Labyrinth sequel in development - Variety report

[Rachael]

Lots of good points are being made here. While I certainly wouldn't be shaking a pitchfork in the JHC's direction if a new Labyrinth film were to actually go into production, I very much doubt a new film would be any good. The original was fantastic because of the wonderful people collaborating on it behind the scenes - Brian Froud, Jim Henson, David Bowie, Terry Jones etc. etc. While they could potentially get some of those people back I don't see any new film matching the magic of the first, and it would inevitably be disappointing for hardcore fans. The only potential advantage of a new film I can see is that it would attract renewed attention to the original, which can only be a good thing.

 

[Drtooth]

While I'm sure that any Henson announcement automatically equals "never gonna happen" unless it's a kid's CGI show (even then, Doozers only got to our shores via Hulu), a short lived comedy puppet project, or producing crappy movies based on kid's books that weren't even good or expansive enough to be a movie in the first place (zing!), I'll agree what a TP editorial said. Henson needs to make money off of something, and they only have DC, Labyrinth, and FR in their ownership. They fall into the same situation all classic properties fall into. How do they stay relevant for anyone outside of an aging fanbase with their fading interest that they can't get that much money from anyway? The choices are, unfortunately, make a movie or by a stroke of luck their property becomes relevant again and young people sincerely buy their T-shirts and know who the characters are.

That's where it gets maddening. The movie/TV show has to do really well (or well enough) for it to work. And it's always going to alienate the fanbase no matter what, so you're specifically going after a group of youngsters that don't know the property from anything besides parody or the off chance that someone in their family turned them onto it. Look at Lone Ranger. A property that hasn't been relevant for decades, anyone under the age of 50 only knows it from reference and parody. Old folks stayed away from the movie, younger audiences didn't care. yet, when the property is irrelveant culturally, and they make them annoying, floating CGI characters it works kinda well, and somehow the worst ones are more popular most of the time.

 

[RedPiggy]

Del Toro + the Once Upon a Time team = a modest chance at success.

I like to imagine that Rumple is Disney's answer to Jareth...

 

[The Count]

In so much as Rumple is Once Upon's sorceror supreme, especially now that he has Yensid's magic hat in his possession, and his scheming and plotting to weave everyone into his web... Yes, I can see a parallel between him and Jareth. Problem is that Del Toro's backlog is so full even the JHC projects he was a part of (i.e. Pinocchio) have gotten lost in the shuffle. I doubt a Labyrinth Del Toro project wuld see the light of day until after 2020 at the earliest.

*Cheers at RedPiggy's return though.

 

[RedPiggy]

Yeah, October has been a headache for me.

Even if we couldn't get del Toro himself, if it's someone with his sense of aesthetic, that'd be good enough for me.

 

[Timhodge]

I would love to see a Labyrinth sequel. It would be hard to get right, but with the right script, the right director and the right casting it is absolutely possible to craft something that lives up to the original's legacy. It would be jolly difficult, and super unlikely, but it isn't impossible. I'd hope that Connelly and Bowie would consent to small cameos at least, but I realise it's unlikely. Maybe they could try a story that takes place at the same time as the original, occasionally utilising footage from the first film as the stories intersect.

I just hate the thought of never getting to explore that world more. The movie barely scratches the surface, and Goblins of the Labyrinth opens things up slightly and gives you these tiny tantalising glimpses of an amazing, hilarious place. I want to go back there.

I didn't hate the Tokyopop stuff, but I don't think it nailed the tone. Inevitably it, like any new project leaning on a beloved classic, was hugely divisive and frankly it's a miracle that anyone bothered to keep up, with those huge delays between volumes. Way to burn off readers' good will!