JHC planning Dark Crystal sequel

[cabbageheat]

yep

It seems a little odd to me too. A Disney logo, right before something like The Dark Crystal doesn't make sense to me. It's like the Disney logo coming on before Saw 2 or something. Just doesn't feel right.

I don't know. there also hasn't been much reporting on this supposed sequel/prequel anyways, so I don't know if I even believe its going to go to production. but then, I have little faith in it right now anyways.

we'll see.

 

[a_Mickey_Muppet]

wow! Disney is releasing this!?! cool... in an odd way!

 

[GelflingWaldo]

Disney is not making it, I don't know where that rumor, assumption or misunderstanding came from... but Disney is not involved in this project. Maybe it came from a misunderstanding of the Henson/Muppet/Disney deal, or the fact that Disney had released the first film on VHS a while back, or maybe it came from something else...but Disney is not involved in producing or releasing this film (or at least they aren't at this point in time).

 

[mb22]

Here's the latest:
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=upsell_article&articleID=VR1117937178&categoryID=13&cs=1

Henson taps 'Dark' lord
Helmer becomes 'Crystal' clear

By MICHAEL FLEMING
The Jim Henson Co. has set Genndy Tartakovsky to direct "Power of the Dark Crystal," sequel to 1982 fantasy film "The Dark Crystal."
Tartakovsky, who created the animated series hits "Samurai Jack," "Dexter's Laboratory" and "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," will involve his Orphanage Animation Studios to take the lead on the CG animation elements for the puppet-driven film.

Film becomes a co-production of Henson and the Orphanage. Lisa HensonLisa Henson, co-CEO of the Jim Henson Co., will produce with Orphanage chairman Scott Stewart. Brian Froud has returned to design the new characters.

Pic's development has so far been funded by Henson. Overseas distribution will be sold during the Berlin Film Festival by Odyssey Entertainment; Henson will secure a domestic distributor by the time the film begins production in late summer.

Annette Duffy and David Odell penned the script.

Set hundreds of years after the first pic, sequel follows a mysterious girl made of fire who steals a shard of the crystal in hopes of reigniting the dying sun.

"The original 'Dark Crystal' was the pinnacle of puppetry; they created characters that were as believable as the ones you see in animated films," Tartakovsky said. Tartakovsky said that unlike in the pricey original film, for which otherworldly sets were built, the puppets this time around will operate amid a CGI backdrop.

"There is a limited budget here, and this will be more artsy, in a 'Sin City' fashion, with characters performing over greenscreen and great backgrounds behind it," he said.

Brian Henson, Ralph Kamp and Louise Goodsill will exec produce.

 

[Gorgon Heap]

Did anybody else notice what I did? Screenplay by Annette Duffy and David Odell, Emmy-winning staff writer from The Muppet Show and moreover the screenwriter of the original Dark Crystal. That should be enough to give one some hope. Shows that they're not just giving the assignment to some talentless yutz who knows nothing of the Muppets but will work cheaply because they're unseasoned.

By extension, it gives me hope for the Fraggle Rock movie. I mean here they got the original writer back- dare we hope that JHC may do the same for the FR pic and recruit, say, Jocelyn Stevenson, or Bob Sandler, or Laura Phillips, or Sugith Varughese, or David Young? I'm bowled over by the fact that they actually care who's on board for this.

Wish I could say the same for Kermit's Swamp Years and other recent Muppet projects.

David "Gorgon Heap" Ebersole

 

[DTWolf]

I'm both encouraged and discouraged by the latest press releases about this movie. Encouraged, oddly, that it's set "hundreds of years" after the first film and does not star Jen and Kira. I was afraid it would be Jen and Kira a few years later, doing the same thing over again. It STILL may be two other characters doing the same thing over again, but it is a little better. At least there's a bigger opening for character development since these are two characters we've never seen before.

But I'm discouraged by the mention that the backgrounds will all be CGI. That makes me very nervous. It could turn out okay, but there's an equal chance it will look lousy, and in any case it won't--can't-- have the level of realism of the first film.

(And, let's face it, if they're doing this to save money, their CGI is NOT likely to be up to the level of Lord of the Rings or Star Wars.)

 

[Cantus Rock]

Did anybody else notice what I did? Screenplay by Annette Duffy and David Odell, Emmy-winning staff writer from The Muppet Show and moreover the screenwriter of the original Dark Crystal. That should be enough to give one some hope. Shows that they're not just giving the assignment to some talentless yutz who knows nothing of the Muppets but will work cheaply because they're unseasoned.

By extension, it gives me hope for the Fraggle Rock movie. I mean here they got the original writer back- dare we hope that JHC may do the same for the FR pic and recruit, say, Jocelyn Stevenson, or Bob Sandler, or Laura Phillips, or Sugith Varughese, or David Young? I'm bowled over by the fact that they actually care who's on board for this.

Wish I could say the same for Kermit's Swamp Years and other recent Muppet projects.

David "Gorgon Heap" Ebersole

I've got my fingers crossed on this one, but I can't really have that mentioned hope. The rapid decline has gotten so low that it just doesn't seem possible for anything good to come of these spin-offs, sequels and rips.

 

[Gorgon Heap]

I've got my fingers crossed on this one, but I can't really have that mentioned hope. The rapid decline has gotten so low that it just doesn't seem possible for anything good to come of these spin-offs, sequels and rips.

IMO the biggest factor in said decline has been the writing. KSY could've been better with another rewrite and some restraint. Also a director with an eye for subtlety and not the compulsion to overplay everything to the hilt, and human actors who can actually act. But it starts with the writing.

Wasn't MWOO written by two people who wrote "Home Alone 4"? Shouldn't that alone be cause for concern? Not that it's necessarily the writers' fault to have gotten stuck with something so thankless, but it doesn't look good on one's credentials either.

I always had the feeling that much of MT! was written by writers who may have been talented in their own writing environments, but whose knowledge of the Muppets was only skin-deep. Likewise the directors, from successful shows like "Friends" and "Everybody Loves Raymond", who may be fine directors but that doesn't necessarily qualify them to direct for the Muppets.

David "Gorgon Heap" Ebersole

 

[MartyMuppets]

If it gets made I don't think I'll be having anything to do it. I voted no because TDC was really designed to be a stand alone single story in the first place. Like all those classic Disney movies that were supposed to end when they ended until the company went sequel crazy after the passing of Walt. And now the same thing is probably going to happen to TDC with the passing of Jim.

 

[Frogster]

Honestly... one Dark Chrystal is enough