Released in 1986, Jim Henson’sLabyrinthhas become a beloved cult classic over the past few decades. The fun fantasy film might have underperformed at the box office at the time, but its continued popularity over all these years suggests there’s now more money to be made with the property. This has led to the production of an upcomingLabyrinthrevival film, which will serve as a modern-day direct sequel to the original movie. Last year,Fede Alvarezwas attached to the project to direct and co-write with Jay Basu, and the filmmaker has revealed that the screenplay for the film has been finished.
“It is basically a direct continuation of the first movie many years later, and I can’t tell you much more about it… but we have a script, and we’re very excited about it so we’ll see where that goes. Like always, it takes time and effort to put those movies together because they’re larger than life.”
In the original film, music legendDavid Bowie starred as Jareth, the Goblin King. Challenging him is Jennifer Connelly as 15-year-old Sarah, who’s on a quest to rescue her baby brother Toby. To save the infant, Sarah must traverse through Jareth’s maze in twelve hours, otherwise little Toby will be transformed into a goblin forever. While Jareth and Sarah are portrayed by human actors, the rest of the characters in the film are mostly puppets, the handiwork of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. It gives the film a unique visual appeal in addition to the intriguing story and performances of both Bowie and Connelly.
It seems to be a great time to do this kind of movie, asdirect sequels to classic filmsare rising in popularity. With so many film remakes failing to capture the success of the movies which inspired them, story continuations seem to be another story. The newHalloweenfilm serves as a modern-day sequel to the 1974 original from John Carpenter, and the movie is already the most financially successful entry in the series at the box office. Similar projects are also in the works, which includes an upcomingTerminatorfilm which brings back Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor. Making a sequel set in the same universe instead of just another reboot is likely the right course of direction for this upcoming film.
Alvarez has put out some amazing work so far, impressing audiences with 2013’sEvil Deadreboot and the 2016 thrillerDon’t Breathe. His next movie,The Girl in the Spider’s Web, will be released in U.S. theaters on Aug 23, 2025. A talented filmmaker, Alvarez will hopefully prove to be the right man for the job of resurrectingLabyrinthfor modern audiences. Also serving on the project as producers are Jim Henson’s daughter Lisa Henson and David Bowie’s son Duncan Jones.
There’s no official release date yet attached to theLabyrinthsequel. Hopefully, the completion of the script means that a production start date isn’t too far off. There will be a lot of pressure to do the original justice, but all of the right names are here to help make that happen. This information comes to us fromFandango.
