Dark Crystal is in Good Hands

Yesterday news broke that the long talked of sequel to the Dark Crystal is moving forward. Plenty of us grew up on the fantastic Jim Henson live action fantasy adventure and the thought of a sequel may seem a bit alarming, but I'm here to tell you things may not be so bad after all. Read the full report after the jump...


The Jim Henson Company released a statement yesterday stating that brothers Peter and Michael Spierig have come aboard to direct the sequel titled, "Power of the Dark Crystal." The movie has been in development for over a decade now. The Spierig brothers have replaced Samuari Jack creator Genndy Tartakovsky. The film is being produced by an Australian production company by the name of Omnilab Media under the guise of Ambience Entertainment. The plan is utilize the much of the same puppetry and technology from the original film in today's technology. And of course that also means the studios behind the project are definitely going with 3D.

The brothers Spierig, who have previously directed Undead and Daybreakers will work off an adapted script penned by Moulin Rouge writer Craig Pearce. Pearce also penned screenplays for Romeo + Juliet and Strictly Ballroom. Pearce adpated the screenplay off of Annette Duffy and David Odell original script. While I can't say Pearce's writing history screams a Dark Crystal sequel, all of his scripts are good and with the Spierig's behind the cameras I have faith this project is gonna end up positive.

Some other very positive news surrounding the project is artist Brian Froud will return to work on all of the various concept design. Froud played a major hand in concept design and puppetry from the original movie and having him return is a major vow of confidence the Henson Company wants to do this sequel justice.

To hammer home the message that the Henson Co. and the Spierig brothers want to make a worthwhile sequel they all spoke a bit about how important it is to them. Michael Spierig explained, "We feel a tremendous amount of responsibility in telling this story with the same meticulous care that Jim Henson and Frank Oz gave the 1982 original." While Michael's comments feel very safe and planned, his brother's comments say everything I wanted to hear. He said, "This is a chance to take the world of puppetry into the modern age by using modern techniques (like motion capture CGI) and the tried and true methods (like puppetry and animatronics) to create a one hundred percent real world that is unique to ‘The Dark Crystal’."

Here's the official synopsis released by the Henson Co. yesterday: Set hundreds of years after the events of the first movie when the world has once again fallen into darkness, “Power of the Dark Crystal” follows the adventures of a mysterious girl made of fire who, together with a Gelfling outcast, steals a shard of the legendary Crystal in an attempt to reignite the dying sun that exists at the center of the planet.

Source: Henson Co.