‘Labyrinth’ Remake and ‘The Exorcist’ TV Pilot In The Works

Labyrinth and The Exorcist are among the remakes and reboots on the horizon in Hollywood in the coming years. The Jim Henson Company has decided to produce a full remake of Labyrinth, while Twentieth Century Fox has ordered a modern adaptation pilot of The Exorcist, which is inspired by the original source material, William Blatty’s novel titled The Exorcist.

Labyrinth tells the story of Sarah (Jennifer Connelly), as she gets sucked into a magical world of goblins, monsters, and a huge Labyrinth maze in order to save her baby Brother. In this fantasy, Sarah encounters the Goblin King (David Bowie) ruler of the Labyrinth, whom is holding her brother hostage. It’s a race against time to rescue her brother and get back home before her parents find out her and her brother are missing.

Not even two weeks after the death of the music icon David Bowie, it was announced that the Jim Henson film company will remake it’s own movie creation Labyrinth. What is most interesting about the Labyrinth is upon its release in 1986, the film was considered a financial flop. The Wrap tells us a few things–first the film didn’t do well financially. In fact, the film made an abysmal $12.7 million at the box office. Second, that writer Nicole Pearlman will pen a new script for the Labyrinth remake. Despite the film making very little money, the music of the film, in combination with David Bowie’s rock star status has put Labyrinth in cult classic status, and is beloved by music and Jim Henson fans around the world.

Back in 2015, there was speculation about the original Labyrinth cast getting back together for a Labyrinth sequel via Variety. Unfortunately, rumors of the project had been shut down by EW. Apparently, rumors about any type of remake, reboot or reunion were all false at the time. Nothing was truly in development for the project until now. It’s unfortunate that the original Labryinth cast cannot be reunited due to David Bowie’s recent death. This must be why they decided to go with total remake instead of a sequel. Will fans be receptive to the idea of a remake, now that the Labryinth “Goblin King”, David Bowie is gone?

The Exorcist is a dead horse that is being revived by Fox and Morgan Creek productions. The Hollywood Reporter states a pilot has been ordered to adapt the original 1971 novel, The Exorcist written by William Blatty. The book is a thriller/horror that follows two men as they battle demonic possession by facing evil head-on. This one hour drama will be written by Fantastic Four (2015) screenwriter Jeremy Slater, with David Robinson, Barbara Wall and James Robinson acting as producers for The Exorcist pilot. Despite Fantastic Four being one of the worst movies of 2015, and failure at the box office, there is hope for The Exorcist pilot.

Not everyone is on board with this project though. Last year, Morgan Creek announced they were going to do a full remake of The Exorcist, but William Friedkin, director of the 1973 film, expressed his disdain for any remake or reboot of the original Exorcist film.

In my opinion, Morgan Creek has
Tarnished THE EXORCIST enough, with its
"Sequels."

— William Friedkin (@WilliamFriedkin) September 24, 2015

Friedkin had lost trust in Morgan Creek for what they have done with The Exorcist prequel and sequels. But they have retained the rights to the franchise and will be going along with the pilot instead of a big budget remake. He didn’t care for project last year, so its certain he will not care for the project now.

Will the Labyrinth remake do well at the box office? Remakes and reboots have not been doing as well as Hollywood studios would like to think. Robocop, Point Break, Poltergiest, Annie, among others, we’re all met with mixed and/or poor critical reviews and low box office ticket sales. Also, fans are so dedicated to the original actors in the original source material that it can be hard to adjust new things. Die hard fans will just have to wait and see how Labyrinth and The Exorcist pilot turn out.

[Photo by Jim Henson Company/Lucas Films]