Buzz about a potential "Beetlejuice 2" has been ongoing pretty much ever since the classic Tim Burton film first hit theaters in 1988. But now, with Burton confirming that a sequel is indeed in the works, it seems that the movie is actually, really, 100 percent happening -- and may begin production as early as this year.



Writer Seth Grahame-Smith ("Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"), who's co-writing the script and co-producing the flick with his "Dark Shadows" collaborator Burton, gave a status report on the project in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, and dished out a bunch of scoop about the follow-up.



First, Grahame-Smith confirmed what Burton had alluded to during a recent press tour for "Big Eyes": Winona Ryder will be back. And after publicly hinting that he'd be interested in the sequel, Michael Keaton is also on board, according to Grahame-Smith.



As for what the writer's script entails, Grahame-Smith didn't provide any actual details about a plot, though he did say he'd already written several drafts, and has gotten approval from Burton and Keaton.



"I think we landed on the right idea, landed on the right approach," the writer told EW. "It's just now making sure that-for me-I don't want to s--t my pants in front of the entire world making a sequel to one of my favorite movies."



As for when the world might finally see the heavily-anticipated flick, Grahame-Smith indicated that production could begin sometime later in 2015.



"Where it stands now is Tim's got to get ready to make , and then hopefully we are set, deals are done, and we're waiting in the wings ready to go right after 'Peregrine's' wraps up," Grahame-Smith told EW. "The ideal timeline is we're really getting into it toward the end of this year."



We can't wait.







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