Scott Derrickson, director of V/H/S/85 and the upcoming Labyrinth sequel, has confirmed that the film will be continued, but he does not know when it will be released.
There is little question that the much-anticipated sequel to Labyrinth will be produced, but director Scott Derrickson has no idea when this will take place. Given the current predicament that the film business is going through, this is a perspective that makes a lot of sense. The fantasy film from 1986 that became a classic and starred David Bowie is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of its subgenre and as a film that has left an indelible impression on the annals of cinema. It should not come as a surprise that Labyrinth will soon be added to that list given that Hollywood has been continually developing new versions or sequels of various older productions. This trend has been going on for quite some time.
Since the world shown in the film has already been adapted into comic books, video games, books, and even the stage, it seemed certain that a sequel will be produced at some point in the near future. Despite this, the project has been in the works for a considerable amount of time without ever actually being completed. The film has been linked to a number of directors in the past, but in 2020 it was confirmed that Scott Derrickson, director of the 2017 picture Doctor Strange, would be helming the project. Several other directors had previously been attached.
During an interview to promote his most recent film, V/H/S/85, the director provided an update on the development of the Labyrinth sequel, but the news was not very encouraging:
"I have absolutely no idea what is going on with that. Despite the fact that we were never able to bring the script to a point where the studio was interested in producing it, I was quite proud of the work that we put on it. Because it is so inventive and fantastical, there is no way that it can be completed at a low cost. This makes it a very challenging project to develop into something that could be financially successful. And at the same time, it is so daring and unique that it is difficult for a studio to feel certain that it has enough economic value to produce a profit from the movie. This is because it is a difficult movie to market. I believe that it is a tough nut to crack, but all I can tell you is that I'm really proud of the work that we did on it. I think that it is a tough nut to crack. We most definitely envisioned a fantastic movie."
Sarah is the protagonist of the film Labyrinth. She is a little girl who must find her way through a labyrinth in order to find her brother, who was taken by goblins. You are about to enter a world in which absolutely nothing is as it first appears. Jennifer Connelly, Toby Froud, Christopher Malcolm, Shelley Thompson, and Natalie Finland also appeared in the film alongside Bowie, and many people now consider it to be one of their favorite fantasy films.
Would Superheroes Still Tempt Scott Derrickson to Return to the Genre?
Derrickson has, without a shadow of a doubt, been one of the names associated to the filmography of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that has been the most interesting. In light of the fact that the director has devoted the majority of his creative life to the horror genre, the work that he did on Doctor Strange represented something extremely distinct in both his career and the franchise as a whole.
As a matter of fact, the director has not returned to the superhero genre since that time, but he would do so if there was a project that he found attractive, as he disclosed to the outlet:
"I didn't make Doctor Strange because it was a Marvel movie or because it was a comic book movie," the actor Benedict Cumberbatch has said. It was primarily the Doctor Strange comics, which I adored, and had really strong, intense thoughts about, and I felt like I was the appropriate filmmaker to adapt it. Therefore, I decided to make it. If I were to be working on a project that I considered to be a significant step forward for the genre, then I would very certainly consider returning to comic book movies.
It is my opinion that we have reached a period in time in which audiences, including myself included, do not want to witness anything that is too similar to what has already been accomplished. When it comes to comic book movies, I'm much more intrigued by the bold spinoffs than I am by the daring genre experimentation. I believe that by drastically altering it, you can encourage people to reengage with it, which is the only way to do it. That would be my primary requirement if I were to go back into a comic book world driven by intellectual property.
The release of V/H/S/85 is slated to take place on October 6th, 2023 via Shudder.
