It has been a full couple of weeks for Robert Eggers. Nosferatu, his Gothic remake of the 1922 classic, is leading the box office with $156 million so far. A few days ago, cinephiles got word that he's staying in the Universal monster motif with Werwulf coming next. (No relation with the foible-ridden "Dark Universe.")
Now comes the announcement that the cerebral moviemaker is going to make a sequel to the 1986 cult classic Labyrinth. The film starred the wit and whimsy of Jim Henson, who created a compelling story and fascinating puppets for a fantasy world featuring Ziggy Stardust himself, David Bowie.
Eggers signed on to direct and co-write with his creative partner Sjón (Lamb, Dancer in the Dark), with whom he collaborated on The Northman. Variety reported Chris and Eleanor Columbus (Home Alone 1 & 2, The Goonies, Harry Potter) are slated to produce the film with Lisa Henson. Also along for the ride is Jim's son, Brian Henson, who will be executive producing.
ComicBook.com reached out to Eggers' camp looking for a confirmation. He responded:
"The thing is, I always have a ton of things in development because you need to survive this industry, and you don’t know what is going to hit next. But I definitely want the next film I make to be an original movie."
Scott Derrickson, whose latest project The Gorge will be seen on AppleTV+ on Feburary 14, had previously signed on to direct the film. Yet, following Doctor Strange, the horror and fantasy director said, "I don't what's happening with that" to Slash Film. "We never got the script all the way to a place where the studio wanted to make it, but I was very proud of the work that we did on it."
And that was that.
What makes a "cult classic"?
From The Shining to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, This is Spinal Tap or Eraserhead by the late, great auteur David Lynch, the origin of a "cult classic" is about as simple to define as it is to determine.
The cult film rose from the ashes of 1960s counterculture--the sentiment that burned down the hoi polloi in effigy. Coincidentally with the timing of December movies, the original Nosferatu in 1922 may have been the ancestor of cult films. Count Orlok wasn't named "Dracula" because Bram Stoker's estate would not give up the rights to the name. So, in 1925, a German court demanded all copies of the Max Schreck movie "should be burned" for copyright infringement.
That created a demand, an interest, and a zeal to see this disenfranchised film. Guess what happened? Bootlegs. Even in 1920s New York, hustlers were on a street corner vying for cash. However, the news wasn't as widely published in the roaring '20s (or the resurgent '30s with the horror homage to carnies, Freaks) as it would be in the late hippie-dippie 1960s. That's when Stanley Kubrick saw an Anthony Burgess 1962 novel.
That became A Clockwork Orange featuring the bespectacled Malcolm McDowell above. It was a dystopian, grungy, and oh-so-creepy film that stressed societal changes in how a counterculture movement stood up between the desire for free will and the strong arm of the law banishing it. And Alex DeLarge (McDowell) was its captain.
There was outcry and angst. Copycats imitated the heinous crimes in the film. National governments banned the film from being seen. The book was even banned in a couple of U.S. cities, leaving one book owner arrested for selling the novel in 1973. Eventually, Kubrick asked for his work to be removed from UK theaters.
This was the inevitable "don't put your finger in the socket" syndrome. Everyone wanted to see what the fuss was about, creating substantial interest in midnight screenings and illegal VHS dubs. A younger generation clamoring for rights and a movement no one wanted. A couple of years later, following a groundswell of intrigue, it was labeled with a novel term. That's how a cult following for entertainment is formed. It isn't a "cult film" because Jim Jones is directing; it's because of "culture."
While Labyrinth wasn't a film close to that ilk, it performed dismally at the box office. It bombed hard, but people who say they saw it loved it. The movie, full of bizarre muppets, was offbeat, unorthodox, and subversive. Then, people--the "culture"--began talking a lot. That vocal minority more than made up for the silent majority.
Robert Eggers makes counterculturalist films for its genre. He looks like a Ziggy Stardust fan. He's certainly a Muppets guy. And David Bowie as the "Goblin King," C'mon. What's not to love about that?!