Genndy Tartakovsky Directing Dark Crystal Sequel

Discloner

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Variety is reporting:

The Jim Henson Co. has set Genndy Tartakovsky to direct "Power of the Dark Crystal," sequel to 1982 fantasy film "The Dark Crystal."

Tartakovsky, who created the animated series hits "Samurai Jack," "Dexter's Laboratory" and "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," will involve his Orphanage Animation Studios to take the lead on the CG animation elements for the puppet-driven film.

Film becomes a co-production of Henson and the Orphanage. Lisa Henson, co-CEO of the Jim Henson Co., will produce with Orphanage chairman Scott Stewart. Brian Froud has returned to design the new characters.

Pic's development has so far been funded by Henson. Overseas distribution will be sold during the Berlin Film Festival by Odyssey Entertainment; Henson will secure a domestic distributor by the time the film begins production in late summer.

Annette Duffy and David Odell penned the script.

Set hundreds of years after the first pic, sequel follows a mysterious girl made of fire who steals a shard of the crystal in hopes of reigniting the dying sun.

"The original 'Dark Crystal' was the pinnacle of puppetry; they created characters that were as believable as the ones you see in animated films," Tartakovsky said. Tartakovsky said that unlike in the pricey original film, for which otherworldly sets were built, the puppets this time around will operate amid a CGI backdrop.

"There is a limited budget here, and this will be more artsy, in a 'Sin City' fashion, with characters performing over greenscreen and great backgrounds behind it," he said.
Brian Henson, Ralph Kamp and Louise Goodsill will exec produce.

Wow! Didn't see that coming! I love the Dark Crystal, and I love Genndy's work, so I'm really looking forward to this now!
 

Duke

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Wait, isn't he also directly the live-action Astro Boy film? And isn't he also doing something with Star Wars (I know he's not involved in the upcoming series, but I remember hearing that he was involved in something SW)? Where is he finding the time to do all this?
 

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Duke said:
Wait, isn't he also directly the live-action Astro Boy film? And isn't he also doing something with Star Wars (I know he's not involved in the upcoming series, but I remember hearing that he was involved in something SW)? Where is he finding the time to do all this?
As far as we know, the Astroboy film didn't get off the ground. There hasn't been a single word about it since it was announced, so one could assume it's in development hell.

I haven't heard of him being involved in anything Star Wars since Clone Wars ended. There were rumors that he jumped ship at CN to join Lucasfilm and head some stuff up over there, but those are obviously untrue since he's now at Orphan Animation.
 

DisneyBoy

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Didn't really care for the original, despite it obviously being a huge undertaking. Maybe I'll give this a look. Heck, I'm still waiting to see Mirrormask...

...any word on what's happening with the various Labyrinth related projects...?
 

Daffy Dork

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Haven't seen the original in YEARS.

But I'm looking forward to this anyway because Genndy is an EXCELLENT Director.
 

Clayface

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Wow! That's so unbelievably cool. The original film is one of my favorites, and will always have a special place in my heart. A sequel that returns to that world is very exciting to me, and the thought of having Tartakovsky involved makes it all the more appealing. I can't wait to see how this turns out!
 

Ben

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Tartakovsky fell in with Orphanage after leaving CN. As for the news, I love Tartakovsky, and Dark Crystal had some beautiful visuals, but it was really, really boring. Hopefully GT will follow his action-oriented gut and spice up the sequel. A lot.
 

Clayface

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Ben said:
Tartakovsky fell in with Orphanage after leaving CN. As for the news, I love Tartakovsky, and Dark Crystal had some beautiful visuals, but it was really, really boring. Hopefully GT will follow his action-oriented gut and spice up the sequel. A lot.

Ugh. You kids and your MTV attention spans! :p

I was completely enraptured and engrossed by the original movie, and never found it boring - back when I was a kid, nor now. While I want to see Tartakovsky add his own flavor to the film, I don't want to see him over-do the action. If it's a true sequel, the mood and atmosphere of the original movie needs to remain, and making it too action-oriented is going to lose that.
 

Ed Liu

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Howdy,

Clayface said:
While I want to see Tartakovsky add his own flavor to the film, I don't want to see him over-do the action. If it's a true sequel, the mood and atmosphere of the original movie needs to remain, and making it too action-oriented is going to lose that.

I was never an enormous fan of the original, but I totally agree. "Samurai Jen" would be really, really strange, especially considering the stately pace of the original.

Then again, the jump from Alien to Aliens worked marvelously, despite being totally different approaches to the same basic concept. One also wonders if that stately pace of the original was caused more by technological restrictions than any deliberate choice by the filmmakers.

-- Ed/Ace
 

Sketch

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This is pretty awesome. I hope he works on the animated series as well.
 

KarlOlson

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I'm glad someone's recognizing Genndy has talent and deserves to use it. I really enjoyed the original film as a child, and I'm sure in Genndy's hands, particularly considering the words "Sin City" in relation to the approach (which to me means "excellently composed cinematography and visuals in a 3D environment,") this could be off the chain. Besides, it helps him develop Orphanage into a more robust and recognizable studio (invaluable considering his rumored ultimate goal of directing a full-length, theatrical animated feature,) and it gives him something to do while Sony spins it's wheels on the AstroBoy LA (Genndy's done a couple drafts of a script for it, but I think after the crash and burn of the 2k3 series, Sony isn't so hot for it any more.)
 

PeppeRaskell1

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Karl Olson said:
I'm glad someone's recognizing Genndy has talent and deserves to use it. I really enjoyed the original film as a child, and I'm sure in Genndy's hands, particularly considering the words "Sin City" in relation to the approach (which to me means "excellently composed cinematography and visuals in a 3D environment,") this could be off the chain. Besides, it helps him develop Orphanage into a more robust and recognizable studio (invaluable considering his rumored ultimate goal of directing a full-length, theatrical animated feature,) and it gives him something to do while Sony spins it's wheels on the AstroBoy LA (Genndy's done a couple drafts of a script for it, but I think after the crash and burn of the 2k3 series, Sony isn't so hot for it any more.)

What did Sony expect? There was too big of a "Generation Gap" for Astroboy 2k3 to succeed (and some of us--especially those of My Generation--still remember the classic '63 show.)

Anyway, more power to Genndy and Dark Crystal 2 (betcha this is the title that film will actually get). And I hope Orphanage will one day open its doors to take in The Wandering Samurai Who Is Down on His Luck.
 

KarlOlson

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Eh, I think the new Astroboy would have worked if they'd kept the original music, the original aspect ratio/transfer (IE: 16:9 and not totally washed out looking,) and in general not messed with it as much. It atleast would have gotten a big chunk of sales out of the anime fandom, and on Cartoon Network, presented in that fashion, it might have played pretty well.
 

Hurricane V1

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Labyrinth related projects? What projects? I must know, I love that movie. Wait, 1986, 2006, shouldn't there be a 20th anniversary release to that film sometime this year?
 

DisneyBoy

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Maybe. There's already an Ultimate Edition DVD (with art cards and featurettes from other releases), but I hope they do rerelease it.

The only other projects I heard about were a bunch of Manga-type comics dealing with Toby's return to the Labyrinth or something like that...
 

raykremer

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Seems like a long way to reach for a movie to make a sequel too, but what the heck, Disney has already blown the hell out of any unofficial statute of limitations on making a sequel. And Dark Crystal is good stuff.
 

Scirel

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The two main charachters of the movie were the last gelflings...

So unless they invent cloning and DNA recombinant technology/magic, the species will still end with their children.
 

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