After a long drought of lasting theatrical releases, The Jim Henson Company looks to be coming back with some very familiar projects. This weekend sees the release of the company’s latest film ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY, which you probably never would have thought was a Jim Henson production since there are no muppets or puppets or anything of the sort. But, I would expect fans will be excited about what is coming next.
First up, Variety reports that Billy Crystal will write, produce, and star in an animated adaptation of the book WHICH WITCH?
The project is based on Eva Ibbotson’s 1979 book in which a wizard holds a contest among the seven witches of Todcaster to determine which witch he will marry.
Crystal has worked in animation before, most prominently in the two MONSTERS, INC films for Disney and Pixar. WHICH WITCH should be a fun excursion for the comedic actor and a nice return for the Jim Henson team. But, the Variety article goes on to say that they are also working on a feature length adaptation of the FROG AND TOAD books along with a FRAGGLE ROCK MOVIE, a sequel to THE DARK CRYSTAL, a movie about Emmet Otter, and a sequel to LABYRINTH.
None of these projects comes as a complete surprise as they have been in development for a long while, but the fact that THE DARK CRYSTAL and LABYRINTH are being mentioned could mean we are closer to seeing them than not. Both are significant movies from my childhood and that of others in my generation so it will be cool to see those universes revisited on the big screen. Here’s hoping David Bowie still fits into his codpiece.