Candyman... for kids!
Chance: 40%
Beetlejuice is the name of an 80s horror comedy by Tim Burton starring Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder. The premise: the Maitlands, a happily married couple played by Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin, die in a gruesome accident and become ghosts haunting their old home. When, soon after, an obnoxious rich couple and their goth daughter move in, the Maitlands hire the infamous "bio-exorcist" Betelgeuse (pronounced Beetlejuice) to rid their home of the pesky invaders. But Betelgeuse is infamous for a reason...
The movie was a critical and commercial hit, it launched the careers of Burton, Keaton, Ryder, Baldwin and Davis, and is remembered as one of the great comedies of the 80s. It spawned a pseudo-franchise, with the requisite 80s licensed videogames (two of them by Rare!), an animated sequel series that ran for four seasons, and a musical. Talks of a sequel have existed since the original movie came out (there is, I kid you not, a script for a movie called Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian out there). However, in this "everything that can be a franchise must be a franchise" era, Beetlejuice couldn't stay dead for long, and sure enough, talks regarding the sequel have picked up. It helps that Keaton and Ryder are perhaps as bankable as they've been since the original movie (thanks to returning as Batman and Stranger Things, respectively) and Burton has proven to be willing to sell out (as anyone who saw the Dumbo remake can attest to). So this is also a franchise Warner would like to remind you of so that maybe you watch the original on HBO Max® before shelling out ten dollaridoos to see Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian™ in theaters. Also Beetlejuice has been a popular ask from fans as a cool hipster pick so it's kinda a win for everyone.
The ghost with the most has incredible moveset potential. It's just... hard to explain. Beetlejuice the movie is wildly imaginative (as you'd expect from Tim Burton) with heavy practical effects - including stop motion - that make for some amazing visuals (setting, creatures, and gags). Beetlejuice the character is an anarchic demon with a blatant disregard for the laws of man, God, and physics. There is no theme nor any rhyme or reason to what he can do; he just does cool **** like turn into a serpent thing or shrink or change clothes for gags or open his chest to reveal... whatever the hell is inside him. It's kind of one of those cases where you need to watch the movie to understand but I'm certain that if we all watched it tonight we could each come up with a different moveset based on the things he does. And then there's the animated series and the musical, both of which I'm sure add to his repertoire of insane abilities, plus provide for easy alts. With the animated show, Beetlejuice could theoretically borrow his design straight from there instead of adapting the movie design to MultiVersus' cartoon aesthetic, but whichever they go with I think he 100% has to be voiced by Michael Keaton.
I figure this is the part where I mention the points against. Beetlejuice is... raunchy. The movie was rated PG and came out in that era where even R-rated movies were marketed to children with toys and videogames and cartoons as long as there was a mild fantasy element to them. But for modern standards, the character Betelgeuse's comedic pervert antics might not fly. I mean, spoiler alert, the guy's main goal in the movie is to marry a child. He's the bad guy and all, but still a bad guy who's so entertaining that it endears you to him. It's not like him being a horndog is an intrinsic, non-negotiable aspect to him (if the devs can make the Iron Giant fighting feel natural, I'm sure they can find a way to prevent Betelgeuse from grabbing his own junk), but I'm just wondering if he might be controversial? Eh, probably not, the musical exists and they're making a sequel but I figured it was worth mentioning.
Want: 100%
This movie is just freaking awesome? Dunno what else to say, it's peak Burton, Burton at his Burton-iest, and everyone involved brings their A-game from the stars to the supporting cast, everyone is memorable and the movie's just... great. The scene with the bureaucracy of the afterlife? ****ing gold. Seriously, give it a watch if you haven't.
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Chance: 30%
Bilbo Baggins is the protagonist of The Hobbit, a novel by acclaimed writer J. R. R. Tolkien. In it, Bilbo, a hobbit, leaves behind his life of peace and comfort to (reluctantly) go on a quest with a band of dwarves and the wizard Gandalf to reclaim a lost kingdom from a dragon. Following that, Bilbo also made appearances in a supporting role in a little book trilogy you may have heard of, called The Lord of the Rings. Here, Bilbo, corrupted by the titular Ring, entrusts it (again, reluctantly) to his nephew Frodo, who embarks on his own fantastical quest.
The Middle-Earth mythos, released in the 30s and 40s, were initially dismissed as poppycock for featuring mystical creatures and the like. Nowadays? They are studied academically, for their literary accomplishments, world building, and even linguistic creations; have basically created the high fantasy genre as we understand it; led to the creation of the tabletop RPG, and, as a result, the RPG genre of videogames; and influenced the English language itself (the plural of dwarf used to be dwarfs). The Lord of the Rings has perhaps the earliest example of a fandom in the modern sense. I... honestly don't think it's possible to list every manner in which the Hobbit and LOTR have influenced the world we inhabit today. Suffice it to say, it's a big deal.
Where does Warner Bros. come into all this? Well, in the early 2000s, WB subsidiary New Line Cinema produced a massive undertaking: a trilogy shot back-to-back-to-back, adapting The Lord of the Rings. Helmed by Peter Jackson, the trilogy was its own huge deal, with a degree of influence that isn't to be scoffed at (everything from the practice of filming back-to-back, to fantasy being a viable genre at the box office and during awards season, to the way studios interact with fandoms). Spurred by this success, and following the blueprint of its sci-fi sister Star Wars (to a fault, you could say), Warner greenlit a prequel trilogy based on The Hobbit, which is where my boy Bilbs comes in.
The Hobbit trilogy, also directed by Peter Jackson, was released to incredible box office but diminishing critical reception. Consensus was clear: there was a lot of charm and love put into them, but the replacement of astonishing practical effects with less than stellar CGI, and a bloated plot caused by stretching one book's worth of narrative into three long-ass movies, made for an underwhelming concoction. Still, everyone could agree that (much like Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi) Martin Freeman's take as the young Bilbo was a definite highlight and perhaps the sole reason to watch the movies.
The Lord of the Rings franchise is, I repeat, a huge deal. It made nearly $6 billion at the box office (that's a billion per movie!). It was nominated for 38 Oscars, winning a whopping 18, including Best Picture for The Return of the King (the first - and so far only - fantasy film to win it). It has a massive following. Plus, it's not owned outright by WB. The books are under the control of the notoriously controlling Tolkien estate, and WB simply owns the movie rights. Most infamously, Amazon recently won the TV rights in a bidding war, and has made a show that will debut later this year (and is quite controversial already). WB, not to be deterred, announced they would continue to invest in the IP with their own projects, the only one yet announced is The War of the Rohirrim, an anime prequel. While not owning the rights would usually work against the franchise's likelihood, here I feel like it works in its favor, since as Warner and Amazon are kinda deadlocked in a fight for who gets to be its steward, it's in Warner's best interest that fans associate them with it (so that they'll dismiss Amazon's projects as non-canon at best and an affront to Jackson's masterpieces at worst). This is why they make sure to put it into everything they can. The Lego Movie? Lego Dimensions? Space Jam 2? You name it, LOTR is there.
All this to say: I think it's guaranteed for more than one character. Gandalf is as good as confirmed. He's usually the chosen rep in the aforementioned crossovers, he's got magic powers (= cool moveset), he has the meme line, he's gold. Pretty sure he was leaked too. But yeah, with how big LOTR is and how much WB desperately needs to be seen as its real daddy, Gandalf won't roll solo. Now for a second rep, there's a couple of ways they could go. It could be Gollum; he's certainly iconic, represents both LOTR and The Hobbit, he even has his own videogame coming out. But I think they would likely go with a hobbit since hobbits are, like, the main characters (not having a hobbit would be like not having a Stark repping Game of Thrones, or a Jedi repping Star Wars).
And don't give me that crap that Gollum's technically a hobbit, you know what I'm talking about. If they do go that route, it's between Frodo and Bilbo. And despite Frodo being from the inarguably more successful entries, I think Bilbo would be picked. Bilbo is frequently considered to be the best character in the Hobbit movies despite appearing alongside fan favorites like Gandalf himself, Elrond, Legolas, etc. whereas Frodo gets upstaged by the likes of Aragorn, Sam, Gollum. Bilbo has loads of character development, going from a cowardly homebody who nobody respects to a hero so brave he inspires kings. Not to diss Frodo, but his journey is a much more straightforward (if thematically significant) story of resisting temptation, but that makes him much more of an everyman who doesn't change much throughout the trilogy. Also Bilbo has, like, a totally gnarly sword called Sting that freaking glows and he uses the Ring constantly to turn invisible while Frodo, get this,
resists its temptation. If I'm starting to sound like the Chad and virgin meme it's because it's just completely accurate, Bilbo is badass and his nephew isn't and that's just a fact. It's written in the Silmarillion or something.
Want: 100%
I'm complete Tolkien trash. I read the books, watched the extended versions of all the movies, complained about the Amazon show online, the whole shebang. I visited New Zealand (in February 2020, just before everything went to hell) and I went on a tour of the place where they filmed all the Shire scenes in both trilogies - they not only left the sets intact, they actually have caretakers to look after all the plants and flowers (and surrounding wild animals) and there's a functioning pub. I got my pictures taken everywhere and was the one guy who enthusiastically (and obnoxiously) answered every trivia question asked. That was a good day. So yeah anyway I love LOTR and even as the Hobbit movies were unwatchable (literally – the high frame rate made me dizzy) I am firm in my belief that Martin Freeman is an international treasure that can do no wrong and that (plus me having read Hobbit before LOTR, probably) made me a Bilbo fanboy for life. Hope the jolly chap makes it into the fighting game to honor the grandfather of every halfling rogue ever.
Noms: Ash Williams
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