Dance, Magic Dance! Fede Alvarez Will Direct the ‘Labyrinth’ Reboot

One of the greatest cult movies of all time is coming back to theaters, and it’s got a scary good director at the helm.

Fede Alvarez is going to direct a reboot of the Jim Henson fantasy classic Labyrinth for TriStar Pictures, after spending the early part of his motion picture career directing hard-edged horror thrillers like Don’t Breathe and the Evil Dead remake. Deadline reports that Alvarez will tackle the Labyrinth reboot once he completes his work on The Girl in the Spider’s Web, which follows the Oscar-winning mystery The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Jay Basu, Alvarez’s The Girl in the Spider’s Web screenwriter, will handle the scripting duties.

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The original Labyrinth was a musical coming of age tale about a teen girl, played by Jennifer Connelly, who accidentally invites The Goblin King to kidnap her annoying infant brother Toby. To rescue the baby she has to travel to the center of a giant maze filled with colorful characters, bizarre perils and important life-lessons. The late David Bowie played Jareth, The Goblin King, and his fabulous musical numbers, his theatrical acting style and his ambiguous but intense sensuality quickly became legendary. Jim Henson directed the film, Monty Python alumnus Terry Jones wrote the screenplay. The pedigree is undeniably remarkable.

The new Labyrinth will not remake the original film, according to Deadline, but will instead be a new tale that takes place in the same magical world. David Bowie’s character is not expected to return. If anyone finds that disappointing, they should seek out the four-volume manga series Return to Labyrinth, released by Tokyo Pop. The series takes place thirteen years after the events of the original film, and focuses on Jareth’s plans to bequeath his goblin kingdom to a teenaged Toby.

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Top Photo: TriStar Pictures

William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.

 

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