I’ve heard of burying the lead, but this is a bit ridiculous. Yesterday Variety posted a news story about Billy Crystal teaming up with The Jim Henson Co. for an animated movie called Which Witch. Brian Henson is directing the project while Crystal is on board to write, produce and star. Big news? Sure, I guess. The Hensons haven’t been producing a whole lot of feature films these days, focusing mostly on TV instead (Dave McKean’s MirrorMask was their last major movie, released in 2005, although they did apparently produce Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day as well). Near the end of the article, however, they proceed to casually drop a bombshell… apparently they are currently working on a sequel to Labyrinth. Say what???

According to Variety, The Jim Henson Co. is working on a “quartet of legacy titles in the Henson library” that includes a Fraggle Rock movie, a sequel to The Dark Crystal, a sequel to Labyrinth, and a movie based on the Emmet Otter character, which previously appeared in the 1977 TV special Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas. We’ve known about the first two projects for years now, but the other two are news to me. Unfortunately, no other details were provided so it’s still unclear what stage of development these projects might be at.

Labyrinth was a 1986 fantasy musical starring Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie, and although it bombed at the box office, it eventually became a big hit on home video. People have often wondered why a sequel never happened, but apparently MirrorMask started as a potential Labyrinth sequel under the working title Curse of the Goblin King until it morphed into something original. In 2006, Tokyopop also released a manga entitled Return to Labyrinth by Jake T. Forbes and Chris Lie. It takes place thirteen years later and centers on Sarah’s younger brother Toby, who is now a teenager himself.

That seems to be a likely starting point for the sequel, but at this point we know next to nothing. Would David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly return? Would George Lucas be involved? Would they use puppets and animatronics or CG? So many questions, so few answers. Are you interested in seeing a Labyrinth sequel?