Power of the Dark Crystal lives?
will the sequel to 1982 cult classic hit theatres in 2008?
(Source: www.muppetcentral.com)
(Writer's Note: As longtime readers will know, I'm not that comfortable writing about rumour. The Interweb is notorious for presenting wild speculation as fact and many rumours floating around here have about as much credibility as Piltdown Man. But there are the occasional stories that I'll jump on if I think it's of interest and this is one of them.)
Few films have quite as interesting a history as the upcoming The Power of the Dark Crystal. It's a sequel to what many consider a flop: 1982's The Dark Crystal was a fascinating concept but creator Jim Henson's creativity far exceeded his technical grasp, and the flick crashed and burned in theatres. However, The Dark Crystal did very well on the home video market, which justifies this sequel.
However, Dark Horizons printed this notice last Friday under the heading: The "Crystal" Goes Dark.
"The Power of the Dark Crystal, a proposed sequel to the classic fantasy film of the 80's, has been officially put 'on hiatus'. Unofficially though, film ick indicates the project is scrapped with almost two years of pre-production work by Genndy Tartakovsky to be chucked out.
That isn't stopping the Henson company from being busy though. Plans are in the works for adaptations of Edward Gorey's The Doubtful Guest, Susan Cooper's The Boggart, and a film based on the Monster Blood Tattoo trading card series.
Brian Henson himself will direct Boggart which will be live action."
A little digging showed that the article had come from an anonymous poster in film ick, dated last Thursday, which read: "I work for the associated press (sic), we just got this news:
Production on The Jim Henson Company's sequel to the 1982 cult classic The Dark Crystal -- titled The Power of the Dark Crystal -- has been put on hold after more than two years of pre-production, casting and preparation. It's believed that Henson Company executives and Genndy Tartakovsky ultimately decided to cancel production on the film and not move foreword (sic). Production is said to be "on hiatus", but it looks unlikely that fans of the original will ever see this follow-up fantasy film completed -- Henson has not commented on the production status and insiders say production is not planned to move forward."
Brendon at film ick said, in relation to this post, that " . . . I believe what I was told, that The Power of the Dark Crystal has been canned."
The plot thickens, however. Greg James (Muppet Central news reporter and the webmaster on Muppet Newsflash) said on Muppet Central that: "Dark Horizons has their facts wrong. The film's production is moving along as planned. The project is not "canceled", "on hiatus", "delayed" or " abandoned". Production is on track and the film is still planned for a "Spring 2008" release. The Jim Henson Company's Head of Publicity and Head of Features both reassured me on Wednesday (after I caught wind of this rumor) that the film is still alive and moving along as intended . . . there is no merit to the claims at all . . . things are moving along beautifully. The goal is to finish post-production by the end of the year, so we should see the physical production gearing up real soon . . . The film should be ready for its debut at Cannes in May 2008."
Who do we believe: the anonymous worker at Associated Press or the webmaster at Muppet News Flash? I'll be double-checking this story, and I'll let you know my conclusions.
