Updates on Upcoming Henson Films!

Yesterday, we told you about the Henson's company's new feature film, Tara Billik, but buried in that press release were some updates on a few feature films in development.

The Jim Henson biopic Muppet Man is moving along as a coproduction with Disney.
Lisa Henson is producing with distribution handled by Disney. 

Also in development is a feature film adaptation of The 13 1⁄2 lives of Captain Bluebear based on the 1999 fantasy novel by German writer and cartoonist Walter Moers.

From Wikipedia:

The 13 1⁄2 Lives of Captain Bluebear follows the adventures of the character Bluebear in the first half of his 27 lives. The novel intersperses Bluebear's narrative with excerpts from The Encyclopedia of Marvels, Life Forms and Other Phenomena of Zamonia and its Environs by Professor Abdullah Nightingale, who bacterially transmits it into Bluebear's brain.

The story is set in the fictional continent of Zamonia (location of several other novels by Walter Moers) on Earth before the "great descent" in which Zamonia and many other continents sink beneath the waves. Many of the creatures encountered by Bluebear in the novel are taken from myths, folktales, prehistory, and Moers' imagination.

The 13 1⁄2 lives of Captain Bluebear will be distributed and streamed by Netflix.

The highly anticipated sequel to Labyrinth is also still in the works.

Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson is helming the feature with a script by Maggie Levin, who wrote an episode of Hulu's horror series Into the Dark. Sony's Columbia TriStar will distribute the film. 

No plot, characters, or story details have been announced yet. 

Jim Henson Bio Pic Coming from Disney & The Jim Henson Company!

Deadline is reporting that the long in development bio pic of Jim Henson is back in the works as joint venture between Disney and The Jim Henson Company. 

Michael Mitnick, writer of the The Current War, The Giver, and HBO’s Vinyl, has been tapped to write Muppet Man. 

The live-action film will chart the life and times of Jim Henson and his journey to convince broadcasters that The Muppet Show was a great idea and his impact on television with Sesame Street and movies like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.

Henson’s daughter Lisa will produce the film for The Jim Henson Company with  distribution handled by Disney. 

Mitnick is rewriting a previous version of a script by Aaron and Jordan Kandell.

More than a decade ago, the Henson Company bought Australian scribe Christopher Weekes’ Hollywood Black List-topping script about the puppeteer which also included The Muppets lamenting Henson's loss as a framing device. At one point Michael Gracey was eyed to direct, but is no longer involved.

Disney has owned the rights to the Muppets characters since 2004 and has reportedly had discussions with The Henson Company about a Henson biopic since 2010.