor says she's difficult to work with and won't take notes. Was that deliberately poking fun of this? BURTON It's always fun to have life and art intermingling. Jenna, you're furrowing your brow like, 'Wait a second …' ORTEGA No, I'm just trying to remember it. I don't know how meta it was for me. But I do think the great thing about the Wednesday character is she's constantly making societal remarks and just kind of degrading the public. So I think that that was a funny bit to touch upon and acknowledge it. Jenna, you once asked a great question of Natalie Portman that I wanted to ask you back: As far as the public persona of you goes, do you think it's accurate? ORTEGA Not at all. I think that's part of my struggle with that side of this job, because you feel incredibly misunderstood. It's almost to a point where it feels like your name doesn't belong to you. I almost don't even resonate with it anymore. I hate assumptions, and a big part of this job is that people are going to make assumptions about you. What do people assume that's not right? ORTEGA I don't know. Yes, I have qualities similar to Wednesday, but I'm not … BURTON You know what I miss? I miss the days of mystery. I miss when you didn't know how much a movie cost and when you didn't know everything about actors. So when people have a misunderstanding, it's like, why is it their business? ORTEGA That's the discussion on 'the death of the movie star,' and that's exactly it. We know too much. And the people feel entitled to those bits and pieces of your life where if they were put under the same microscope, they wouldn't feel nearly as comfortable. But there's an expectation on creative people, who half the time should not be speaking publicly. They're supposed to become salesmen for their brand. But they should just lock them in a room and let them create their art. BURTON I go further. I still love people. But I work with people I like working with, and I don't want to go out to dinner with them. The more I know about them, the less it's helpful for me as a director. Jenna, are you still able to go out and about at this point? ORTEGA Sometimes you go out, and it's a mess. And other times, I could be walking for hours and no one gives a shit. If you really want to go unseen, you can do it. I'm sure 99 percent of fan encounters are positive, but have you had any that are scary? ORTEGA I'm always scared. Somebody shouting your name in public is insane. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable when it's grown men approaching me. Also, sometimes people shout vile things. Like, you don't stop for somebody because you're going to be late for something and they're calling you a 'cunt whore' in front of your mother. It's horrific. Then I'm sure you're like, 'Oh, I wish I would have stopped for you.' ORTEGA Yeah! Let me go back … The dancing scene in season one was a huge breakout viral moment. Was there any sort of pressure going into season two of, 'Well, we probably can't top that, but can we find something that will stand out?' BURTON This sums up what I like about working with Jenna. We didn't do a big Broadway rehearsal. We didn't hire a choreographer. I picked the song and said, 'You just go do it.' She showed up on the day — I think she even had COVID — and we just did it. It was the most fun I had on the show because we just let it go. But to your question: No, we didn't think about it this time because we didn't think [about the dance number being a big deal] to begin with. It gets dangerous to say, 'We have to do something like this again.' How many seasons is this show, ideally? BURTON I don't think that way. You're talking to two of the worst people to ask that question. It might seem odd to ask how long a show will continue when its second season hasn't aired, but Ortega has hinted she's eager to explore other projects as well as make her own. Gough and Millar hope to keep Wednesday enrolled through the character's Nevermore tenure, which lasts seven years (or seasons). Yet ditching school early — like abruptly walking out of a conversation — would be such a Wednesday thing to do (Ortega stepped out of the Scream franchise after two films, but that was a unique situation; the actress has pointed to the project's collapse after her onscreen sister, Melissa Barrera, was ousted for social media posts and director Christopher Landon quit). The Wednesday team is exploring a spinoff, the details of which remain top secret for now. 'It's something we're definitely noodling; there are other characters we can look at,' says Gough, while Bajaria says — and one might consider this a hint — 'There's a lot to explore in the Addams Family.' Jenna, you've said that part of the reason studios are freaking out about Gen Z is because nobody knows why things hit the way they do. So not to put you on the spot with 'how to save Hollywood,' but what do you think it would take to get Gen Z into theaters? ORTEGA The emphasis on integrating Gen Z slang and behavior in films is so forced that it turns people off. I think studios are trying way too hard. Just give the new guy a chance, give the original script a chance, allow people to be creative and maybe step back a little bit. With Gen Z, it's hard to grab their attention. You can't show them stuff that they've already seen. I see Tim nodding along … BURTON Strongly agree. I'm a perfect example of that. I always worked with studios, but everything I did was kind of a surprise. I did movies that were on 10 Worst Movies of the Year lists — like [the original] Beetlejuice was. It surprises, it confuses people and then it clicks. And if you want somebody to do something, then let them do it. Otherwise it's like you're a star athlete and they break your legs and say, 'Go win the race.' Another thing you guys have in common is you both have criticized AI. James Cameron recently said that AI could make blockbusters financially viable. Could you ever see using it as a tool? BURTON I don't know that much about it. All I've seen is when people have done AI versions of my characters, and that I didn't like. I felt like something had been taken away from me. I'm sure there are a lot of great uses for it. Every new technology has the potential to be good or bad. ORTEGA I just see what's happening to young people and the kind of content AI is creating. It's taking out the humanity and we're getting further from the truth. You wonder why people are anxious and depressed, and it's because not everything that they're seeing is meant to be digested. It's junk food for the brain. It's not real. It's not attainable. It creates a great sense of isolation. And the beauty about film is that it comes from people with stories and personal experiences — and a computer can never replicate that. We've never not taken something too far. I feel like people never know when to draw the line. In April, Mike De Luca development on is starting 'imminently.' BURTON Really? Nobody told me. Maybe I've been replaced. ORTEGA Maybe I've been, too. Maybe [her character] Astrid dies and goes to heaven instead [of the films' Netherworld]. They should just take Baby Beetlejuice on tour and send him to Hawaii. BURTON It took 35 years to make the second one, so by that time I'll be 105. I know those odds are not good. I really, really enjoyed making this one, and [Warner Bros.] didn't even really want to do it. We did it the same way I did the first one, with the actors doing improv. It was beautiful to see some of the old cast and have Jenna. But it's like trying to re-create the Wednesday dance scene. I love the characters, but I don't necessarily see it. But it's tough for me to imagine you being like, 'Let somebody else do it.' BURTON No. I feel very proprietary about everything I do, even if I don't own the characters. When they did the [Beetlejuice Broadway musical], I got pissed. And Jenna, if they said, 'We want , but Tim is not directing it …' ORTEGA Oh, I would never. I also think anybody would be really wrong to get behind that project. Without him involved, what is it? It is what it is because of Tim. There's no other film you can compare Beetlejuice to. So why would you do that? That would be a tad disrespectful. Tim, we heard you might be doing a movie for Sony? BURTON I don't talk about anything until I'm doing it. I've had projects that I thought I was doing [like his scrapped Superman Lives movie starring Nicolas Cage], and it got canceled. When that happens, it's a soul destroying moment in life. I'll let you know when I'm on the set making a movie. Even then, you never quite know. ORTEGA I would love for you do to something based on the Japanese monster, though… BURTON Oh, don't worry, that could be happening. Jenna, as somebody with ambitions to direct yourself, is there anything about the way Tim directs that has inspired you? ORTEGA The way Tim carries himself on set. He's so polite. He knows everybody's names. He trusts the team. When I initially started working with him, I would ask him for notes and critiques. He wouldn't give any. It's not because he wasn't trying to be helpful, but he was allowing me the space to find what was going to work for me. It created a greater confidence in myself. I think he really brings out the best in people and allows them to think out of the box, so you want to get weirder and weirder with it. It's such a joy when someone brings that out of you. So what do you both hope to do over the next few years? ORTEGA I don't even have plans for tomorrow. It's a waste of time. BURTON Me either. This story appeared in the July 23 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise Solve the daily Crossword
