Sequels to childhood favorites are the Schrodinger's Cat of potential film projects. They coexist in that grey area between excellent ideas, and the fieriest of damnation; and as time has gone on, we still have a hard time deciding which is which. In the case of Beetlejuice 2, we may not ever have to make the call ourselves, as Michael Keaton feels the hypothetical film is soon going to join the land of the recently deceased.

His evaluation of the long rumored, but ultimately dormant project came from a piece run in the latest issue of Variety. Keaton delivers the blow with a quick, and sharp statement that says it all.

It's possible that ship has sailed.

Now it's easy for an actor such as Michael Keaton to simply pronounce a project like Beetlejuice 2 dead. However, it's something entirely different, and incredibly smart, when a damned good reason is given to back such words. Keaton, true to form, delivered such words in the following reasons for why the project is ultimately better off dead:

The only way to do it is to do it right. So much of it was improvised and so much was beautifully handmade by the artist that is Tim Burton. If you can't get close to that, you leave it alone.

As much as we may want to see Michael Keaton return to a role that he's always been passionate about, we can't argue with the man's logic. If Beetlejuice 2 can't even approach the level of artistry and just plain fun that Beetlejuice gave us so long ago, then why even bother?