With reporting by Josh Horowitz

Sure, Tim Burton and Michael Keaton have projects like "Big Eyes" and "Birdman" keeping them busy nowadays, but every time we get the chance to sit down with the frequent collaborators, the conversation quickly drifts to "Beetlejuice 2."

Keaton told us on February 13 that he was in if Burton was, and on October 17 he mentioned that they were waiting for a script; but now Burton is here to set the record straight -- "Beetlejuice 2" is happening, and some very familiar faces will return.

"Oh yeah," Burton said, when MTV News asked if he'd be directing the sequel. And his response to the question of whether or not Winona Ryder would be returning?

"Oh yeah, yeah yeah yeah," he said. "Oh yeah, oh yeah. Yeah yeah, oh yeah."

Hear that? That's the sound of nine "yeahs." So if "yeahs" were Beetlejuices, we'd have three at this point. We're still waiting on the one, but Burton did say that working with Ryder on a recent video for The Killers helped influence his decision to return to the ghostly franchise.

"I worked with [Ryder], I hadn't seen her in awhile... and she was so great," Burton said. "I was so happy to see her. So those kinds of elements mean something to me. Michael, and her... and that character, I just miss it, there's some freedom about that character that I love."