Dark Crystal Sequel Officially Confirmed


Still from the original Dark Crystal
Still from the original Dark Crystal

Today The Jim Henson Company posted an official press release for the DARK CRYSTAL sequel, POWER OF THE DARK CRYSTAL, on their website. Rumours about a DARK CRYSTAL sequel have been abound for years now but it seems as if it’s actually happening as Paul and Michael Spierig (DAYBREAKERS, UNDEAD) have signed on to direct the film in Australia, and in 3D.

The script, written by Craig Pearce (MOULIN ROUGE!, ROMEO + JULIET), apparently takes place hundreds of years after the events of the original film, when when dark forces have once again fallen across the land. A girl made of fire must, with the help of a Gelfling outcast, to use a fragment of the titular crystal to re-start the sun. Legendary fantasy artist Brian Froud (DARK CRYSTAL, LABYRINTH) has already begun creating the conceptual design for the movie, which is to blend traditional puppetry and animatronics with CGI. The Spierigs, speaking of the project, state,

“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. 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”.

While a sequel to such a beloved film is risky business, and the Spierig brothers don’t exactly have the best track record, the fact that Froud is involved and directors’ intentions to use animatronics as well as CGI is encouraging. We’ll have to see how this one pans out as more news comes our way.