Labyrinth (1986 film)

Labyrinth is a 1986 musical fantasy film directed by Jim Henson from a screenplay by Terry Jones based on a story conceived by Henson and Dennis Lee. A co-production between Henson Associates and Lucasfilm with George Lucas serving as executive producer, the film stars Jennifer Connelly as teenager Sarah and David Bowie as Jareth, and follows Sarah's journeys through a maze to save her baby brother from the Goblin King.

Labyrinth started as a collaboration between Henson and Brian Froud following their previous collaboration The Dark Crystal (1982). Jones of Monty Python wrote the first draft of the film's script early in 1984, drawing on Froud's sketches for inspiration. The screenplay underwent several revisions by Laura Phillips, Lucas, Lee, and Elaine May—although Jones received the film's sole screenwriting credit. It was shot from April to September 1985 on location in Upper Nyack, Piermont, and Haverstraw, New York, and at Elstree Studios and West Wycombe Park in the United Kingdom. The film's fantastical creatures were designed by Froud and created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

The New York Times reported that Labyrinth had a budget of $25 million. The film underperformed at the United States box office, grossing $12.9 million during its US theatrical run. However, it was a success in the United Kingdom and overseas, grossing over $34 million worldwide. Labyrinth was first met with a mixed critical response upon its release, which contributed to a difficult period of Henson's career, according to his son Brian Henson. It was the last feature film that Henson directed, and over the years it has been re-evaluated by many critics. A success on home video and television broadcasts, Labyrinth has gained a large cult following.

The film has been adapted into a variety of media, including books, video games, board games and comics. Tokyopop published a four-volume comic sequel Return to Labyrinth between 2006 and 2010, and Archaia Entertainment published a comic prequel Labyrinth: Coronation between 2018 and 2019. In January 2016, it was announced that a sequel was in development.

Plot

While in the park with her dog, Merlin, 16-year-old Sarah Williams recites from a book titled The Labyrinth but is unable to remember the last line. Realizing that she is late to babysit her infant half-brother Toby, she rushes home and is confronted by her stepmother who goes out with Sarah's father for the night. Frustrated that Toby was given her treasured teddy bear, Lancelot, and annoyed by his constant crying, Sarah rashly wishes that Toby be taken away by the goblins from her book. Toby vanishes and the Goblin King Jareth appears, offering Sarah her dreams in exchange for the baby. She refuses, instantly regretting her wish. Jareth reluctantly gives Sarah 13 hours to solve his labyrinth and find Toby before he is turned into a goblin forever.

Jareth transports Sarah to a wasteland where she meets a dwarf named Hoggle who aids her in entering the labyrinth. As Sarah traverses the labyrinth, Jareth plays carelessly with Toby in his palace at the labyrinth's center. After falling down a trapdoor, Sarah ends up in an oubliette where she reunites with Hoggle. The two are confronted by Jareth, escape one of his traps, and encounter a troll named Ludo being tormented by goblins. Hoggle flees, while Sarah befriends Ludo after freeing him but loses him in a forest.

Hoggle encounters Jareth, who instructs him to give an enchanted peach to Sarah, calling his loyalty into question, as he was supposed to take her back to the beginning of the labyrinth. Sarah is harassed by a group of creatures called The Fire Gang, but Hoggle comes to her aid. She kisses him, and they fall through a trapdoor that deposits them in a flatulent swamp called the "Bog of Eternal Stench" where they reunite with Ludo. The trio meet the guard of the swamp, the anthropomorphic fox terrier Sir Didymus and his Old English Sheepdog "steed" Ambrosius. Sarah begins crossing a bridge over the bog, but it collapses, and Ludo summons a trail of rocks to save her. Sir Didymus joins the group as they leave the bog.

Hoggle gives a hungry Sarah the enchanted peach and runs away as she falls into a trance and forgets her quest. She dreams of a masquerade ball and sees Jareth in the crowd. She approaches him, and the two dance together, but Sarah is reminded of her quest when she sees a clock. She runs, escaping the trance and falling into a junkyard outside the Goblin City near Jareth's castle. An old Junk Lady fails to trick Sarah, who regains her memory and rejoins Ludo and Sir Didymus. They are confronted by the humongous, robotic gate guard, but Hoggle comes to their rescue.

Despite Hoggle feeling unworthy of forgiveness for his betrayal, Sarah and the others welcome him back, and together they enter the city. Jareth is alerted to the group's presence and sends his goblin army to stop them. Ludo summons a multitude of rocks to chase the goblins away, and they enter the castle. Sarah insists she must face Jareth alone and promises to call the others if needed.

In a room modeled after M. C. Escher's Relativity, she confronts Jareth while trying to retrieve Toby. She recites the lines from her book that mirror her adventure up to that point, but she still cannot remember the last line. Jareth offers Sarah her dreams again, but she remembers the final line: "You have no power over me!" Due to Jareth's power deriving from Sarah fearing him, he is weakened by her willpower, eventually becoming so defeated that he transforms into his second form, a barn owl, and flies away, returning Toby to Sarah as a sign of mutual agreement and respect.

Realizing how important Toby is to her, Sarah gives him Lancelot and returns to her room as her father and stepmother return home. She sees her friends in the mirror and admits that, even though she has grown up, she still needs them in her life, whereupon the labyrinth characters appear in her room for a raucous reunion party, hugging each other in joy. Jareth, in his barn owl form, watches their celebration from outside and then flies off into the moonlight, knowing she has won.

Cast

David Bowie as Jareth, the king of the goblins
Jennifer Connelly as Sarah Williams, a 16-year-old girl who searches through the labyrinth to find her baby brother Toby
Toby Froud as Toby Williams, Sarah's baby half-brother
Shelley Thompson as Irene Williams, Toby's mother and Sarah's stepmother
Christopher Malcolm as Robert Williams, Sarah and Toby's father

Juggler Michael Moschen is credited with performing Jareth's elaborate "crystal-ball manipulation", which Moschen had created for his stage performances and is now known as contact juggling. He performed the manipulations blind, behind Bowie's back.

Creature performers

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

!Character

!width=250px|Puppeteer

!width=250px|Voice

| rowspan="2" |Hoggle

| colspan="2" |Brian Henson

|Shari Weiser (in body suit)

| rowspan="2" |Ludo

| colspan="2" |Ron Mueck

|with Rob Mills

|Sir Didymus

|Dave Goelz with David Barclay

|David Shaughnessy

|The Worm

|Karen Prell

|Timothy Bateson

|The Wiseman

|Frank Oz

|Michael Hordern

|The Hat

|Dave Goelz

|David Shaughnessy

|The Junk Lady

|Karen Prell

|Denise Bryer

|The Four Guards

|Steve Whitmire, Kevin Clash, Anthony Asbury, Dave Goelz

|Anthony Jackson, Douglas Blackwell, David Shaughnessy, Timothy Bateson

|Right Door Knocker

|Anthony Asbury

|David Healy

|Left Door Knocker

|Dave Goelz

|Robert Beatty

| rowspan="2" |Fiery #1

| colspan="2" |Kevin Clash

|with David Barclay & Toby Philpott

|Fiery #2

|Karen Prell with Ron Mueck & Ian Thom

|Charles Augins

|Fiery #3

|Dave Goelz with Rob Mills & Sherry Ammott

| rowspan="2" |Danny John-Jules

|Fiery #4

|Steve Whitmire with Cheryl Henson & Kevin Bradshaw

|Fiery #5

|Anthony Asbury with Alistair Fullarton & Rollin Krewson

|Richard Bodkin

|Ambrosius

|Steve Whitmire, Kevin Clash

|Percy Edwards

|Goblins

|Don Austen, Michael Bayliss, Martin Bridle, Fiona Beynor Brown, Simon Buckley, David Bulbeck, Sue Dacre, Geoff Felix, Trevor Freeborn, Christine Glanville, David Greenaway, Brian James, Jan King, Ronnie Le Drew, Terry Lee, Christopher Leith, Kathryn Mullen, Angie Passmore, Michael Petersen, Nigel Plaskitt, Judy Preece, Michael Quinn, Gillie Robic, David Rudman, David Showler, Robin Stevens, Ian Tregonning, Mary Turner, Robert Tygner, Mak Wilson, Francis Wright

|Michael Attwell, Sean Barrett, Timothy Bateson, Douglas Blackwell, John Bluthal, Brian Henson, Anthony Jackson, Peter Marinker, Ron Mueck, Steve Nallon, Jan Ravens, Enn Reitel, Kerry Shale, David Shaughnessy

Goblin Corps performed by Marc Antona, Kenny Baker, Michael Henbury Ballan, Danny Blackner, Peter Burroughs, Toby Clark, Tessa Crockett, Warwick Davis, Malcolm Dixon, Anthony Georghiou, Paul Grant, Andrew Herd, Richard Jones, John Key, Mark Lisle, Peter Mandell, Jack Purvis, Katie Purvis, Nicholas Read, Linda Spriggs, Penny Stead, and Albert Wilkinson.

Influences

Richard Corliss noted that the film appeared to have been influenced by The Wizard of Oz and the works of Maurice Sendak, writing that, "Labyrinth lures a modern Dorothy Gale out of the drab Kansas of real life into a land where the wild things are". Nina Darnton of The New York Times wrote that the plot of Labyrinth "is very similar to Outside Over There by Mr. Sendak, in which 9-year-old Ida's baby sister is stolen by the goblins". This almost got the film into legal trouble, as the similarity caused Sendak's lawyers to advise Jim Henson to stop production on the film. However, the legal complaint was eventually settled, with an end credit being added that states that "Jim Henson acknowledges his debt to the works of Maurice Sendak". Sendak's Outside Over There and Where the Wild Things Are are shown briefly in Sarah's room at the start of the film, along with copies of Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and Grimms' Fairy Tales.

The film's concept designer Brian Froud, who had previously collaborated with Henson on The Dark Crystal, has stated that the character of Jareth was influenced by a diverse range of literary sources. In his afterword to the 20th anniversary edition of The Goblins of Labyrinth, Froud wrote that Jareth references "the romantic figures of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights and a brooding Rochester from Jane Eyre" and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Bowie's costumes were intentionally eclectic, drawing on the image of Marlon Brando's leather jacket from The Wild One as well as that of a knight "with the worms of death eating through his armor" from Grimms' Fairy Tales. In his audio commentary of Labyrinth, Froud said that Jareth also has influences from Kabuki theatre.

The dialogue starting with the phrase "you remind me of the babe" that occurs between Jareth and the goblins in the Magic Dance sequence in the film is a direct reference to an exchange between Cary Grant and Shirley Temple in the 1947 film The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer.

Labyrinths "Escher scene" features an elaborate staircase set inspired by the art of Dutch artist M. C. Escher. A print of Escher's lithograph Relativity is shown on Sarah's bedroom wall in the film.

Production

Origins and script

Brian Froud says that Labyrinth was first discussed between himself and director Jim Henson.

Henson discussed the film's origins to say that he and Froud "wanted to do a lighter weight picture, with more of a sense of comedy since The Dark Crystal got kind of heavy, heavier than we had intended. Now, I wanted to do a film with the characters having more personality and interacting more". Lee was tasked with writing a novella on which a script could be based, submitting it at the end of 1983. Henson approached Terry Jones to write the film's script, as "his daughter Lisa had just read Erik the Viking and suggested that he try me as screenwriter". Jones was given Dennis Lee's novella to use as a basis for his script but later told Empire that Lee had produced an unfinished "poetic novella" that he "didn't really get on with". In light of this, Jones "discarded it and sat down with Brian [Froud]'s drawings and sifted through them and found the ones that I really liked, and started creating the story from them".

Jones is credited with writing the screenplay, while the shooting script was actually a collaborative effort that featured contributions from Henson, George Lucas, Laura Phillips, and Elaine May. Jones has said that the finished film differs greatly from his original vision. Jones states that, "I didn't feel that it was very much mine. I always felt it fell between two stories, Jim wanted it to be one thing and I wanted it to be about something else." Jones has said that his version of the script was "about the world, and about people who are more interested in manipulating the world than actually baring themselves at all". In Jones' original script, Jareth merely seems "all powerful to begin with" and is actually using the Labyrinth to "keep people from getting to his heart".

The redrafted script was sent to Bowie, who found that it lacked humour and considered withdrawing his involvement in the project as a result. To ensure Bowie's involvement, Henson asked Jones to "do a bit more" to the script to make it more humorous.

At least 25 treatments and scripts were drafted for Labyrinth between 1983 and 1985. The film's shooting script was only ready shortly before filming began. Connelly moved to England in February 1985, in advance of the film's rehearsals, which began in March.

The character of Jareth also underwent some significant developments during the early stages of preproduction. Henson states that he originally intended him as another puppet creature in the same vein as his goblin subjects. Henson eventually wanted a big, charismatic star "who could change the film's whole musical style" to play the Goblin King

Henson stated that, "I wanted to put two characters of flesh and bone in the middle of all these artificial creatures, and David Bowie embodies a certain maturity, with his sexuality, his disturbing aspect, all sorts of things that characterise the adult world." Henson met David Bowie in the summer of 1983 to seek his involvement, as Bowie was in the United States for his Serious Moonlight Tour at the time. Henson pursued Bowie for the role of Jareth and sent him each revised draft of the film's script for his comments. During a meeting that took place on June 18, 1984, Henson showed Bowie The Dark Crystal and a selection of Brian Froud's concept drawings to pique his interest in the project. Bowie formally agreed to take part on February 15, 1985, several months before filming began.

Gates McFadden was originally offered the role of Sarah's mother by Henson, and she signed up to do the choreography as well, but she was not allowed to act in the film and had to accept the choreography role alone due to union rules. She is credited in the film as Cheryl McFadden (her first name), as she usually is when being credited for choreography work. She said that, "Even though that was the reason I took the job and had, for two years, been thinking that was what was going to happen. They would not allow us."

Filming

The team that worked on Labyrinth was largely assembled from talent who had been involved in various other projects with The Jim Henson Company. Veteran performers Dave Goelz and Steve Whitmire operated various puppets in the film, along with Karen Prell, Ron Mueck, Rob Mills, and Kathryn Mullen (as various goblins), who had all worked with Henson on Fraggle Rock. Kevin Clash, a puppeteer from Sesame Street best known for performing the character Elmo, also worked on the film as various creatures, as did Frank Oz, who performed briefly as the Wiseman (while also directing Little Shop of Horrors around that time). Members of Henson's family also worked on the production, including son Brian (the voice and chief puppeteer for Hoggle) and daughter Cheryl (who assisted on one of the Fireys and is also credited for building the characters). Newcomers working on the production included puppeteers Anthony Asbury, Angie Passmore, Nigel Plaskitt, and Mak Wilson (the latter three of whom are credited for performing goblins) who had previously worked on the satirical puppet show Spitting Image, while a few others, including David Barclay, David Greenaway, Toby Philpott, and Mike Quinn, were carried over from The Dark Crystal. Other goblin puppeteers included David Rudman (also known for his work on Sesame Street), Robin Stevens, Don Austen, Robert Tygner, and, briefly, Jim Henson himself. Louise Gold, a veteran Muppet performer who had gotten her start on The Muppet Show, cameos in the film as a masked ballroom dancer during the "As the World Falls Down" sequence, while Kenny Baker and Warwick Davis, best known as the performers of Star Wars R2-D2 and Wicket W. Warrick respectively, were credited as some of the "Goblin Corps". "Ambrosius", Sir Didymus' canine steed, was voiced by Percy Edwards, who had previously supplied the voice of Fizzgig in The Dark Crystal. Ronnie Le Drew, best known for playing Zippy on the ITV Children's Programme Rainbow also worked on the film.

thumb|right|Director [[Jim Henson and executive producer George Lucas on set during filming.]]

Principal photography began on April 15, 1985, at Elstree Studios. Labyrinth took five months to film and was a complicated shoot due to the various puppets and animatronic creatures involved. In the making-of documentary Inside the Labyrinth, Henson stated that Jim Henson's Creature Shop had been building the puppets and characters required for around a year and a half, prior to shooting, but "everything came together in the last couple weeks". Henson noted that, "even if you have the characters together, the puppeteers start working with them, they find problems or they try to figure out what they're going to do with these characters".

The film required large and ambitious sets constructed, from the Shaft of Hands to the rambling, distorted Goblin City where the film's climactic battle takes place.

Shooting wrapped on September 8, 1985.

Post-production

Most of the visual effects on Labyrinth were achieved in-camera with several notable exceptions. The most prominent of these post-production effects was the computer-generated owl that appears at the opening of the film. The sequence was created by animators Larry Yaeger and Bill Kroyer at Digital Productions and marked the first use of a realistic CGI animal in a film. The owl head maquette was rescued from a skip when the animation company Omnibus went bankrupt in 1987.

The scene where Sarah encounters the Fire Gang was altered in post-production, as it had been filmed against black velvet cloth to disguise the puppeteers, and a new forest background was added behind. Jim Henson was unhappy with the compositing of the finished scene, although he considered the puppetry featured in it worthy including them. "Magic Dance" was released as a 12" single in the US. "As the World Falls Down" was initially slated for release as a follow-up single to "Underground" at Christmas in 1986, but this plan did not materialise. Bowie did not perform the lead vocals on "Chilly Down", which was performed by Charles Augins, Richard Bodkin, Kevin Clash, and Danny John-Jules, the actors who voiced the "Firey" creatures in the film. A demo of "Chilly Down" under its original title "Wild Things", which was performed by Bowie, was leaked in 2016 by Danny John-Jules shortly after Bowie's death.

Steve Barron produced promotional music videos for "Underground" and "As the World Falls Down". The music video for "Underground" features Bowie as a nightclub singer who stumbles upon the Labyrinth encountering many of the creatures seen in the film. The clip for "As the World Falls Down" integrates clips from the film. This video uses them, along with black and white shots of Bowie performing the song in an elegant room. Both were released on the 1993 VHS tape Bowie – The Video Collection and the 2002 two-disc DVD set Best of Bowie.

In 2017, Capitol Studios announced a reissue of the soundtrack on a vinyl record. This included all five original songs by David Bowie, along with Trevor Jones' score.

Release

Promotion

The production of Labyrinth was covered in multiple high-profile magazines and newspapers, in anticipation of its release, with articles appearing in The New York Times, Time, and Starlog magazines. An article that appeared in The New York Times shortly after filming wrapped in September 1985 focused heavily on the film's large scale and emphasised the size of the production and selling Labyrinth as a more "accessible" film than The Dark Crystal due to the casting of live actors in its key roles.

Labyrinth was featured in music trade papers such as Billboard magazine due to Bowie's soundtrack for the film. Bowie was not heavily involved in promoting the film, but Jim Henson was nonetheless grateful that he produced a music video to accompany the song "Underground" from the soundtrack, saying that, "I think it's the best thing he could have done for the film." Commercial artist Steven Chorney provided the film's teaser one-sheet, while Ted Coconis produced a one-sheet poster for the film's North American release.

A range of merchandise was produced to accompany the film's release, including plush toys of Sir Didymus and Ludo, a board game, a computer game, and multiple jigsaw puzzles. An exhibition of the film's characters and sets toured across shopping malls in various cities in the United States, including New York City, Dallas, and Chicago. Labyrinth was featured in an exhibition titled "Jim Henson's Magic World" that was shown at the Seibu Department Store in Tokyo in August 1986.

Theatrical release

Labyrinth opened in US theaters on June 27, 1986. Jim Henson, Brian Henson, Brian Froud, Jennifer Connelly, and the animatronic creature Ludo were all present to support the film.

The film was rolled out in other European countries largely between December 1986 and February 1987 and premiered in France as Labyrinthe on December 2 and in West Germany as Die Reise ins Labyrinth (The Journey into the Labyrinth) on December 13. The film was released in Denmark as Labyrinten til troldkongens slot (The Labyrinth to the Troll King's Castle) on February 20, 1987 and saw its last theatrical release in Hungary under the title Fantasztikus labirintus (Fantastic Labyrinth) when it premiered there on July 7, 1988. The film was also released in Brazil on December 25, 1986 where it was named Labirinto – A Magia do Tempo (Labyrinth – The Magic of Time).

In April 2012, a remastered re-release of the film was screened at the Astor Theatre in Melbourne, Australia.

In celebration of the film's 40th anniversary, Labyrinth is scheduled to return to theaters from January 8th to January 15th in 2026.

Home media

Labyrinth was first released on VHS, Betamax, and pan and scan LaserDisc in 1987 by Embassy Home Entertainment in the United States and by Channel 5 Video Distribution in the United Kingdom. After Embassy was sold to Coca-Cola in 1985, its home video line was renamed Nelson Entertainment, and a VHS release was also made under this label (re-using the same Embassy box artwork). New Line Home Video re-released the film on LaserDisc in Widescreen through Image Entertainment in 1994. Columbia TriStar Home Video reissued the film on VHS for the last time in 1999 in the United States and in the United Kingdom the same year, with Inside the Labyrinth included as a special feature.

The film made its DVD premiere in 1999 in the United States and has since been re-released on DVD in 2003, 2007, and 2016. All DVD releases of the film feature the Inside the Labyrinth documentary as an extra. The 2003 re-release was described as a collector's edition and featured a set of exclusive collectors cards that featured concept art by Brian Froud. The 2007 release was promoted as an Anniversary Edition and featured a commentary by Brian Froud and two newly produced making-of documentaries, "Journey Through the Labyrinth: Kingdom of Characters" and "Journey Through the Labyrinth: The Quest for Goblin City", which featured interviews with producer George Lucas, choreographer Gates McFadden of Star Trek fame (listed as Cheryl McFadden) and Brian Henson.

The film was released on Blu-ray in a 2009 package, which replicated the extras featured on the 2007 Anniversary Edition DVD. The Blu-ray release featured one new special feature, a picture-in-picture track that lasts the length of the film, and interviews with the crew and several minor cast members including Warwick Davis.

A 30th anniversary edition of Labyrinth was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Blu-ray in 2016. An Amazon exclusive gift set version came with packaging similar to Jareth's Escher-style stairs. New features included "The Henson Legacy" featuring Jennifer Connelly and members of the Henson family discussing Jim Henson's puppetry style and includes a visit to the Center for Puppetry Arts, which houses many of Jim Henson's puppets. Adam Savage from MythBusters hosts a Q&A with Brian Henson, David Goelz, Karen Prell, and Sheri Weiser. Jennifer Connelly, Brian Henson, and Cheryl Henson pay tribute to David Bowie in "The Goblin King".

In 2021, a 35th anniversary limited edition of Labyrinth was released on Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray as a set in a digibook designed to resemble Sarah's book from the film. The 2021 Blu-ray disc is the same as the 2016 release, while the 2021 4K Blu-ray disc includes an upgraded 4K transfer with Dolby Vision HDR, and special features such as 25 minutes of deleted and extended scenes with optional commentary by Brian Henson and 55 minutes of footage from the original auditions for the role of Sarah.

On January 1, 2024, a worldwide distribution agreement signed between Shout! Studios and the Jim Henson Company for Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal as well as associated content went into effect. The agreement grants Shout! Studios streaming, video-on-demand, broadcast, digital download, packaged media and limited non-theatrical rights to the films. The company released the films on all major digital entertainment platforms on February 6, 2024.

Reception

Box office

Labyrinth opened at number eight at the US box office with $3,549,243 from 1,141 theaters, which placed it behind The Karate Kid Part II, Back to School, Legal Eagles, Ruthless People, Running Scared, Top Gun, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In its next weekend at the box office, the film dropped to number 13 in the charts, only earning $1,836,177. By the end of its run in US cinemas, the film had grossed $12,729,917, just over half of its $25 million budget. It was the highest-grossing film over the Christmas period in the UK, with a gross of $4.5 million in its first month, three times more than its competitors. It was also the highest-grossing film for the period in Spain, Bolivia, and Venezuela. for a total worldwide gross of over $34 million at that time.