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A complete film storyboard binder and production bible from Tim Burton's Beetlejuice. After Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (Geena Davis) died in a car accident, their ghosts became trapped in their home following its purchase by the Deetz family. Unable to frighten away the new occupants themselves, the Maitlands enlisted the help of the mischievous "bio-exorcist" Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton).
Beetlejuice established the distinctive visual style, macabre humor, and imaginative world-building of Tim Burton's career. The rarity of this extensive working archive retained by the film's director of photography, Thomas Ackerman, provides an unusually comprehensive step-by-step record of the film's development from concept to execution. Ackerman's annotated script, camera materials, plans, schedules, effects documentation, and production notes capture the creative and technical decisions bringing Burton's unconventional vision to life with Ackerman's unique perspective, making Beetlejuice one of the defining fantasy films of the 1980s. These binders preserve a detailed working record of the creative process behind the film that elevated Burton to the forefront of Hollywood and established many of the visual elements that would define his later work.
Beetlejuice was ranked the 10th highest-grossing film of 1988 and earned over $8 million in its opening weekend. It won a total of seven awards, including an Academy Award® and a Saturn Award® for Best Make-Up and a National Society of Film Critics Award® to Michael Keaton for Best Actor.
This lot originates from the collection of director of photography Thomas Ackerman. It consists of two binders: a black storyboard binder and a blue production bible binder.
The black vinyl storyboard binder is labeled "Beetlejuice Storyboards" on the spine and features a total of 340 printed storyboard pages of the film in its entirety with 22 printed pages of puppeteering diagrams. A few of the pages feature handwritten annotations rendered in ink, including for the scenes of Barbara holding Adam's severed head, the fly flying over Adam's town model miniature before Betelgeuse makes his appearance, and when Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) negotiates Betelgeuse's help in releasing Barbara and Adam from the seance. These storyboards appear to be from earlier in pre-production and feature some alternate designs for famous effects such as the Maitlands distorting their faces in horrific ways.
The blue vinyl binder, a production bible, is labeled "Beetle Juice" on the spine and "Beetle Juice Tom Ackerman" on the cover and features eight handwritten sections: "Script," Crew," "Schedule," Plans/Maps," "Camera," "Grip/Elec," "Notes," and "Special FX." The paperwork in this binder contains 386 pages containing handwritten annotations with an additional 31 loose pages and a 139-page script with handwritten annotations throughout. The storyboard examples present in this production bible differ from those in the storyboard binder as they appear to be color-coded revision pages from later in pre-production and feature designs more in line with what was seen in the final cut of the film.
This lot shows evidence of minor water stains to the top of the pages. Dimensions: (largest) 12.75" x 12.5" x 3.25" (32 cm x 31.75 cm x 8 cm)
Estimate: $10,000 - 20,000
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View all lots from Thomas Ackerman Collection
Thomas "Tom" Ackerman is one of the most renowned directors of photography in American film. After securing early work as a camera operator on such esteemed films as Francis Ford Coppola's One from the Heart, Ackerman quickly rose to cinematographer, a role in which he has since gathered more than 50 film and television credits. His talent behind the camera has since come to span a multitude of genres and directors ranging from Tim Burton's horror-infused Beetlejuice to effects-heavy action spectacles like Joe Johnston's Jumanji to a number of modern classic comedies, including Anchorman, Dennis the Menace, and Balls of Fury, among many others. While shooting these acclaimed and beautiful works, Ackerman carefully preserved a number of personal artifacts, which in retrospect stand as totems from some of the greatest films ever produced. Propstore is proud to offer a curated collection of memorabilia from the Thomas Ackerman Collection to commemorate this one-of-one artist's sixth decade in Hollywood.
This item comes with a Propstore Certificate of Authenticity.